"Sing It Out, Aretha!"
That woman certainly did, and more. And now, heaven has her all to herself.
The phrase had been repeated by my Mom over and over back in the singer's heyday every time an Aretha Franklin song would come on the radio. She had one heck of a voice, and I am sure in the Webster's dictionary under the word "Soul", her picture was probably there.
Sadly, this morning, August 16, 2018, we lost arguably the best singer of all time. Aretha Franklin passed away of pancreatic cancer. She was 76.
Any artist who can bring back a flood of memories instantaneously, who had the impact that she did, and who continued her craft almost up to the very day, definitely deserves the title "Queen of Soul", as one of her albums suggested, titled "Lady Soul". She was indeed, the Queen of Soul who passed, coincidentally, 41 years to the day that another 'royal' singer, Elvis Presley, aka "the King of Rock 'n' Roll". A lot of royalty up in heaven these days. And Aretha would pave the way for other singers from Whitney Houston to Beyoncé. Twenty number one songs on the R&B chart. Only two on the pop chart, but she was a fixture in the top 10 for a much, much, longer time. A legend, for sure.
You can read all about her life on many of the Internet links; right here I will attempt to explain the impact she had on me and my life. And she definitely was a part of my music listening experience.
Like many accomplished singers, it took a lot of hard work for her to get to the top. She, like many others, started singing in church, belting out those hymns, and in fact, her first album was in the gospel genre, Songs of Faith, in 1956. She made it to the big time five years later, signing with the giant record label Columbia and started releasing not only gospel records, but executives had noticed potential in the secular market as well. By 1962, she had released three albums for Columbia and started making both the R&B chart and the Billboard Hot 100. "Won't Be Long" from 1961 was the first to make the pop chart, coming in at #62. Her take on the standard, "Rock-a-bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody" was her biggest hit on Columbia, going to #37 in 1962. She had a stint in the classic gospel group The Sweet Inspirations, which included Cissy Houston, mother of another soul legend, Whitney Houston who was, no doubt influenced by Aretha's soulful style.
But her years at Columbia didn't really break her wide open. She came oh so close to stardom, close but no cigar. "Try A Little Tenderness", from 1962 only hit #100, but that song's writer, Otis Redding, would figure in her big break.
Such a break would come in early 1967, when she signed with Atlantic. While not as prestigious as labels like Motown and Stax, Atlantic had many R&B oriented artists around that time, including Wilson Pickett. Sam & Dave, Archie Bell & the Drells, and many others. It paid off immediately for Aretha, as her very first single for the label, "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)", reached #9 in April 1967. Then came the deluge....and my Mom's appreciation for her music.
Aretha followed that song up with "Respect", a cover of an Otis Redding song, and it became her first---and only solo---number one song, hitting the top in June, 1967, just as I finished fifth grade, and would become her signature song. By then, my Mom listened to her music extensively. And it is easy to know why: While Redding's original recording was, invariably about a woman respecting her man in a relationship, Aretha brought it all new meaning. This was a time of civil unrest; that summer would bring rioting in many major cities in the country, and it was a rallying cry for those persons of color who were part of the national landscape and trying to develop an identity and, well, respect. But, even more so, it was a rallying cry for women, as the women's liberation movement was in full swing. "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" was definitely the battle cry for equality.
That wasn't lost on my Mom, as she, too was emerging from my Dad's shadow just a few years back. She left him, took my brother and myself with her to an apartment, got herself a job and took on the empowerment of her independence. She definitely could relate to getting respect.
The period between the Spring of 1967 and Summer of 1968 was a hot one pop-wise for Aretha. While we often talk about artists like The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Monkees, and Supremes racking up hit after hit, during this period, there was no one hotter than Aretha Franklin. During this span, she followed up those two hits with "Baby I Love You" (#4, summer of 1967); "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman" (a song co-written by Carole King, in which my Mom had the 45, #8, autumn 1967, played during our family Thanksgiving dinner); "Chain Of Fools" (#2, winter of 1968); "Since You Been Gone" (#5, early spring 1968); "Think" (#7, late spring/early summer, 1968), and the double sided hit "The House the Jack Built" (#6) and "I Say A Little Prayer" (#10), both from late summer of 1968.
