In celebration of Aretha Franklin
 

Before the Grammy Awards, I thought of starting a thread in celebration of Aretha Franklin. There has been discussion in the Huffington Post, among other newsies, that Aretha has pancreatic cancer. This got me to thinking a lot about her music and the ways in which it has intertwined with my life. I want to celebrate her while she lives. To thank her in my own way. So, I will tell a short something and post a music video. I invite anyone who loves her music to do the same. Be nice :)

My first relationship, every time I heard this song, I was filled with something so powerful, so deep inside, such love, that when I heard it, I nearly cried. That first love: the racing hormones, the newly found poetry that expressed secret desires, the recall of the first kiss, the first uh huh, all of that at one time just hearing this song. I still get goose flesh... and I remember.

Now, music lovers will probably just have to say that Dionne Warwick sang this song too around the same time (and many others followed later). True dat. But there is something so evocative in Aretha's version. So much in the gut, so very real, that I favor hers over Dionne's.

I'm posting two versions because there is a palpable difference in sound (and it coheres with her history, her pain, her story/ies.). The first is rather sweet, song by the choir soloist. The second, well you be the judge.

bumpity, bump
 

Posted this late last night. I hope others remember Aretha's music and what they were doing when particular songs of hers became popular.

I listened to this last night and thought to post on the songs to break up thread, but will post here. It doesn't need explanation. Many of us have felt a fool ...

THANK YOU!
i remember so many thangs concerning aretha that evoked huge emotions in me over the years... many years... hell...ALL my years...

but... i think this is the one that has been sung along to by me the most thru the years... this rendition is the one i always hear in my head... no matter when or how or where its being played...

Good one, rlin. Another righteous pick for the songs to break up thread, too. The "freedom" refrain, it is a strong and uplifting part.
Thanks!

Wooo, sing it Aretha!

Sing it again Aretha!

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sQz29AN1gs&feature=relmfu"]YouTube - Aretha Franklin - Willing To Forgive[/nomedia]

You listen to her and then realize how we as a society have cheapened the word diva by using it to describe anyone who has a hit single these days

damned skippy!!!
tell it!

I absolutely adore Aretha and I think this is her finest live performance. She had less than 30 minutes to prepare for singing one of Puccini's masterpieces. I love how she made it her own at the end.

How ironic that she has the same cancer that took the life of the man who made this aria his trademark and also my Mom who loved this piece so much we played it at her funeral.

wonderful lyrics...
 

WOW.....
a tribute...
WOW...

Amen to that! I thought about this song, didn't put it up ... too close to the bone right now ... but, her phrasing and feeling in this song is something. As for hit single diva's? True dat. There's no magical electronics used for Aretha's voice enhancement! Thanks for this and your insight :)

for my sister, Dolores
 

This was my sister's favorite Aretha song. We even went to hear a live performance ... twice ... long drive and all. May you sing this with the angels, Dolo.

Thanks, R. I caught this on the net. It reminded me that I was going to start a thread about her. This was something, wasn't it?

discography discovery
 

Digging through her discography and discovered this song, originally done by Maxine Brown, sung by Aretha. Classic early Aretha ... the phrasing, and reaching those notes effortlessly.

There's no past story associated with this song because I just found it. But, I, as many of us, can understand her disbelief of betrayal. The denial. But unlike other songs of this type, she hung onto her faith in her partner, which proved to be a good thing. I'm feeling cynical, so won't say anything more :|

No one sings Like a Bridge Over Troubled Water like Aretha. 'nuff said! Thanks for these two great picks, S.D.

Here's one of a young young Aretha getting down. The audio isn't the best but I thought it a hoot to see her so young and early into her career.

One of my favorites

Thanks again, DomnNC. I'm having trouble loading this ... am only getting glimpses of this performance (damn Verizon ...), but what I do hear, it is really good, live. Her voice is something else.

Love the sort of trill in the intro interspersed with the kinda church sound. Yeah, this is a good one. Love stuff. I feel her. No wonder she is the Queen of Soul.

This one ... well ... during difficult times ... loving on a one way street.

All my life I grew up with R&B music...my mother the feminist loved this music...she'd send me 8tracs (don't laugh) from a record store in Chicago...lots of 'Retha...

Years later, I feel in love with a TG Stone Butch that was no good, "he is a liar and a cheat"...we'd play this 'Retha cd all the time and I never thought it was a song about him...until one day....(fill in the blank______________)

[CENTER][/CENTER

8 tracks? OMG! I haven't even heard of those for decades! :| And I ain't laughing at you, but at me!

Yeah, this was one of those pity party songs ... and you could really cry cause she is so good at making you feel her pain ... which matches your own.

Thanks, Canela for the story ... that's what I'm after: how some music relates to your life, past and present. I mean, I listen to Aretha, and can pinpoint exactly where I was (I've moved a lot), who I was with, what year, etc. It's like a personal, musical history, ya know?

Shhhh! Yes yes, 8 tracks....obviously I go back a ways...ahem...

So yeah, she surely can make you feel her pain...I love love love me some Aretha Franklin!

Thanks for starting this thread...I am loving it!

Listening to this one now, I have a different read on the words then I did when a youth. We used to say, " ... take me to bed ... " and mess up the original lyrics. Hormones, right? :simplelaugh: But now ... a woman asking to be taken for granted ... different feelings about this now. It is My la frontera.

Ok, I'm stuck on this one ...
 

oh man, this song ... I woke up with it this morning. Sorry for the repeat. Just cannot help it ... songs, music, have such a way of speaking the feelings, the thoughts, the deep reflections of one's interior. One's soul. Heart. Just feeling this shit.

remember this one? She is dressed fine here ... I used to wonder who the heck picked her outfits ... I'm a faggy butch, what can I say?:readfineprint::|
Catch Flip "the devil made me do it" Wilson on the intro?

Thank you, Theo (and, little Ivan, of course). I have not brought up, except by innuendo, her religious roots ... But yes, these are primo examples of her personal journey, her odyssey in music ... and life. One can hear the Gospel nuances in her "secular" songs. It brings to mind a little something I wrote about G-d and Sex ... never mind. These songs are great and I love your picks!

"i wanted her to be mine.. " That's coz you're a greedy bastid :canadian:
"Presence" is an apt descriptor for her. You hit it spot on. It, this "presence," is when she sings, palpable and, well, just with/in you.

I too grew up listening to R&B. (Back then it was also known as the Motown Sound and/or Soul Music.) I remember my first big crush, 13 years my senior playing and singing R E S P E C T, over and over again. I was in the 7th grade.

I cannot access YouTube right now but if I could, I would post Aretha singing the song about a "Chain of Fools."


Chain, chain, chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaainnnnn, Chain of fools.

Another one of her lost love songs ... she was good was these. Gawd, I remember feeling this ...