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Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The circumstances surrounding

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Speaker 1: soul singer Sam Cook's death have long been shrouded in mystery.

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Speaker 1: The mafia did it, His jealous wife did it. The

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Speaker 1: racist music industry industrial complex did it. Truth is, Sam

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Speaker 1: Cook did it. His own actions were the reason he

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Speaker 1: was shot and killed by a woman he had just

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Speaker 1: physically attacked for no good reason other than the fact

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Speaker 1: that he wasn't accustomed to being told no. Sam Cook

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Speaker 1: was an infinitely skilled performer, producer, and businessman. His talent

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Speaker 1: afforded him things beyond the material world earthly delights that

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Speaker 1: you did mere mortals. Sam Cook could have whatever and

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Speaker 1: whoever he wanted. And Sam Cook made great music, some

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Speaker 1: of the greatest music ever made. As a matter of fact,

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Speaker 1: the music you heard at the top of the show

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Speaker 1: that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from

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Speaker 1: my mellotron called slow Fox Tremelo Organ MK two. I

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Speaker 1: played you that loop because I can't afford the rights

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Speaker 1: to Ringo by the actor turned singer Lauren Green.

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Speaker 2: Why would I play.

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Speaker 1: You that specific slice of Bonanza inspired cheese? Could I

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Speaker 1: afford it? Because that was the number one song in

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Speaker 1: America on December eleventh, nineteen sixty four. And that was

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Speaker 1: the day that Sam Cook aka Mister Wonderful, pulled his

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Speaker 1: brand new red Ferrari out onto the four h five

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Speaker 1: and sped fast toward the airport, kicking into gear what

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Speaker 1: would become the last hours of his very short, very

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Speaker 1: successful life. On this episode, Slow Fox, Tremolo Organs speeding

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Speaker 1: Red Ferraris Bonanza inspired cheese, and mister Wonderful Sam Cook.

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Speaker 2: I'm Jake Brennan, and this is disgrace man to those

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Speaker 2: who knew him. Sam Cook was many things.

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Speaker 1: A gentleman, a provider, a civil rights champion, a supremely

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Speaker 1: talented producer, chart topping songwriter, whip smart businessman, and a

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Speaker 1: great vocalist. But the thing that Sam had over everybody

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Speaker 1: else was his ability to perform sisma in presence for days.

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Speaker 1: Sam Cook had it even back when his name was

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Speaker 1: spelled co o K, before he added the e at

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Speaker 1: the end for sophistication, before he was topping the pop

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Speaker 1: charts or scene ripping through Hollywood in his cherry red ferrari,

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Speaker 1: or out on the town dressed to kill in the

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Speaker 1: side divorce suit.

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Speaker 2: Before that Sam Cook.

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Speaker 1: There was Sam Cook no E at the end, the

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Speaker 1: polite son of a Chicago by way of Mississippi minister.

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Speaker 1: Sam's dad was a fire and brimstone country preacher who

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Speaker 1: took his musical family Sam included, of course, on the

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Speaker 1: road to perform at various services throughout the Midwest. The

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Speaker 1: gospel touring circuit is where Sam Cook no E started

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Speaker 1: to hone his performance chops. The point of gospel music

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Speaker 1: may have been to celebrate the Lord, but the point

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Speaker 1: of gospel performance was to captivate the audience and vanquish

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Speaker 1: all rivals. Gospel performers were highly competitive, and they had

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Speaker 1: to be. The amount of talent within the scene was astounding.

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Speaker 1: The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, Mahalia Jackson in the

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Speaker 1: group Sam Cook would one day join and lead the

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Speaker 1: Soul Stirrs, all shared immense talent. The Five Blind Boys

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Speaker 1: of Mississippi's live shows were known to be devastating, and

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Speaker 1: Mahalia Jackson's talent was such that she was able to

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Speaker 1: take American gospel music all over the world. And Sam Cook,

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Speaker 1: by the time he joined the Soul Stirers at the

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Speaker 1: age of nineteen, was a unique natural talent all of

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Speaker 1: his own.

