Music Monday Obit: Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul
Posted By RichC on August 20, 2018
Last week we lost the singer and pianist Aretha Franklin at age 76 who’s trailblazing career began in the turbulent 1960s when America was being torn apart (sounds eerily familiar).
I was in grade school when her R and B records were popping on the charts and being played on AM radio; I didn’t really hear much in the segregated mid to late sixties (parents controlled the radio), but her music was heard, remembered and definitely played when I started to listen on my own … as well as by every generation that followed.
It is sad to lose another musical great, but know that all who love music were thankful for her great contribution to our American music history. She was one of the greats and deserves our R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Interesting tidbit on that song:
“Respect” is a song written and originally released by American recording artist Otis Redding in 1965. The song became a 1967 hit and signature song for R&B singer Aretha Franklin. The music in the two versions is significantly different, and through a few changes in the lyrics, the stories told by the songs have a different flavor. Redding’s version is a plea from a desperate man, who will give his woman anything she wants. He won’t care if she does him wrong, as long as he gets his due respect when he brings money home. However, Franklin’s version is a declaration from a strong, confident woman, who knows that she has everything her man wants. She never does him wrong, and demands his “respect”. Franklin’s version adds the “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” chorus and the backup singers’ refrain of “Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me…”.
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