On your way out: An abridged roundup of the songs we at Enterprise have loved for a while — and have no problem listening to again and again:

Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonna Come is a 1964 song that to this day effortlessly captures the American rights movement. The song is a tribute to the many African Americans who lost their lives, and is considered one of the gems of soul music — a genre that became a universal symbol of civil struggle and the black experience in the US. The man behind the lyrics, who also gave us the catchy What A Wonderful World and the groovy Twistin' The Night Away, rose to prominence despite a short life and became known as the King of Soul.

Astronomy by Blue Öyster Cult: Astronomy was first released on BOC’s 1974 album Secret Treaties, and was the first of a group of songs that strung together a fictional story about a man given superhuman powers, which he uses to play a part in the events of World War II. The band is one of the early inspirations for many of the well-known rock bands still around today. Metallica covered the song for their 1998 album Garage Inc.

Purple Rain soundtrack by Prince and the Revolution. The title track hasn’t aged since 1983, as proven by how much it was overplayed (and enjoyed) when the legend passed away in 2016. Its true birth was when Prince and the band took a break from filming the movie to record a benefit gig, and the capper was a slow 10-minute track that begins on acoustic guitar and breaks out into an epic rock ballad. The album is also packed with other classics like When Doves Cry and Let’s Go Crazy — classics that refuse to die. Great music poured effortlessly from the man who gave us more than 30 albums over 40 years. Stick the movie on too for some cheesy uplifting 1980s nostalgic — you know at least the music will be good.

Summertime by Big Brother & the Holding Company (1968): Janis Joplin’s raspy voice cast over the sound of a solitary wailing guitar in the final stretch of the 1960s spells a mournful ode to a fleeting sense of optimism and an out-of-reach yearning for something better — summer, perhaps? In what would otherwise be the final stretch before the summer season kicks in, the band’s cover of George Gershwin’s Summertime feels as appropriate now as it might have been at the time of its 1968 release, as uncertainty remains the defining feature of both then and now. While Big Brother & the Holding Company fell short of widespread notoriety after the release of their 1968 album Cheap Thrills, which features Summertime, the band’s front woman Janis Joplin saw her brief career take flight shortly afterwards, which makes the track a gem in the relatively limited discography Joplin has left behind.

If you’re looking for something different, try listening to the ambassador of the Kabyle culture of Amazigh: The Algerian Hamid Cheriet, better known as Idir, recently passed away in Paris after a life full of achievements, including introducing the rich Kabyle culture to the world. His career maintained a sense of Algerian pride, which saw him team up with Cheb Khaled in the 1990s in a Paris concert to promote peace. Idir also sought to bridge the two sides of the Mediterranean in duets with European artists and addressed his African heritage with the help of artists from North Africa, Mali, and Uganda. Check out some of our favorite songs of his: A Vava Inouva and Zwit Rwit.