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Speaker 2: Sex.

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Speaker 1: Appeal, though subversive, was always part of gospel performance, but

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Speaker 1: Sam Cook brought a different kind of sexuality to it.

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Speaker 1: It was subtle, less suggestive, more sophisticated. It was inee

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Speaker 1: and as effortless as his uniquely intimate style of singing.

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Speaker 1: In his singing style was. Indeed, it wasn't like what

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Speaker 1: other gospel singers brought to the game. It wasn't all emotion,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't all truth like cupids Arro. Sam Cook's voice

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Speaker 1: was a shot to the heart like Frank Sinatra's voice.

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Speaker 1: Sam's voice transcended style, it transcended technique, and it effortlessly

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Speaker 1: balanced vulnerability and authority, and in doing so it made

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Speaker 1: him irresistible. Irresistible to record executives who saw in Sam

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Speaker 1: a crossover into secular pop music and who wanted a

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Speaker 1: big payday, Irresistible to seasoned musicians who knew a special

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Speaker 1: talent when they saw it and wanted to go along

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Speaker 1: for the ride. Irresistible to young musicians and young black

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Speaker 1: men who saw a successful artist and a businessman who

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Speaker 1: they wanted to be. And irresistible to women who wanted him.

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Speaker 1: Lots and lots of women wanted Sam Cook. Forget cupids Aro.

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Speaker 1: With that voice, Sam Cook may as well have been

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Speaker 1: cupid himself. When Sam was in the room, he felt

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Speaker 1: his sexuality. It wasn't an accident that he was referred

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Speaker 1: to as mister Wonderful. Mavis Staples referred to him as

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Speaker 1: Sam the Seducer.

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Speaker 2: Back in the soul stir days.

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Speaker 1: Sam hadn't quite graduated to bespoke suits yet, but he

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Speaker 1: dressed impeccably and had that tight processed hair. He kept

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Speaker 1: himself looking good and out on tour. As a soul steerer,

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Speaker 1: Sam was as much as sexual conquista door as he

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Speaker 1: was a gospel missionary. There were women in every town

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Speaker 1: either waiting for him or waiting to meet him for

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Speaker 1: the first time. Old girls, new girls, black girls, white girls.

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Speaker 1: In Peter Grillnick's excellent biography of Sam Cook Dream Boogie,

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Speaker 1: Sam's friend James early Bird is quoted as saying that

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Speaker 1: Sam referred to white women as quote snow and sleeping

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Speaker 1: with black women as quote shoveling coal. It was a

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Speaker 1: well developed circuit, one that for a young man must

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Speaker 1: have seemed bountiless and unwanted pregnancies. Well, that was just

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Speaker 1: the cost of doing business. By the time Sam was

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Speaker 1: twenty one, he'd had three different children from three different women,

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Speaker 1: but it didn't matter. His image was teflon the out

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Speaker 1: of wedlocked pregnancies and rep didn't stick. His image remained

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Speaker 1: squeaky clean shit. If that nice boy next door with

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Speaker 1: a wide smile and polite manner, the one who keeps

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Speaker 1: himself so clean and sings like an angel, if he

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Speaker 1: wants to sleep with my granddaughter, then better him than

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Speaker 1: that flashy campaign shouting southern diplomat from down.

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Speaker 2: On the corner.

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Speaker 1: If it's got to be someone, it might as well

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Speaker 1: be Sam Cook, or so went to thinking of little

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Speaker 1: old lady churchgoers everywhere. Understanding the effect Sam Cook had

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Speaker 1: on people on stage and off is not easy. I

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Speaker 1: can sit here and tell you all about his good looks,

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Speaker 1: his charm, his talent, and you'll likely nod and think

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Speaker 1: you understand. But to truly understand his appeal, you have

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Speaker 1: to understand that Sam learned how to reach people by

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Speaker 1: being a gospel singer, which means he got to people

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Speaker 1: on a spiritual level, by using all of his God

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Speaker 1: given gifts to shake you to your core, to hold you.

