Aretha Franklin – Thanks For the Music!! Thanks For the Attitude!!

Posted on by Opher

Back in the sixties I was greatly into the wonders of Soul Music with its power and attitude. It seemed to capture the spirit of Black Culture. These were the heady days of civil rights. Blacks were only now fighting for equality and Soul Music had that power and joy in it.

I particularly loved Booker T & the MGS, Wilson Pickett, Lee Dorsey, Eddie Floyd, Sam and Dave, James Brown, Albert King and Percy Sledge.

I loved the sounds coming out of that Stax Studio in Memphis with its racially mixed musicians that seemed to sum up the times for me. I visited it a few years back. There was magic.

For me the King of Soul was undoubtedly Otis Redding. He was unassailable. But the Queen of Soul was Aretha Franklin.

Aretha was a feisty little lady full of power who belted out her songs with a voice that could blow down walls.

The two stand out tracks for me were Think and Respect.

You better think (think)
Think about what you’re trying to do to me
Yeah, think (think, think)
Let your mind go, let yourself be free
Oh, freedom (freedom), freedom (freedom)
Oh, freedom, yeah, freedom
Freedom (freedom), freedom (freedom)
Freedom, oh freedom
Hey, think about it, think about it
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, TCB
Both songs seemed to me to not just be about the emancipation of Black culture but also the equality of Women. It seemed to me that Aretha was fighting for both with all her heart and soul!
Good on you Aretha. We’ll miss you!
Dig the power!!!

 

10 thoughts on “Aretha Franklin – Thanks For the Music!! Thanks For the Attitude!!”

  1. They demolished Stax Studio in 1989! Then it was an empty space of a car park for years. I can’t think what was magic about an entirely new building.

    1. Strangely there is. Like standing on the spot where Elmore James worked in his electrical shop which is now a derelict wasteland. Like the Cavern.

      1. At least they re-built upon the spot. Whereas “The Cavern #2” is now on the opposite side of the road. Why bother?

      3. I’d be surprised if they got to use very many as I saw a video of the demolition. These Merkin balls aren’t too choosy about saving anything for reuse. Maybe they salvaged a few here and there, but nothing structural. Bricks, just like anything else have a tendency to rot and decay. Especially cheap bricks. Had it been beautiful sandstone, granite, marble or flag stone, then we’d be wanting a reuse with that kind of stuff. I did my old barn up using resables, all the lintels and everything.

      1. Hey Opher! You know we have discussed music at some great length, havent we? 🙂 One of my earliest musical memories comes from a summer afternoon in 1970, listening to my very first transistor radio. I was tuned in to the local top 40 station of the time and one of those songs that still stands out in my mind is Aretha’s Rose in Spanish Harlem

      2. Ale – isn’t it amazing how much of an impact music can have on you? What impressed me about Aretha was the range she had. She was able to sing so melodically, so sweetly and then belt it out with passion. That is a beautiful song.

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