Monday March 8, 2021 “Respect” Aretha Franklin
Sure I remember that we had Aretha on song of the day before and most recently with that heart wrenching version of “Natural Woman” at the Kennedy Center but March is Women’s Month and today is International Women’s Day and I couldn’t think of anyone more appropriate than the Queen of Soul to mark today musically.
Otis Redding wrote and recorded this song in 1965 and had a minor hit with it but when he heard Aretha’s version he said (respectfully), “This girl has taken that song from me. Aint no longer my song. From now on, it belongs to her.”
And when Aretha sang about ‘respect’ it was a demand for equality and freedom and a forerunner of feminism, carried by a voice that would accept nothing less and when asked why the song is so successful, Aretha explained simply, "Everyone wants to be respected."
She placed more than 100 singles in the Billboard charts, including 17 Top 10 pop singles and 20 No. 1 R&B hits. She received 18 competitive Grammy Awards, along with a lifetime achievement award in 1994. She was the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, in 1987, its second year.
Rolling Stone magazine put Ms. Franklin at the top of its 2010 list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time,”
Stay safe and well...and to all the girls, ladies and women, much respect...and love.