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Speaker 1: His voice shot straight to the hearts of young and

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Speaker 1: old women alike. As a performer, he owned you. You

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Speaker 1: were enraptured. He was able to do whatever he wanted

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Speaker 1: to you. You were powerless to his terms. And because

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Speaker 1: of this, Sam Cook aka Mister Wonderful aka Cupid aka

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Speaker 1: Sam the Seducer, the man with the golden tongue, and

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Speaker 1: the unbridled libido grew very accustomed to getting exactly what

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Speaker 1: he wanted, whenever he wanted it. Sam had gotten what

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Speaker 1: he wanted all right, a shot at the big time.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't easy, but he was able to navigate his

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Speaker 1: way out of the gospel scene and for the most part,

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Speaker 1: avoid the dreaded sellout wrap. His first single, You Send Me,

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Speaker 1: went to number one on the pop charts, not just

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Speaker 1: the R and B charts, the top of the pop

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Speaker 1: charts and getting to the top sometimes seemed like a

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Speaker 1: giant pain in the ass, but it was worth the sweat.

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Speaker 1: Success was indeed sweet, and Sam deserved it. He was special.

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Speaker 1: He knew it. When most of his peers were blowing

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Speaker 1: their bread willy nilly, Sam was investing in himself. He

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Speaker 1: founded his own record label, Saar, writing and producing and

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Speaker 1: giving younger soul musicians on the come up a shot.

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Speaker 1: He and his new manager, the various stute Alan Klein,

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Speaker 1: had just swung a deal with RCA Records where Sam Cook,

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Speaker 1: a black man in nineteen sixty four America, would own

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Speaker 1: Saur's master recordings.

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Speaker 2: This was a big deal.

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Speaker 1: It meant power in the music industry, in industry that

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Speaker 1: in the early nineteen sixties was entirely controlled.

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Speaker 2: By white men and gangster con artists.

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Speaker 1: Now Sam Cook, a black man and a real artist,

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Speaker 1: was also an executive producer who controlled his own future

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Speaker 1: and was able to provide real opportunities for young black

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Speaker 1: men and support with both his voice and his wallet,

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Speaker 1: a cause that had grown dear to him, the growing

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Speaker 1: civil rights movement. It had been a long time coming,

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Speaker 1: for sure, but change in a lot of ways had come.

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Speaker 1: Sam had come a long way from selling quote unquote

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Speaker 1: race records out of barbershops and shoeshine stands to hanging

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Speaker 1: with Muhammad Ali and headlining the COPA, and now a

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Speaker 1: stable of younger artists depended on him for guidance, material expertise, tours, support,

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Speaker 1: financial support. It was heavy and heavy lay the crown.

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Speaker 1: Plus there was still his own career that needed minding.

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Speaker 1: His current album for RCA, Ain't That Good News was

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Speaker 1: ending its cycle, and Sam had plans for his greatest

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Speaker 1: creative achievement yet, a blues album that perfectly melded his patented,

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Speaker 1: sophisticated soul with the down home, gut punch of blues

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Speaker 1: artists he loved, like John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters.

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Speaker 1: It was unclear how Sam was going to pull this off,

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Speaker 1: but he was obsessed. Some days it was all he

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Speaker 1: could think of, But finding the space to think and

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Speaker 1: be creative was not easy. There was always something. It

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Speaker 1: was a lot. The investment in himself it was paying off,

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Speaker 1: but man, it was stressful sometimes. He'd married Barbara Campbell,

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Speaker 1: one of the mothers of his six children, thinking marriage

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Speaker 1: would add a sense of order to his life, when

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Speaker 1: in effect all it did.

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Speaker 2: Was add more chaos.

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Speaker 1: The home, despite the Walldewall carpet, the brand new high

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Speaker 1: Fi and the pool out back, was a straight up

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Speaker 1: battlefield when Barbara was around. That woman was almost as

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Speaker 1: restless as he was. The tension was thick and ever present.

