Throwback Thursday: Aretha Franklin – “Respect” (Live)
Yesterday marked five years since we lost the Queen of Soul, so it’s only right that we honor her memory with a lookback at signature hit, “Respect.”
Originally performed by Otis Redding in 1965, the song is about a man who doesn’t feel like he’s getting enough respect from his ol’ lady. This version, which credits Redding as its sole writer, is actually not the first version of the song, which is said to have been a ballad. The writer of that original version remains a bit of a mystery, but Otis Redding rewrote its lyrics and upped the tempo to create his version.
The Otis Redding version of “Respect” would become a top 40 hit in the US and one of the biggest songs of his career. And then came the Aretha Franklin version.
In 1967, the Queen of Soul would cover the song but rearrange it so drastically that it basically sounded like an entirely new song. Curiously, Jerry Wexler is credited as the song’s producer, but every account of how it went down says all of the ideas for the rearrangement came from Aretha and her sisters, Erma and Carolyn. Aretha also played the piano on her cover of the song.
This overhaul of an established (and recent) recording would become a trend in the music business, and in many ways, pioneered what we now call remixing.
Aretha Franklin’s version of “Respect” would go on to become her first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earn her two Grammy Awards for Best R&B Recording and Best R&B Solo Vocal Performance in 1968. The song would also become a feminist and civil rights anthem, and quite frankly, one of the most iconic and recognizable songs of all time.
Long live the Queen of Soul.
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