10 Inspiring Songs About America

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9. Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come

This stunning song isn't first a patriotic song, but the 1964 single does represent something central to America – freedom. “A Change Is Gonna Come” became the song that defined the civil rights movement of the sixties. It's stirring refrain captured both the pain and hope of that dark time in our nation's history. As a patriotic song it works in two ways – it reminds us of the freedoms that we have, but it also reminds that we have a long way to go until everyone in America can experience that same freedom.

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