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Speaker 1: In the phone it never stopped ringing. The Valentino's bus

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Speaker 1: had broken down on tour. Little Billy Preston needed money

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Speaker 1: for a new organ. Johnny Taylor was pissed off again

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Speaker 1: about something or.

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Speaker 2: Another, and Martin was calling.

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Speaker 1: He wanted to talk to Sam about performing at a

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Speaker 1: benefit for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference early next year.

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Speaker 1: Sam would do anything for Martin Luther King Junior, but

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Speaker 1: right now the civil rights movement would have to wait.

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Speaker 1: Sam needed to blow off some steam and get his

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Speaker 1: head right.

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Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this word word word.

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Speaker 1: Sam Cook's ferrari hit the valet at Martini's in Hollywood

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Speaker 1: sometime on the evening of December tenth, nineteen sixty four.

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Speaker 1: He'd meant to get dinner, but never made it to

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Speaker 1: the table. From the bar, He'd been swarmed by friends

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Speaker 1: and hangers on. The drinks were flowing, and Sam was

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Speaker 1: leading the bar and sing along after singalong, until a

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Speaker 1: pretty young woman in one of the booths caught his eye.

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Speaker 1: Sam was at her side in no time with a drink.

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Speaker 1: She was just as tight, and of course he was hers.

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Speaker 1: With Sam's energy now focused on the task at hand,

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Speaker 1: the vibe in the bar had died down. A change

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Speaker 1: of scenery was needed, so it was decided they'd hit

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Speaker 1: PJS over on Santa Monica. Now after midnight, Sam was

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Speaker 1: at least four or five martini's deep. The woman Eliza

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Speaker 1: Boyer was stunning, even more so on closing time, and

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Speaker 1: was garnering attention from other men beside Sam. This did

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Speaker 1: not please mister Wonderful. A fight nearly ensued. Fuck the bars,

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Speaker 1: let's get some privacy. The two jumped in Sam's ferrari

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Speaker 1: and were out on the four or five in no time.

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Speaker 1: He was driving fast, heading out of town. Where were

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Speaker 1: they going? Aliza was staying downtown and don't worry about that,

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Speaker 1: relax enjoy the ride. Aliza was worried. She told Sam

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Speaker 1: she wanted to get out. He was clearly drunk, driving

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Speaker 1: like a lunatic and pulling off of a bottle of

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Speaker 1: Scotch and apparently headed somewhere out by the airport. She

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Speaker 1: had no idea where, but Sam had an idea. The

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Speaker 1: Hacienda Hotel. It was perfect, that little place that Sims

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Speaker 1: Twins first told him about, remote, quiet, cheap, an indiscriminate

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Speaker 1: of color or marital status.

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Speaker 2: No last call Etharios to loosen the vibe.

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Speaker 1: While trying to get a little miss Strange to help

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Speaker 1: him blow off his steam, but Eliza seriously wasn't having it.

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Speaker 1: It didn't matter. She'd come around. They always did. He

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Speaker 1: was Sam Cook, mister fucking Wonderful. The Ferrari sloppily roared

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Speaker 1: into the Hacienda parking lot at two thirty five am.

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Speaker 1: Sam hit the motel manager's office, looking like a damn fool,

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Speaker 1: wild eyed, anxious, drunk to the motel manager, exactly like

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Speaker 1: every other man who checked in at two in the morning.

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Speaker 1: She gave him a room key and noticed the girl

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Speaker 1: on the Ferrari with the Jacqueline Kennedy scarf and glasses

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Speaker 1: in the motel room. Things were not going as Sam planned. Eliza,

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Speaker 1: despite her googly eyed bullshit back at the bar, wasn't

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Speaker 1: picking up what Sam was putting down. Sam had had enough.

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Speaker 1: He was impatient, horny. He grabbed her, groping, kissing, all

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Speaker 1: hands no heart gone was a subtlety he was known

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Speaker 1: for on stage and on record. It was replaced by

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Speaker 1: base colonel desire that was obvious and boring, the same

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Speaker 1: as all the other ordinary men she'd known. Eliza was

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Speaker 1: grossed out. She wanted no part of it. She wanted

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Speaker 1: Sam to take her home now, but Sam wouldn't have it.

