Bobby Womack Song About Sam Cooke

Soul music icons Bobby Womack and Sam Cooke had a complicated relationship that included friendship, mentoring, and ultimately a terrible turn of events that had a long-lasting effect on both their lives and the music business. Womack’s song “I Wish He Didn’t Trust Me So Much” perfectly captures this relationship. Despite its title, the song is actually about the singer’s wish to be with his friend’s wife, Barbara Cooke, following Cooke’s tragic death rather than an actual affair.

When Bobby Womack was a preteen touring with The Womack Brothers, his relationship with Sam Cooke first started. Cooke became the young musician’s mentor, teaching him the ins and outs of business and offering songwriting advice after being pleased by his talent and musicianship. The basis of their friendship was this business relationship, which was made possible by Womack’s father, Friendly Womack, who made arrangements for the Womack brothers to open for Cooke’s band, The Soul Stirrers. Both artists, with their roots in gospel, brought a distinctive flavor to religious music while on tour with trailblazing acts such as The Staple Singers. When Cooke was fatally shot in the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles in 1964, the relationship took a terrible turn. Womack eventually filled the vacuum that Cooke had left in unexpected ways.

After Cooke’s funeral, Womack turned up driving Cooke’s car and wearing one of Cooke’s clothes. At her insistence, he wed Barbara Cooke, Cooke’s widow, in less than three months. When their marriage was revealed on February 18, 1965, in a Jet Magazine piece, there was criticism and even jeers at concerts. Womack fell out with his brothers and was assaulted by Barbara’s brother. Womack believed that Cooke would have approved of his marriage to Barbara in spite of the criticism. However, the marriage ended on a sour note, with Womack developing bad habits and eventually causing an irreparable rift in the marriage.

The song “I Wish He Didn’t Trust Me So Much” was released as one of Womack’s last chart-topping hits. Some have interpreted the lyrics, which convey a desire to be with his friend’s wife but also a concern of leading her on, as a diss record because of Womack’s conduct after Cooke passed away. But Womack argued that the song was really about his desire to be with his friend’s wife, not about an actual affair.

Bobby Womack and Sam Cooke’s story illustrates the intricacies of relationships in the music business, where love relationships can develop out of mentorship and emotional grief can have unanticipated consequences. Womack’s music offered an emotional soundtrack to Black life in America despite the controversy and criticism, leaving a lasting legacy that still has an impact on performers and listeners today.