Comments on: Queen of Soul.

Queen of Soul.

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:08:58 -0800

Aretha. Aretha. Aretha. Aretha. Aretha. Aretha. Aretha. Aretha. Aretha. Aretha. Aretha. Aretha. Aretha. Aretha.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:11:33 -0800

Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me. Yeah, baby! nice post

By: wafaa

wafaa — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:25:16 -0800

Before I put on my make-up to go to my suckass job, I say a little prayer for you, flapjax, for this great post.

By: Effigy2000

Effigy2000 — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:33:45 -0800

Urethra.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:41:47 -0800

Effigy, how original! Watch it, though, you can get banned for that kind of thing ;-)

By: Reggie Digest

Reggie Digest — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:47:05 -0800

Aretha.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:52:32 -0800

Reggie, at the risk of being accused of moderating my thread, I will reply to your comment: I watched all the clips I posted. I insured that they were all live performances, and that they were all good live performances, cause even the great Aretha Franklin is represented by some not-so-great performances there on YouTube. That's the filtering that I did. Dig?

By: horsemuth

horsemuth — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:54:42 -0800

Mushroom, mushroom!

By: Reggie Digest

Reggie Digest — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:55:20 -0800

Dug. It's nice to know things like that going in, though.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:56:23 -0800

Don't worry about it, Flapjax. The problem is that some people assume that others are as lazy as they are. This is an indisputably excellent post.

By: Wolof

Wolof — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:59:57 -0800

Shoulder, pearls, wave. There is no other queen.

By: MCTDavid

MCTDavid — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:19:23 -0800

Couldn't you have bothered to find something about her that wasn't a youtube link? Or even to write a sentence of text explaining that all there is to see here are a bunch of Aretha performances?

By: brevator

brevator — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:33:54 -0800

Amazingly "Aretha aretha aretha aretha Aretha Aretha aretha Aretha aretha aretha aretha Aretha Aretha aretha", is a grammatically correct sentence.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:36:42 -0800

Buffalo!

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:10:10 -0800

Where's "Freeway of Love?" That's what I paid to see! or Wow, I've never heard of this songstress! What a strange name! She has a nice voice. But thanks: I'm sure I'll dial up the ArethaTube via this post a couple-a times

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:11:46 -0800

Would this be a "Mint Franklin" collection? Sorry, I'll shaddup now.

By: Pecinpah

Pecinpah — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:16:30 -0800

So what's this post all about, then?

By: dances_with_sneetches

dances_with_sneetches — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:24:00 -0800

Mulva. Mulva. Mulva. Mulva. Mulva.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:58:15 -0800

Arriba!

By: orange swan

orange swan — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:07:58 -0800

A few months ago I picked up a greatest hits Aretha Franklin album at Value Village. I was never into her really, but I thought there was a song or two on there I rather liked so it was worth the few dollars it cost. I took it home and basically listened to it for the next week. For the first time I really got why they call her the Queen of Soul. God, what I wouldn't give to have that big sexy squall of hers rather than the soft little alto I do have. The funny thing is, the first time I played it, my next door neighbours were playing Shania Twain. (I'm white; they're black.) I figured they, like me, were thinking, "Why is she listening to HER?"

By: well_balanced

well_balanced — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:52:22 -0800

Considering that she is a true master you'd think there would be more film coverage of her performances out there. PBS made an American Masters episode about her but I have still yet to see it, the library doesn't have it and neither do any of the torrent sites. There definitely seems to be a real absence of quality Aretha video. I wonder if somebody is sitting on a master archive for some reason.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:41:18 -0800

Ah, the Queen of Soul. Surprising there are not better YouTube choices of her music. You're right flapjax, you had to do filtering. Hers is some of my favorite music, ever. A soundtrack of my life's joy, yearning, sadness, hope and what I like to dance to best. In 1967, age 13, sitting in the K&D Deli on Madison Avenue, between 97th and 98th Streets on the edge of Spanish Harlem, where the Haves turf and the Have Nots turf dovetail, licking a Welch's grape popsicle, I heard Respect for the first time. Her voice was huge. It seemed like she could do anything with that voice. So full of power, emotion and freedom. Dammit, she wanted R.E.S.P.E.C.T. And she was going to get it. As a young white girl who'd grown up in South Africa and Jamaica, when it was changing from colonial rule to independence and now in Civil Rights marches time America, her voice felt like a cannon and that song an anthem cannonball. It transcended being just a love song with a catchy beat. Things were going to be Different. Aretha's music has graced my life since then. How lucky I feel to have grown up to her songs. Interesting to find out RESPECT was originally sung by Otis Redding, asking for a woman's respect but it was sung by Aretha and then became associated with the feminist movement. In 1986, Franklin did nearly as well with an album simply titled Aretha which yielded her first number-one pop single in two decades with the George Michael duet, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)". The album is noteworthy for the striking cover which was Andy Warhol's last work before his death. huh, Whoda thunk Andy Warhol's last work would be for an Aretha album? I like him better for that. Don't know any other singer I like to listen to more with her ability to soar so finely across the octaves. Got to see her live once too, pay homage. Had no idea, until reading that Wiki entry, that she'd had such a hard life.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:53:10 -0800

