Capitol/EMI Releases Nat King Cole ‘Voices Of Change, Then & Now’ Digital EP Via All Major Digital Service Providers
Inspiring 3-Track EP Celebrates a New Era of Hope and Black History Month
HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ — As the United States welcomes President Barack Obama
to the White House and Black History Month begins, Capitol/EMI is proud
to present a musical salute to universal hope and progress. A new
digital EP of songs by the incomparable and unforgettable Nat King Cole,
titled “Voices Of Change, Then & Now,” features “At Last,” “We Are
Americans Too” and “Pick Yourself Up” with excerpts from President
Obama’s Inaugural Address as introductions. Starting today, “Voices Of
Change, Then & Now” is available for DRM-free purchase from all
major digital service providers.
“We Are Americans Too,” recorded by Cole in May, 1956, one month after he was assaulted onstage in Birmingham, Alabama
by three white supremacists, is a call for recognition, mutual respect
and human kindness. On “Voices Of Change, Then & Now,” an excerpt
from President Obama’s momentous Inaugural Address introduces the song.
The label declined to release “We Are Americans Too,” a striking
departure from Cole’s well-loved ballads, when it was recorded. That
same year, Cole became the first African American host of a national
television program (NBC’s “The Nat King Cole Show”). With quiet resolve
and sheer perseverance throughout his life, Cole broke through and
broke down numerous color barriers in his determination to further
civil rights for all marginalized Americans.
Somewhere out there in the parade Loudly, proudly and undismayed We'll be singing this song many millions strong We are Americans, loyal Americans We are Americans too.
Says Carole Cole, Nat King Cole’s daughter and CEO
of King Cole Partners & Productions, “Eubie Blake and Andy Razaf
wrote ‘We Are Americans Too’ in 1940. Dad recorded it 1956. In the
words of writer Will Friedwald, this song ‘was a
rarity in the pre-war period: an anthem of African American pride that
would sing the accomplishments of the ‘race’ in a ‘God Bless
America’-like fashion. Previously, there had been protest songs
delineating the African American condition… but there was never
anything like ‘We Are Americans Too’.”
During these challenging times, “Pick Yourself Up” is a song
brimming with optimism that inspires the willpower to change. This tune
is also introduced by an uncanny excerpt from President Obama’s
Inaugural Address, in which the President advises all Americans by
saying, “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” Remarkably, this is the exact sentiment conveyed in Cole’s song.
“At Last,” recorded by Nat King Cole in 1957, four years before Etta James
made the song a signature classic of her own, is a stirring and
romantic vocal stunner. Television viewers around the world watched
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama dance at several Inaugural balls on January 20, 2009, accompanied by various renditions of “At Last.”