Dream boogie: the triumph of Sam Cooke (123 page)

533
an evening of poetry and entertainment with Cassius Clay:
Los Angeles Sentinel,
December 12, 1963.

533-534
introducing Linda to Cassius: Barbara Cooke recalled Clay coming out to the house and inviting them to a Los Angeles mosque.

534
the cover of
Cash Box
:
Cash Box,
December 7, 1963.

LONG TIME COMING

537
“For people fighting for their freedom”: George Plimpton, “Miami Notebook: Cassius Clay and Malcolm X,”
Harper’s,
June 1964.

538
a kind of glorified demo: Johnnie Morisette would record a song that Sam wrote called “Keep Smilin’,” which was at least in the spirit, if not a direct reworking, of “Keep Movin’ On,” at his January 21, 1964, session.

541
“He was very excited”: In addition to J.W.’s testimony, Lou Rawls, Leroy Crume, Bobby Womack, and Barbara Cooke each spoke of Sam’s unreserved mix of excitement and concern when he played the song for them for the first time.

543
“It was part of my little civic thing”: This is from Nick Spitzer’s 2001 interview with Harold Battiste for his weekly NPR series,
American Routes.
The rest is from my interviews with Harold.

544
Arthur Prysock’s celebrity-packed opening:
Los Angeles Sentinel,
January 23, 1964.

544
He caught the Soul Stirrers: The show was listed in the
Los Angeles Sentinel,
January 9, 1964. Bruce Bromberg was at the concert and vividly recalled Sam being introduced.

547
“I wanted it to be the greatest”: BBC interview with René Hall.

551
an interview with the
New York World-Telegram
: William Peper, “Sam Cooke Sings the Blues, Too,”
New York World-Telegram,
February 6, 1964.

551
“[He] said he would rather be the creative producer”: “Sam Cooke Yearns for Creative Roll,”
Cash Box,
February 15, 1964.

552
an NBC timekeeper marked down: NBC Master Books, Television-Motion Picture Collection, Library of Congress.

553
Douglas . . . had first met Sam: Mike Douglas,
I’ll Be Right Back: Memories of TV’s Greatest Talk Show,
p. 18.

555
a brief family vacation: Malcolm X with Alex Haley,
The Autobiography of Malcolm X,
p. 308.

555
“Cassius Clay Almost Says He’s a Muslim”:
Amsterdam News,
January 25, 1964.

555
The promoter threatened to cancel the fight: The complications that arose from Malcolm X’s presence in Miami and Clay’s public announcement of his religious affiliation are detailed in Thomas Hauser,
Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times,
pp. 64ff, 100; Taylor Branch,
Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65,
p. 252;
The Autobiography of Malcolm X,
pp. 308ff; and Mike Marqusee,
Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties,
p. 77.

556
there was no doubt in Sam’s mind that Cassius
was
going to shake up the world: Sam’s feelings about Clay/Ali were expressed in Paul Learn, “Mixing Melody, Love Puts Sam Cooke on Top,”
Atlantic City Press,
July 30, 1964; Brad Pye Jr., “Pretty Cassius Stung ‘Like a Bee,’”
Los Angeles Sentinel,
February 27, 1964; and interviews with J.W. Alexander and Bobby Womack, among others.

556
“a clown never imitates a wise man”: Plimpton, “Miami Notebook: Cassius Clay and Malcolm X,”
Harper’s,
June 1964.

556
the title of a
Look
magazine story: Nick Tosches,
The Devil and Sonny Liston,
p. 202. The NAACP’s “disowning” of Liston is described on p. 159.

556
“Sonny Liston isn’t the worst person in the . . . world”: “Give Sonny Liston a Chance, Pleads Singer,”
Norfolk Journal and Guide,
August 26, 1961 (ANS).

556
“An aura of artificiality surrounds Tuesday’s . . . fight”: Hauser,
Muhammad Ali,
p. 68, quoting Arthur Daley,
New York Times,
February 23, 24, 1964.

556
“This fight is the
truth
”:
The Autobiography of Malcolm X,
p. 311.

557
genetic “tricknology”: Karl Evanzz,
The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad,
pp. 74-75.

558
they joined together in silent prayer:
The Autobiography of Malcolm X,
p. 312.

558
“the Mohammedan abroad believes in a heaven and a hell”: Plimpton, “Miami Notebook: Cassius Clay and Malcolm X,”
Harper’s,
June 1964.

558
Cassius Clay won the fight right then and there: Pye, “Pretty Cassius ‘Stung Like a Bee,’”
Los Angeles Sentinel,
February 27, 1964.

559
They sat in Malcolm’s room: Branch,
Pillar of Fire,
p. 252, cites the FBI report. See also Hauser,
Muhammad Ali,
p. 106;
Autobiography of Malcolm X,
p. 312; Jack Olsen,
Black Is Best: The Riddle of Cassius Clay,
p. 150.

559
he had made him afraid: This is offered as Sam’s analysis in both the
Los Angeles Sentinel,
February 27, 1964, and the
Atlantic City Press,
July 30, as above.

559
Jim Brown . . . appeared . . . more elated:
Los Angeles Sentinel,
February 27, 1964.

559
“Well, Brown,” said Malcolm: Hauser,
Muhammad Ali,
p. 106.

559
“There are seven hundred fifty million people all over the world who believe in it”: Quotes from the two press conferences are taken from Hauser,
Muhammad Ali,
pp. 82, 83, who in turn is quoting from the
Washington Star,
February 27, and
New York Times,
February 28, 1964.

560
the little bungalow in the North Miami ghetto: Plimpton, “Miami Notebook: Cassius Clay and Malcolm X,”
Harper’s,
June 1964.

560
his smart new chartered bus:
Jet,
March 26, 1964.

