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Aretha - The Best

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I wanted to put up a little tribute to this great lady. Her passing has affected me more than I would have expected. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe some of you feel the same. Anyway, I thought I could post my Top 5 Favorite Aretha Franklin Performances. I guess it's a matter of a good production of a good song on a good day for the singer.

 

Please feel free to post your own favorites. No such thing as too many Aretha Franklin vids.

 

Here are my own personal Top 5:

  This song was originally a hit for Aretha in 1968, but this performance is from 1980's The Blues Brothers movie, where Aretha plays the wife of real-life blues guitarist Matt Murphy. Also in this scene is saxaphonist Blue Lou Marini. Written by Aretha Franklin and her first husband Teddy White, the song itself doesn't use more than a small fraction of Aretha's immense talent. But I decided to include this particular performance in my Top 5 because it gives us a few minutes with Aretha in action -  looking so damn cute.
 

What I love about this song is that it has so much heart with the soul. Written by Aretha's little sister Carolyn Franklin, it was originally released in 1968 as the B-Side of Since You Been Gone.
 

  Musically stylish, subtle and sophisticated, this song was written by Stevie Wonder, Morris Broadnax, and Clarence Paul, and originally recorded by Stevie in 1967, though not released as a single. Aretha's 1973 cover version reached Number 1 on the American R&B charts and #3 in the Hot 100. The recording features Donny Hathaway on piano and Cissy Houston on backround vocals. I love this performance mainly because of what happens at 2:10 - one of those magical moments in music.
 

  Released as a single by Aretha in 1970, this song was written by Ben E. King's wife Betty Nelson (King's real name was Benjamin Earl Nelson). Officially, the song was co-written by Atlantic Records co-founder and President Ahmet Ertegün, but in those days, forcing artists to list them as co-writers of their songs was a method commonly used by record executives, managers, and other "suits" to rip-off powerless artists. Some sources say the song was actually written by Ben E. King himself, and not his wife. In any case, it was Ben E. King who first released the song in 1962, and had a very respectable hit with it . What I like about Aretha's performance here is the gospel sound of it - making it clear why this is called soul music . The term comes from the fact that it was secularized gospel music. The piano and the choir, the call and response structure, the improvizations - these are all features of the music you can still hear today in black churches - which is where this daughter of Baptist preacher C. L. Franklin first honed her craft.
 

  Released in 1968, this song was written by Aretha and her husband Teddy White, and was the A side of the record whose B side was Ain't No Way. (See #4 above) Backround singers include Aretha's sisters Erma Franklin and Carolyn Franklin (who wrote Ain't No Way), as well as The Sweet Inspirations, a group that included Whitney Houston's mother Cissy Houston and Cissy's sister Lee Warrick, mother of Dionne Warwick and DeeDee Warwick. In my opinion this recording has it all: a great production of a great song with a great performance by the singer. Musically, the song is just about perfect, with a strong lyric. (It was pride on my lips, but not in my heart - !!!) What's more, the music and the lyric fit each other perfectly - what highly regarded songwriting teacher Jai Josefs calls prosody. I doubt that Aretha was ever in better voice - listen to what she does at 2:05. I picked this vid instead of some other because it is actually a remix. The remix consists primarily of the repetition of the second verse and chorus - far and away the better half of the song. If the remix had repeated it a few more times, it would have been even better. So enjoy it - however many times you want.

Baby baby, sweet baby, there's something that I just got to say. Baby baby, sweet baby, you left me hurtin' in a real cold way. Speak your name and I feel a thrill. You said I do and I said I will. I tell you that I'll stay true and give you just a little time. Wait on me baby, I want you to be all mine. I just get so blue since you've been gone, baby. Since you've been gone.

Baby baby, sweet baby, I didn't mean to run you away. It was pride on my lips, but not in my heart, to say the things that made you stray. But ah, babe, hear me now. I don't know what I'm gonna do. Got to get you back somehow. Take me back, consider me please. If you walk in that door, I can get up off my knees. I just been so blue since you've been gone. Since you've been gone.

Well I've been so lonely, baby, since you've been gone. I've been so lonely since you've been gone.

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Thanks, Ginger. What was your favorite Aretha song?

 

"A Rose Is Still A Rose" -  it was 1998 and I was in college studying hard, Aretha made a video to this song and they were airing it on VH1 at night nonstop, I loved it, it made the late night studies so much easier!  And it's a great song too.

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