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Speaker 1: She'd come around. They always did. He was the Sam Cook,

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Speaker 1: executive seducer. It was only a matter of time, he thought. Besides,

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Speaker 1: he had a piss. He hit the bathroom to give

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Speaker 1: a little miss Strange a minute to collect herself. Instead,

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Speaker 1: she collected her clothes and got the fuck out of

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Speaker 1: there in a hurry. She split ran out of the room,

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Speaker 1: half naked and just her bra and slipped and through

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Speaker 1: the parking lot, past the motel manager's office and out

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Speaker 1: onto the street, and just like that.

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Speaker 2: Gone in the wind. Sam came out of the bathroom

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Speaker 2: to an empty room. No Strange. The door was open.

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Speaker 1: Sam was naked and his clothes were gone, and his

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Speaker 1: wallet what the fuck? He grabbed all he could find,

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Speaker 1: his blazer and one shoe, scooped up his car keys,

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Speaker 1: jumped in the ferrari and squealed over to the manager's office,

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Speaker 1: where he imagined Lisa to be hiding out in Again,

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Speaker 1: he parked like an asshole, jumped out of the car,

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Speaker 1: left the driver's side door open, and with one shoe

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Speaker 1: on and with little Sam Cook hanging out beneath his blazer,

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Speaker 1: he began pounding on the door. Let me in, Where

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Speaker 1: is she? The fuck wear are my clothes? She took

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Speaker 1: my wallet. On the other side of the door was

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Speaker 1: fifty five year old Bertha Lee Franklin. She checked Sam

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Speaker 1: in earlier and knew exactly how fucked up the fool

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Speaker 1: on the other side of the door was. She was

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Speaker 1: nonplussed and was on the phone with her boss at

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Speaker 1: the moment, as she always was at this time of night,

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Speaker 1: so she ignored Sam. Sam grew more upset started shouting again.

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Speaker 1: She ain't in here, Yes she is, I know she is.

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Speaker 1: Let me in, mister. There ain't no one in here

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Speaker 1: but me. That's when Sam started ramming the door with

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Speaker 1: his shoulder three tries, and he came pouring into the

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Speaker 1: joint like a bag of banged up bricks.

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Speaker 2: Bertha Lee was stunned.

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Speaker 1: Still on the phone, she told this naked fool to

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Speaker 1: get out, and that the woman he was looking for

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Speaker 1: wasn't there, But Sam cock blocked and blue balled, was

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Speaker 1: not hearing it.

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Speaker 2: He was leering over her.

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Speaker 1: Shoulder into the apartment adjacent to the motel manager's office.

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Speaker 1: He knew she was in there, and now thought that

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Speaker 1: this woman was in on whatever scam was being run

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Speaker 1: on him. After all, why the hell else wouldn't that

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Speaker 1: woman sleep with him?

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Speaker 2: Where the fuck was she? And where are my clothes? Mister?

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Speaker 1: She ain't in here. You gotta go, Sam snapped. He

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Speaker 1: grabbed Bertha Lee by the shoulders and started shaking her.

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Speaker 1: The struggle intensified. The phone fell to the floor. Bertha

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Speaker 1: Lee tried biting, scratching. Sam threw her to the ground

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Speaker 1: and pounced, still naked and even more enraged, but Bertha

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Speaker 1: Lee was able to get out from under him and

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Speaker 1: wobble to her feet.

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Speaker 2: She knew where the gun was.

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Speaker 1: It was there for a reason, to fend off some

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Speaker 1: wild eyed, horny, drunk fool in the middle of the night.

