Lost and Looking

By Al Paulson
Published on April 1, 2001

Lost and Looking, Stephan Talty,
Killing the Buddha
‘Cupid, draw back your bow, and let your arrow go–straight to my
lover’s heart.’ When Sam Cooke took a bullet while sitting in the
front seat of his red Ferrari, it put an arrow through the heart of
more than just his career and image. So explains writer Steven
Talty as he examines the life, art, and death of silky-voiced soul
singer Sam Cooke. Talty likens the crossover ability of Cooke’s pop
career to that of the better-known Elvis Presley. Cooke was a young
black man who struck out from his straight gospel roots and
achieved success with mixed audiences in much the same way that
Elvis brought his love of gospel and blues to young white kids by
crossing lines that were culturally forbidden in the 50’s. Cooke’s
death marked a turning point in the 60’s, Talty infers, from which
black music couldn’t recover — the death of pop innocence.
–Al Paulson
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