Week 8 Listening Blogs

This week I listened to "Respect" performed by Aretha Franklin and composed by Otis Redding. This song was in Aretha's album "I Never Loved a Man The Way I Loved You" that was performed in 1967. The song was originally performed by Otis Redding in his album "Otis Blues" which made the top five on Billboard's Black Singles Chart. Both of these versions have similar tempos and styles but the meaning is different for each person who sang it. For Otis, it originally was talking about a man who wanted respect from his wife because he was the bread-winner in the household. He describes the man as feeling worthless at home and at his job and only wants his wife to respect him in exchange for the money he brings home to her. However, in Aretha Franklin's version, she switched the genders from a man singing to a woman and that the woman was working. I believe this was very powerful and the reason it became a more popular version was that during the time this version released, it was around the era that woman started to become more common in the workplace (1960s). She associated this song to black freedom and women's liberation.
The song is upbeat and has several repeated versus to emphasize her words especially the background singers lyrics "just a little bit". She wants just a little bit more respect. I love how the singers sing usually after or part way when Aretha sings because to me it sounds like her personal thoughts. the instrumental stops before she says R-E-S-P-E-C-T to emphasize her frustrations with not getting it no matter how many times she ask so spelling it out is a passive aggressive way of stating the fact that they aren't listening and maybe if she spells it out they will finally understand what she is saying. Overall, I loved listening to this song and it has become such an iconic song used in movies, shows, etc. that almost everyone has at one point in their lives, heard of this song. Aretha Franklin really is the "Queen of Soul".