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Speaker 1: She grabbed the twenty two resting on the television, and

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00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:11,320
Speaker 1: as Sam started to come at her again, she aimed

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Speaker 1: and pulled the trigger. The first shot whistled over his head,

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Speaker 1: the second passed his shoulder, and the third straight into

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Speaker 1: the heart of cupid. Stunned, Sam Cook looked up at

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Speaker 1: Bertha Lee Franklin and said, lady, you shot me. Sam

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00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:34,520
Speaker 1: fell to his knees and for a moment seemed subdued,

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00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:37,920
Speaker 1: but then, in a last burst of adrenaline, attacked Bertha

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00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:42,000
Speaker 1: Lee again. This time would be his last. She could

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Speaker 1: sense that life was a fleeting proposition for this naked

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Speaker 1: fool and showed mercy. She dropped the gun, grabbed a broom,

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Speaker 1: and gave Sam a simple oops upside the head to

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Speaker 1: keep him at bay. It was all that was needed.

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Speaker 1: He fell over and died. The official cause of death

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Speaker 1: a shot to the heart. Bertha Lee Franklin shot and

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Speaker 1: killed Sam Cook. The court cleared her of any charges.

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Speaker 1: The homicide was ruled justifiable, but the court of public.

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Speaker 2: Opinion thought otherwise.

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Speaker 1: Bertha Lee received numerous death threats, was forced to quit

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Speaker 1: her job, go into hiding, and was sued by Sam

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Speaker 1: Cook's widow for her husband's funeral expenses. A husband who

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Speaker 1: was one of the most successful pop stars in the world,

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Speaker 1: a husband she grieved over for exactly three months before

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Speaker 1: marrying his best friend Bobby Womack. But Bertha Lee didn't

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Speaker 1: deserve this treatment, not a according to the jury that

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Speaker 1: took all of twenty minutes before coming back with the

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Speaker 1: ruling of justifiable homicide. Why because she was the victim,

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Speaker 1: not Sam Cook. Because she voluntarily took and passed a

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Speaker 1: lie detector test, as did her boss. The owner of

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Speaker 1: the hotel, Evelyn Carr, who was on the phone with

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Speaker 1: her at the time the incident went down. Then, at

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Speaker 1: three point fifteen am, as soon as the line disconnected

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Speaker 1: in the middle of the melee when Sam was attacking

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Speaker 1: Bertha Lee, Evelyn Carr, her boss, called the police to

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Speaker 1: report what she heard on the other end of the

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Speaker 1: motel phone in Her call came minutes after Eliza Boyer

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Speaker 1: had called the police from a payphone out on the

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Speaker 1: street by the hotel to report that she had been kidnapped. Furthermore,

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00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:51,880
Speaker 1: as soon as the police arrived on the scene, Eliza

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00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:55,000
Speaker 1: emerged from the shadows to voluntarily speak to them about

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00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:59,719
Speaker 1: everything that had just happened. These are facts corroborated by

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00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,800
Speaker 1: phone records in the Los Angeles Police Department. Facts that

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00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:06,720
Speaker 1: don't sound like the acts of thieves conspiring to rob

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00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:09,440
Speaker 1: a pop star, which was the theory being pushed by

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00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:14,679
Speaker 1: Sam's friends, family, and management. The excuse making machines started

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Speaker 1: up immediately, and frankly, it's still hums. The thinking from

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Speaker 1: Sam Cook apologist goes like this, Sam was high class.

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00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:26,520
Speaker 1: Why would we believe these women? One Bertha Lee Franklin

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00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:30,840
Speaker 1: was working in this fleabag motel and the other Eliza Boyer,

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00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:33,840
Speaker 1: was hanging out in it with a married man, and

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Speaker 1: Aliza Boyer was arrested a month later for prostitution. She

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Speaker 1: was a pro so she was probably also a scam artist.

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00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:44,760
Speaker 1: She had to have taken Sam's wallet scooped it up

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00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:47,320
Speaker 1: along with his clothes when she made her hasty escape

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Speaker 1: from the room.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.

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Speaker 1: She claims she grabbed all this stuff by accident, but.

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Speaker 2: Come on, do you believe her? As a matter of fact,

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Speaker 2: I do believe her.