Aretha cooled off slightly after that, but only by comparison. The streak ended with "See Saw" which stopped at #14 late in 1968. Still, she entered the top 40 every time turning the next several years, including many top 20 songs, many of them covers, such as The Band's "The Weight", The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby", Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water", the Motown classic "You're All I Need to Get By", and "Border Song", a #37 song in 1970 written by a then-unknown team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Elton's version only reached #93 that same year. But Aretha was a songwriter too and a damn good one, writing "Call Me", a #13 song from early 1970.
By 1971, her wild singing was a bit more subdued, but only by comparison. She had another string of top 10's, beginning with the aforementioned "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (#6, spring 1971). Then came Ben E. King's "Spanish Harlem" a summer smash in 1971 that reached #2, and her own "Rock Steady" (#9, fall of 1971). My Mom (and myself, of course, was still a fan) and that Christmas, I bought her "Aretha's Greatest Hits' compilation album for her, wearing the grooves out of it. "Day Dreaming" a nice, cool, mellow jam also written by her, finished up her second streak, going to #5 in the spring of 1972.
She cooled off after that, missing the top 20 with "All the Kings Horses" and "Master of Eyes", but hit that twenty spot once again with "Angel", one of my personal favorite songs of hers, co-written by her and her sister Carolyn (and Sonny Saunders). It ushered in my senior year in high school, and it also showcases a nice, soulful mellow side of her. She proved her versatility a long time ago, but this was just icing on the cake.
The follow-up to "Angel" was one of my all-time favorite Aretha songs, "Until You Come Back to Me". Co-written by Stevie Wonder, it became a hit in January 1974. reaching #3. What I remember most about this song is that the first time I heard it, we were appropriately celebrating my Mom's 45th birthday, and we had a very mild day for mid-January with the temperature going into the low seventies---it was perfect as this song felt like the oncoming on spring.
She then started a steep decline for reasons unknown. "I'm in Love" reached #19 as the follow-up, but aside from 1976's "Something He Can Feel" from the movie Sparkle, she missed the top 40 for the remainder of the decade. One possible reason for this could be that it was the disco era, and in spite of that genre's R&B roots, Aretha never really embraced that style, or at least wasn't promoted on the dance floors. She would finally leave Atlantic records in 1979.
1980, however was an interesting year for Aretha in a couple of ways, both of them pretty much referred to as a "nostalgia" act. The Blues Brothers, a movie based on the 1979 album of the same name featuring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Jake and Elwood Blues", featured several soul and R&B singers from the past , including James Brown, Ray Charles, and of course, Aretha. The film was a box office hit.
Later that year, rock duo Steely Dan released their album Gaucho, with the lead single being "Hey Nineteen". That top ten song was about meeting a girl (19 years old) who was deemed much too young for the protagonist that, with contrasting pop cultures of their day, seemed incompatible with each other, the singer having come of age in 1967 in the era in which Aretha was red hot. The second verse, for example, went:
"Hey Nineteen, that's Aretha Franklin
She don't remember The Queen of Soul
Hard times befalling on sole survivors
she think's I'm crazy but I'm just growing old"
The lyrics are perplexing in that while the girl involved was only 4 during Aretha's initial hit phase, she would have been 11 when "Until You Come Back to Me" became a hit and she had to be aware of her presence and talent. Besides, six years isn't that long a time to wipe one's self from a memory.
But regardless, Aretha, with her new label ---Clive Davis' Arista records---would soon be "relevant", even more so in the 1980's.
Her comeback started in 1982 with "Jump to It", which brought her back to the top 40 at #24, but that paled to her album Freeway of Love, released three years later. The title track got to #3, in her new 80's groove, and the follow-up, a favorite "Who's Zooming Who" (#7). The female anthem "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves" which featured Eurythmics' Annie Lennox was a top 20 hit that year as well. "Another Night", "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (a cover of the Stones classic) and "Jimmy Lee" were top 30 hits in 1986.
