R.I.P. Aretha Franklin, 1942 -2018

Aretha Franklin.

I won’t pretend to have a shelf full of Aretha Franklin records.  In fact, I don’t think I currently own a single one in physical form (not that current methods of music consumption would preclude me playing her several times a day, if so inclined – obviously).  Nevertheless, I, and many others, would argue that, with her recent sad passing, we lost one of the great voices (some would say – the greatest) of the recording era.

Others will have already written loads about her life, her work, and (still painfully apposite, it seems) her relevance to the American Civil Rights movement.  Instead of trotting out any more of the usual clichés, I’ll just refer to my favourite performance of Aretha’s, and possibly even one of the greatest recordings of the human voice, in any context.

It speaks volumes about the persuasiveness of Franklin’s voice that ‘I Say A Little Prayer’ wasn’t even written for her.  Written by Bacharach and David, with a lyric referring obliquely to the Vietnam War - it was originally recorded for Dionne Warwick.  And yet who now remembers that version?  Incredibly, Aretha’s miraculous cover was recorded almost by accident, and only released as an intended B-side.  Nowadays, I still hear it several times a year, without even trying, and it just never wears out.

Aretha’s version of the song isn’t the most ambitious production you’ll ever hear, or the most histrionic piece of Soul singing – but is actually all the better for that.  It is, in my opinion, a masterpiece of control, and of emotion expressed with a perfect degree of nuance and instinctive judgment.  Aretha even lets the backing singers take do the lion’s share of the work in the chorus, meaning that when she releases the true soaring potential of her own voice in the song’s latter stages - it’s all the more memorable.  If I could only save one snippet of recorded music for posterity – the last minute and a half of ‘I Say A Little Prayer’ might just be it.

For what I assume are either copyright or compatibility reasons, YouTube makes the single version of 'I say A Little Prayer' unavailable to embed here.  Luckily, It's not exactly difficult to access from a variety of sources, should you need a reminder.  However, in passing,  I was able to borrow this live performance of Aretha singing the song.  It demonstrates the more spectacular potential of her voice, and whilst being more obviously showy - is still one of those genuine hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck moments.  Above all, it demonstrates how, even when 'giving it a bit more’, she could still make it all just seem so effortless.

Unlike Aretha, I don’t really have a religious bone in my body (in the accepted sense, at least).  However, without being able to necessarily define it, I do recognise something you might want to call ‘Soul’, when I hear it.  Aretha Franklin had it to burn.