Aretha Franklin releases her rendition of Otis Redding's "Respect" - April 29th, 1967

On this day in 1967, Aretha Franklin's hit song "Respect" was released as a single on the Atlantic Records label.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio, Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that gives history its propers one day at
a time. I'm Gay Bluesier, and in this episode, we're
looking at the story behind what might be the most
original sounding cover song of all time. The day was

(00:29):
April ninety seven, Aretha Franklin's hit song Respect was released
as a single on the Atlantic Records label. In a
few weeks time, the song reached number one on both
the R and B Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot
one hundred, when it remained in that top spot for

(00:50):
the better part of three months. The following year, Franklin
won two Grammys for Respect, Best R and B Recording
and Best Female R and BE Solo Vocal Performance. However,
the song's success extended far beyond music charts and award shows.
During a tumultuous year in the United States, it became

(01:11):
an empowering anthem for civil rights and women's rights movements,
as well as for anyone else who felt disrespected, whether
in society, at their school or job, or even in
their own home. But before we go any further, let's
hear a little of the song that had everyone so excited.

(01:46):
By the end of the summer of sixty seven, Aresa
Franklin was forever linked with respect. It became the signature
song of a long and prolific career. It's been featured
in dozens of movie soundtracks and t V episodes, and
has been performed to varying degrees of success by millions
of karaoke fans worldwide. Today, even though it's been covered

(02:10):
by tons of talented musicians, Aretha Franklin's version of Respect
is still the most popular by far. Most people are
shocked when they find out she wasn't the first artist
to record the song. It just sounds wholly original to her,
and in a way it was technically though. Otis Redding,

(02:31):
the King of Soul, first released Respect two years earlier.
It's believed that he originally wrote the song is a
ballad after returning home from a tour and feeling disrespected
by his wife. Reading later reworked the song to be
more upbeat, and then included it on his third studio album,
Otis Blue. The single peaked at number four on Billboard's

(02:55):
Hot R and B Singles chart, introducing Reading to a
much wider and wider audience. If you've never heard his
take before, it goes like this, do me wrong wrong,
you can do me wrong. Aretha Franklin's version of the

(03:25):
song clearly retained most of the original melody and lyrics,
but its meaning was drastically different from Redding's original. Taken
at face value, his song seems to reflect the traditional
family values of the mid twentieth century. A man comes
home after a hard day of work and expects his
wife to behave a certain way as a kind of

(03:46):
reward for his labor. Another popular interpretation is that the
respect mentioned in the song is really a euphemism for sex,
something that the singer expects from his partner in return
for a share of his income. Either way you interpreted,
the relationship presented in the song seems impersonal, more like

(04:07):
a deal that's being enforced than any kind of romance
toxic messaging aside, Redding's Respect was a catchy song, and
Franklin actually performed at live numerous times before arranging and
recording her own version. By ninety seven, she had established
a good deal of control over her career. She was

(04:28):
either writing her own material or at least choosing which
existing songs she wanted to record. Her working process was
to figure out all the arrangements ahead of time at home,
so that she'd be ready to go when she stepped
into the studio to record. When the singer decided to
put her own spin on redding song, she did more
than just flip the gender of the lyrics. She drew

(04:51):
on her background as a soul and gospel singer to
imbue the song with a sense of urgency and sincerity
that would have been right at home the Baptist church
where she first sang as a child. She also made
several crucial changes to the song structure, including the addition
of a bridge, a call in response section with her
sister singing back up, and of course that famous spelling

(05:15):
out of the word respect the part that goes like
this bat I have daja. Franklin also incorporated some popular
expressions from around Detroit into the song, including socket to

(05:37):
me and TCB, an abbreviation of taking care of business
that was later popularized by Elvis Presley. Franklin worked out
most of these changes in advance, with lots of help
from her sisters Carolyne and Irma. As a result, when
the singer arrived at Fame Studios on Valentine's Day nine.

(05:58):
She already had the whole song all worked out when
she laid down the track. Even the sound crew knew
they had something special. One of the engineers, Tom Dowd,
was especially struck by the socket to Me chance at
the end of the song. He said he fell out
of his chair when he first heard it. Aretha Franklin's
version of Respect was released two months later on April

(06:21):
twenty nine. It was the second single from her debut
album for Atlantic Records, I Never Love Demand the way
I Love You, the singles B side dr Feel Good
was a strong song in its own right, but Respect
struck a deeper chord with the public. The singer had
completely changed the feeling and meaning of the original song,

(06:42):
transforming it from a weary, bitter plea into a confident,
passionate demand. When Franklin sang of respect, it wasn't as
a commodity, not something to be bartered or exchanged as
in Redding's version. Instead, for Franklin, respect was more into
a human right, something she would no longer allow herself

(07:04):
to be denied. Even Otis Redding admitted that Franklin had
made the song her own. When he first heard her version,
he told producer Jerry Wexler, quote, this girl has taken
that song from me. Ain't no longer my song. From
now on, it belongs to her. More importantly, though the
song belonged to listeners too. America had a lot on

(07:28):
its mind in nineteen sixty seven. That summer, racially charged
violence broke out across the country, and later that fall,
anti Vietnam War protests led to hundreds of arrests in
New York. At the same time, groups like the National
Organization for Women continue to push for equal rights under
the law, to somewhat mixed results. For many within these

(07:51):
marginalized groups, respect was a kind of call to arms,
a way of announcing that the injustices of the past
would no longer be toleranted it going forward. Franklin later
described the mood of that moment in her autobiography, writing quote,
it reflected the need of a nation, the need of
the average man and woman in the street, the businessman,

(08:14):
the mother, the fireman, the teacher. Everyone wanted respect. Aretha
Franklin passed away in but her signature song remains as
relevant and meaningful as it was in nineteen sixty seven.
That's a sign of a truly great song, whether a
cover and original or something in between. I'm gay, Bluesier

(08:39):
and hopefully you now know a little more about history
today than you did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's show,
check us out on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t
d i HC Show. You can also get in touch
with me directly by writing to this Day at I
heart media dot com. Thanks, as always the Chandler Mays

(09:00):
for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening.
I'll see you back here again soon for another Day
in History class. M