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Speaker 1: If it were all a scam on Eliza's why would

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00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:03,359
Speaker 1: she have called the police to claim she'd been kidnapped.

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00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:07,199
Speaker 1: At that time, she had no idea Sam had been shot.

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Speaker 1: The smart move would have been to disappear and not

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00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:14,199
Speaker 1: involve the police, But when the cops showed up, she

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00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:18,560
Speaker 1: did too right away to deal with the problem. Let's

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Speaker 1: assume the apologists are write about Alisa that it was

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00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,480
Speaker 1: a scam that she robbed him. It doesn't erase the

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Speaker 1: fact that Sam Cook physically attacked Bertha Lee Franklin, broke

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00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:31,480
Speaker 1: down her door and entered naked into her office like

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00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:35,560
Speaker 1: a madman, enraged over not getting what he wanted sex

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Speaker 1: with a woman he'd been worked up into a frenzy over.

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00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,640
Speaker 1: When I started thinking about Sam Cook's death, I thought

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00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:47,159
Speaker 1: I'd write about the mysteries surrounding his murder. He was

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Speaker 1: set up by the two women. His wife did it

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Speaker 1: so she could marry Bobby Womack. The mafia did it

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Speaker 1: because Sam was gaining too much power in the music industry. Please,

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Speaker 1: a half hour's worth of research easily debunks the theories.

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00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,040
Speaker 1: The only mystery here is why we as a culture

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00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:08,200
Speaker 1: are still letting Sam Cook skate. There is a victim here,

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00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:12,520
Speaker 1: but it ain't mister Wonderful. It's Bertha Lee Franklin. Yet

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00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,920
Speaker 1: history doesn't regard Sam Cook as a lecherous creep. Instead,

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00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,560
Speaker 1: history shifts the blame to his victim under the cloud

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Speaker 1: of conspiracy. Because in the pantheon of pop music, Sam

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00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:28,880
Speaker 1: Cook is a sacred cow. He's teflon. You can't touch him.

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Speaker 1: He did so much good. He was a civil rights champion.

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Speaker 1: He was a proud black entrepreneur. He was immensely talented

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Speaker 1: and intelligent. Yes, all of this is true, and all

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00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 1: this deservedly should be part of his legacy, But why

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00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:48,960
Speaker 1: can't it be both? Why can't we reconcile the artist

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00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:53,120
Speaker 1: and the public figure with the physically abusive cree. Are

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00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:56,480
Speaker 1: we incapable of nuance as a society? Why does Sam

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Speaker 1: Cook's legacy have to be one or the other? What

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Speaker 1: if the same crime happened today, how would we as

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Speaker 1: a society treat Sam Cook's murder under the exact same

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00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:10,239
Speaker 1: circumstances in the era of Me Too? We'd bury him

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Speaker 1: in the court of public opinion and throw Bertha Lee

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Speaker 1: Franklin a parade. We'd put her on the cover of

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Speaker 1: Time magazine for standing up for herself, which would be

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00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:22,320
Speaker 1: the right thing to do. Everyone loved Sam Cook. They

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00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:25,800
Speaker 1: still do, even in death and in life. Because he

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00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:28,480
Speaker 1: was so beloved. He was used to getting exactly what

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00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,480
Speaker 1: he wanted, and when he didn't, he couldn't handle it,

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00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:34,920
Speaker 1: acted like a maniac and ultimately met an early demise.

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00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:38,359
Speaker 1: But in the end he's still got the legacy, and

403
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:41,520
Speaker 1: guessing he would have won it, and his victim, Bertha

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00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:46,040
Speaker 1: Lee Franklin, got the shaft, which is unfortunate and some

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Speaker 1: would say disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is disgraceland.

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Speaker 1: Disgraceland was created by yours truly and is produced in

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00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:04,159
Speaker 1: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be

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00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:07,639
Speaker 1: found on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com.

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Speaker 1: If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank

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Speaker 1: you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it, and

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Speaker 2: He then