ps Otis Redding wrote and sang RESPECT, this is his version. It's a whole other planet. Fascinating how different it is, and I love him. Another thing, reading the Wiki entry, it says Franklin is the second most honored female singer in Grammy history after Alison Krauss. I'd heard of this Alison Krauss but couldn't remember her music. Oh, her. Can't decide whose songs are more codependent, Country's, Pop's or Motown's. When are they going to write emotionally healthy lyrics?

By: CitrusFreak12

CitrusFreak12 — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:02:19 -0800

Y'know, if you hadn't insisted on putting periods after each instance of her name, I could have made a mildly amusing "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" joke.

By: billyfleetwood

billyfleetwood — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:21:50 -0800

Two Aretha Albums you may not realize you love(yet). Sparkle Aretha sings, Curtis Mayfield makes the tunes. That means it's REALLY REALLY good. Amazing Grace Just in case anyone was planning on not weeping uncontrollably,I want Aretha's Amazing Grace played at my funeral. Bring extra hankies, cause it's 11 minutes of awesome. I don't believe in god, and have never been a christian, but I'm glad Aretha believes in him, cause this album rules.

By: rtha

rtha — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:48:48 -0800

Thanks, flapjax. A great way to start the day.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:10:14 -0800

Wonderful to hear another dimension of her singing. Thanks billyfleetwood. Excerpts of her Amazing Grace. From her album, Amazing Grace, it's really lovely.

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:53:21 -0800

Is one of those [too many to click through] clips of her singing that aria where she stood in for the sick guy? Or is that online somewhere?

By: cogneuro

cogneuro — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:01:09 -0800

There were some real surprises in there. I only wish there was more information about the performances. YouTube links with actual information attached to them would be a big improvement. -- "My Baby's Face," very young Aretha looks like Maria Callas. -- "Shoop shoop," I think that's Billy Preston on keyboard. Did he play with everyone? -- Robert Di Niro introduction? what was that all about? -- "Say a little prayer," live version good, studio version--she owned Dionne Warwick's original, and I like Dionne Warwick. -- the big climax in "Dr. Feelgood," the best ever. Don't send me no doctor. I'm just really glad this was the music that we got to grow up to. (of course, I was 5 at the time.)

By: box

box — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:03:35 -0800

You mean 'Nessun Dorma,' at the 1998 Grammys, filling in for Luciano Pavarotti? Here's the audio, anyway, and here's an excerpt. Alternately, here she is singing the same aria at a different event.

By: wuwei

wuwei — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:08:19 -0800

This was cool, but would have been cooler if you generated it as a playlist, and linked that.

By: Oriole Adams

Oriole Adams — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:23:44 -0800

BillyFleetwood, Aretha's "Amazing Grace" was played at Freddie Mercury's funeral per his pre-arranged request. He was a major Aretha fan, and often said that he would've loved for her to record a version of Queen's "Somebody to Love."

By: quin

quin — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:42:02 -0800

To this day, whenever I see her, I crave four fried chickens, and a Coke. [I love that woman.]

By: neuron

neuron — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:08:15 -0800

Badger. Badger. Badger. (Hope this works; the site is blocked where I work.)

By: Reggie Digest

Reggie Digest — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:28:07 -0800

he would've loved for her to record a version of Queen's "Somebody to Love." She really should. That would be awesome.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:58:29 -0800

Your post inspired me to go uptown to the K&D Deli. It's not there any more but the K&D Liquor Store is. Stood inside in honor of Aretha and first hearing her. Nice feeling.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:04:57 -0800

ps that last link was a special treat. Thanks fj.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:06:10 -0800

You are so very welcome, n!