Twenty years after "Respect", Aretha finally had another number one record, "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me", a duet with George Michael, newly split from his duo Wham! and just before his landmark Faith set. Her final top 20 came in 1989, "Through the Storm", paired up with Brit, Elton John, whose "Border Song" she covered almost twenty years earlier. In 1998, she reprised her role in Blues Brothers 2000 the sequel.
Aretha continued to make the Hot 100 in the 1990's and the R&B chart well into the 2000's. She didn't need that renewed flurry; she became a legend and had nothing else to prove, but she remained very visible. Her final chart appearance (barring a swarm of activity in the wake of her death), 2014's remake of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" which hit #47 R&B and #1 on the dance chart, from her album Sings the Great Diva Classics.
Putting all the charts aside, Aretha was a professional in every sense of the word. Her legend only got bigger with all her appearances during the last several decades. In 1987 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, one of the first groups of inductees. In 2012 she was also inducted in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. She is renowned as one of the best, and I have always been a fan, following her career over the decades of my life.
Sadly, my Mom had passed away back in January. Now that Aretha is in heaven is well, no doubt my mom can hear her perform once more.
And yell out "SING IT OUT ARETHA!"
BRIEFLY: I was originally going to discuss the sixtieth anniversary of Billboard's Hot 100 (of which Franklin was an integral part of), but that will be in the next blog. I hope to get some good writing in the next few weeks as well. In the meantime, we have a fourth week at the top for Kungs' "This Girl", again holding off Florence + the Machine and Tennis. New adds include SNS perennials Metric, who have the Top Debut at #71 with "Dark Saturday" in the Canadian band's usual style, from a forthcoming album.
One song and artist that I am excited about "Keep Lying" by Donna Missal. I don't know much about her, but Googling her, I found out that she is from New Jersey (and is FB friends with two of my friends) and had sung on a recent Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis album. She now lives in both New York and Los Angeles. The song is an awesome haunting hybrid of pop, rock, hip-hop and blues, and much different from her work with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. I love the song and hopefully we will hear more about her soon. Look for a big jump next week, and I hope to do a blog about her soon.
Santigold, St.Lucia and two The Voice coaches, Alicia Keys (featuring James Bay) and Adam Levine's band Maroon 5 (featuring Cardi B who is a hot rapper at the moment.), also enter. Finally, Field Mouse, who I hadn't heard from since their #1 "How Do You Know" five years ago, apparently released an album in 2016 hence I finally add "Beacon". Given that albums released in 2016 have piqued my definite interest lately (see Tennis and Nick Waterhouse), it is finally time to see what the Philly and New York dream-poppers are at now.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
August 5 - 12,
2018
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 1 | NUMBER ONE: 
"This Girl"
Album: Layers
|
9 |
| 2 | 2 | Florence + the Machine - Hunger | 12 |
| 3 | 3 | Tennis - My Emotions Are Blinding | 7 |
| 4 | 8 | St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Apollo | 4 |
| 5 | 7 | Cigarettes After Sex - Apocalypse | 7 |
| 6 | 4 | Neko Case - Bad Luck | 14 |
| 7 | 6 | Nick Waterhouse - Straight Love Affair | 14 |
| 8 | 5 | The Big Takeover - Rainboots | 12 |
| 9 | 11 | Hegazy - Smolder | 8 |
| 10 | 10 | Iration - Press Play | 8 |
| 11 | 20 | Interpol - The Rover | 6 |
| 12 | 14 | Zedd f. Maren Morris and Grey - The Middle | 10 |
| 13 | 17 | The Regrettes - Come Through | 12 |
| 14 | 15 | The Doughboys - Sink or Swim | 10 |
| 15 | 24 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"Charity"
Album: Tell Me How You Really Feel
|
6 |
| 16 | 16 | Beach House - Lemon Glow | 10 |
| 17 | 22 | Lord Huron - Wait By the River | 12 |
| 18 | 23 | Øffguard -Tension | 8 |
| 19 | 27 | Two Feet - I Feel Like Drowning | 13 |
| 20 | 9 | Leon Bridges- Bad Bad News | 15 |
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more
plays on my iPod.
The “Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100” is a list
of current and recent song playlist which I am listening to.
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