560
he gave an interview to the
Amsterdam News
: Les Matthews, “The ‘Greatest One’ Pays a Visit to the
Amsterdam News,
”
Amsterdam News,
March 7, 1964.

561
he and Sam made the record: “Cassius Cuts a Disk, a Caper and a Defeated Sonny Liston,”
New York Times,
March 4, 1964. Also photographs and session tapes plus interviews with Dave Kapralik, Horace Ott, and J.W. Alexander.

561
“I’m champion of the
whole
world”: Marqusee,
Redemption Song,
p. 83. See also Hauser,
Muhammad Ali,
p. 101.

563
Malcolm’s suspension from public speaking would be ended: Evanzz,
The Messenger,
p. 287.

563
an official announcement of the name change: Ibid., p. 286.

563
Malcolm announced his break with the Nation of Islam: Marqusee,
Redemption Song,
pp. 84-85.

563
the break was not of his own volition: Ibid., p. 87.

563
“morally bankrupt”: Evanzz,
The Messenger,
p. 287.

563
“Did you get a look at Malcolm?”:
New York Times,
May 18, 1964, as quoted in Hauser,
Muhammad Ali,
p. 109.

563
“That hurt Malcolm more”: Hauser,
Muhammad Ali,
pp. 109-110.

565
Georgie Woods’ “Freedom Show of ’64”:
Philadelphia Tribune,
March 21, 1964, reported under the headline “14,000 Jam NAACP Convention Hall Freedom Show; $30,000 Raised.”

566
newly named head of SAR Productions:
Billboard,
June 6, 1964.

566
after a couple of rehearsals: There were no formal takes of the song, and no trace of it exists on the session tapes.

569
The only arrangement of René’s that they would keep: René’s bill for the arrangement is dated May 9, 1964.

569
he was planning to include very few of his hit songs: He
did
do “Good Times” as an encore at the outset of the Copa run.

569
The Upsetters were at the California Club: Advertised in the
Los Angeles Sentinel,
May 21, 1964, with Jackie Shane;
Sentinel
ad, June 11, with T-Bone Walker.

570
The Sims Twins had a regular gig: Advertised in the
Sentinel
April 9 and June 4, 1964, with Johnnie Morisette advertised April 16.

571
He . . . took up archery: Sam’s GAC press release included among his hobbies sports cars, archery, and swimming.

571
RCA had kept up its end: There was a full page in
Cash Box,
June 20, 1964, advertising both the single and the album.

573
“the tallest figure of an entertainment personality”: This, and other quotes and information, from press information sheet from Marvin Drager Inc., the public relations firm that Allen Klein hired.

573
“Technical difficulties kept the figure from being raised”:
Record World,
June 27, 1964; see also
Cash Box,
June 27.

573
a late-night meeting with a British reporter: Ray Coleman, “Sam Seeks a New Twist,”
Melody Maker,
July 4, 1964.

THE PIPER

1 | THAT’S WHERE IT’S AT

576
it was a disaster by any standard: This account of Sam’s show at the Laurels is based on interviews with Allen Klein, Bobby Womack, Jerry Brandt, June Gardner, Al Schmitt, and Charles Cook. The one person missing is J.W. Alexander, and he never spoke of it in all our conversations—but then again, I never thought to ask. Everyone remembered it slightly differently. Al Schmitt recalled the first show as being terrible but couldn’t remember why. For June it was just normal first-night jitters. To Charles Sam was impervious to any tensions or pressure; the show simply didn’t reflect him properly. Jerry Brandt didn’t recall René at all, and, twenty-five years after the fact, René, almost eighty at the time, vividly remembered the disaster of the opening as the motivating force for his redoing the show but appeared not to recall his absence from it. When I asked everyone about J.W., they all responded, Oh yeah, he must have been there—but no one could recall any specific role that he played, and, not knowing what it might have been, I couldn’t invent one. Maybe he remained in California until the beginning of the week, maybe he had other business to attend to in the city, but unfortunately J.W. wasn’t around to provide his own account by the time I noticed his absence.

579
“A lot of cats try to show off their arrangements”: BBC interview with René Hall. All subsequent quotes are from that interview.

581
“Frankie and Johnny” replaced “Chain Gang”: Sam slipped in a few bars of “Chain Gang” for his encore on the first night, but it was soon dropped from the show.

582
“Sam yells a lot but doesn’t sing much”: “Frank Farrell’s New York—Day by Day,”
New York World-Telegram,
June 25, 1964.

582
“although he did well . . . he didn’t quite achieve his aim”:
Variety,
December 16, 1964.

582
“[Mr. Cooke] has dignity, humility and feeling”: Robert Alden, “Sam Cooke at the Copa,”
New York Times,
July 7, 1964.

582
Sam moved “like a panther”:
Long Island Press,
June 28, 1964.

582
“a young Belafonte” . . . “worlds of poise and savvy” . . . “a zingy, swinging style”: Nick LaPole,
New York Herald Tribune,
June 28, 1964.

582
“A dashing, handsome young man”: Sara Slack, “Sam Cooke Cooking in E. Side Setting,”
Amsterdam News,
July 4, 1964.

583
a bloc of tickets to distribute: Daniel Wolff with S. R. Crain, Clifton White, and G. David Tenenbaum,
You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke,
p. 306.

583
“at no time does he make any political references”:
Variety,
July 1, 1964.

584
“You know, those old cats”:
New York Times,
July 7, 1964.

584
To Don Paulsen, a young freelance reporter and photographer: Don Paulsen, “You Have to Pay Your Dues,”
Hit Parader,
January 1965; Paulsen, “An Exclusive Interview with Sam Cooke,”
Rhythm & Blues,
February 1965.