On the morning news, Jana Monashee was singing A Change Is Gonna Come, a track from her New Moon Blue album.

The song was written by the late Sam Cooke. A plea for equal rights, A Change Is Gonna Come is Cooke's most powerful song. It has utterly convincing lyrics, an inspiring and soulful melody with an optimistic message. Had Cooke lived long enough, he would have seen his prediction result in Obama's election. As it were he was at the height of his popularity and had started his own label when he was murdered in 1964.

Admittedly, I was introduced  to A Change Is Gonna Come via the back door, through a version by Three Dog Night's Cory Wells on the band's Suitable For Framing album. It's easy to see the song's appeal. Its lyric has dramatic substance and its demanding melody is a challenge. However, it's a black man's song. That prompts the question, what right does a privileged white guy have to sing A Change Is Gonna Come?

I struggled with that question for a while, but I'd heard later versions by other singers that weren't as good. In the end, I was thankful to Three Dog Night for making me aware of the song in the first place.

It's easy, too, to see the song's relevance to Monashee. As an aboriginal, she's seen the injustice done to her people and, for her, and others like her, Cooke's song still strikes a cord of truth.

So, singing to a backing tape, Monashee begins, "I was born by the river..." Right away, it's evident that she has talent, but halfway through you are more aware of her ability than the message of the song. All her subsequent wailing becomes an annoying distraction filled with phony emotion.  Monashee Mariah Careys the song to death. You stop caring anymore.

Years ago, I interviewed Jennifer Warnes, an accomplished vocalist who, at the time, was at the height of her success as a solo recording act. I asked her how she approached singing a song. She compared a song to a short story.  Like a short story, the song  has one climactic moment. Everything leads up to that climactic moment and, once it's reached, get out. This means measuring emotion, saving it, weighing the phrasing for impact. Monashee goes for the throat right away, and, long after the key moment, goes on ad nauseum.

Why not find out what's important in the song's message, deliver it and, like Jennifer Warnes, get out? Just sing, damn it.