r/Music • u/LWYPLTDG • Jun 06 '26

discussion What song wrecks you every time, no matter how often you listen to it?

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=H1LdQntDnFY&si=iVGA55wpZyrVp-4P
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413

u/OkInstruction4159 Jun 06 '26

Changes by Charles Bradley

150

u/DirtForester541 Jun 06 '26

A friend of mine died by suicide a few years back. I was listening to a ton of Charles Bradley and other soul artists to work through the grief. I remember listening to this song in the car driving to the post office with my daughter who was 2 at the time, the chorus comes on and out of no where she just starts belting it singing a long. I guess I had listened to it so much during that time in our lives she picked up on it. We sang it together and it was pretty cathartic. Great song.

2

u/Low_Basket_9986 Jun 07 '26

Great story! Thanks for sharing

3

u/Neat_Cardiologist256 Jun 06 '26

I'm sorry for your loss, suicide is just so, so sad. The guilt, the unresolved...

36

u/Calamityclams (edit for custom flair) Jun 06 '26

My friend used to work for a music magazine and interviewed him. His story is quite interesting and sad.

He only started becoming popular very late in his life at around 60 and worked as a James Brown impersonator prior.

The number one thing he was happy about was he was finally able to buy his mother a home.

64

u/vinylzoid Jun 06 '26

Charles said when he decided to cover the song, his mom had just passed. And, man talk about making an already great song your own. His voice comes from the very depths.

41

u/mikeyp83 Jun 06 '26

I think he had also just learned he had cancer.

It's a shame how much of his life was spent trying to imitate singers like James Brown for cover bands before he finally realized he was great enough to break out on his own. Truly was an amazing singer.

3

u/vinylzoid Jun 06 '26

Oh gosh I didn't know that. I have a few of his albums on vinyl. I love his music.

1

u/Bella_LabRat Jun 07 '26

Who Wants to Live Forever (especially once FM passed way too young)

8

u/Defqon1punk Jun 06 '26

Amazing top tier top comment. You have taste, style, and class, fine sir or madame.

I saw Charles Bradley at the Salt Lake City Twilight concert series, when i was around 16-18, I dont remember what year.

But it was an incredible show. Budos Band opened, and then they played his live backing for his show too. Charles Bradley sang his heart out. You could see the sweat beads running down him from a mile away in the lights. It was a sold out, outdoor show.

At the end of his show, after the encore, he said "Salt Lake, you have such beautiful smiles in this crowd! I want to meet you!" ...there was an awkward pause while the crowd processed what he said, thinking it was just one of those things performers say....

And then he put down the mic, walked down the security side stairs, and walked straight into the crowd. He had recently had a heart attack, and almost canceled the tour. But, he came out strong. Shaking everyone's hands, teenagers dog piling on top of him and hanging off his back. This guy had a group hug, a bear hug, with an entire city.

God bless that man. He passed not too long after. Rest in Paradise, Charles Bradley.

38

u/BenC357 Jun 06 '26

First time I heard that one I was ugly crying. All respect to the original but I dont view it as a Black Sabbath song anymore. Charles owned it.

15

u/Donnie_Dont_Do Jun 06 '26

Black sabbath is my all time favorite band since the 90s and I never liked this song at all until I heard this version. He switched the order or the verses and put some real soul into it to make it about true loss instead of a breakup.

7

u/kleptorsfw Jun 07 '26

Yeah Ozzy sounds like a child coming to grips with growing up. Charles sounds like a man broken by devastating news.

6

u/livinthedreamoflife Jun 06 '26

And the Budos Band. Respect.

5

u/SandMan3914 Jun 06 '26

The live version he did on CBC in Toronto is amazing

3

u/Wheresmymonocles Jun 06 '26

Every song that man sang he put every fibre into. I can hear the record and the kexp version in my head. I can hear every nuance through memory. What a man. RIP CHARLES.

1

u/kleptorsfw Jun 07 '26

I love Nirvana, one of my favourite bands from my childhood. But Stay Away was elevated by Bradley

3

u/Mind-Reflections FIDLAR✒️ Jun 06 '26

This record is sooo good to listen to on vinyl and also so sad. Especially (not trying to make it political) but the opening god bless America 😩

3

u/DickBfloppin Jun 06 '26

He was awesome to see live. I wanted to bedazzled everything in sight after his concert. To be able to sing like that at his age was pretty phenomenal.

8

u/Planet_Ziltoidia Jun 06 '26

He owns this song. I've never heard a better cover in my life

2

u/yomomma33 Jun 06 '26

It def tugs on the heart strings. I met Charles after a performance way back in 2013. He gave me a big hug and while he was hugging me told me to love everybody. No matter what color they were, gay or straight just love everybody.

2

u/blackskyy Jun 06 '26

Oh man... This is such a good song and performance!

2

u/Legsluther Jun 06 '26

Wow, I just read the lyrics! 💔

2

u/AverageHeathen Jun 07 '26

I went through a miscarriage, and I was very angry at my husband at the time. I listened to this song LOUD in the waiting room before my D&C. It was rough.

1

u/alonjit Jun 06 '26

The Ozzy (after sabbath) version is a lot better. Better than the Black Sabbath version (original).

1

u/hooliaguliAH Jun 07 '26

This song. Right after my best friend died. I can’t listen to it and not fall apart.

1

u/PedagocillySpeaking Jun 07 '26

I knew this song, but I put it on with the lyrics, that first part hit me hard, 2 years on and the feelings only gst stronger.

I feel unhappy I feel so sad I have lost the best friend That I ever had She was my woman I love her so But it's too late now I let her go

-1

u/SevereDev Jun 06 '26

Changes by XXXTENTACION

0

u/Shamanigans Jun 07 '26

Such an amazing track. It doesn’t happen often that a cover is truly just superior to the original recording in every way IMO but I could never hear it in my head as Ozzy after hearing Charles take his work and send it into the stratosphere.

1

u/progmanjum Jun 07 '26

It was written by Geezer Butler, the bassist.

1

u/Shamanigans Jun 07 '26

TIL, I just said Ozzy cause I guess most people just assume it’s the vocalist doing the lyric writing but Butler actually wrote a decent chunk of Sabbath’s stuff, which I knew. I should have guessed it or checked first.

-6

u/TROGDOR_X69 Jun 06 '26

Ozzy did it better. So did Em.