50 Aretha Franklin Songs You Better Have…Or Else

Posted October 28, 2013 by J Matthew Cobb in Features

“Freeway of Love”
(1985; #3 pop)
Writer: Jeffrey Cohen, Narada Michael Walden
Producer: Narada Michael Walden
from the album Who’s Zoomin’ Who?

Attached to a Motown sensibility, a noteworthy Clarence Clemons sax solo and one of the joyous sing-a-long choruses to hit the Eighties, “Freeway of Love” put the Queen back at the top of the charts and had us all imagining ourselves on a freeway of love in a pink Cadillac. As infectious as the song’s performance was, the cast proved to be most important to its winning formula. Along with Clemons’s breathtaking horn, Aretha was backed by a cluster of sassy soulful singers including crossdressing disco diva Sylvester and Two Tons of Fun fill-in Jeanie Tracy. Atop of that, “Freeway of Love” felt like the perfect time warp back to Motown. That strong exposure of nostalgia may have been enough to give Franklin her first platinum-selling record (Who’s Zoomin’ Who?). “Freeway” reigns as one of her proudest moments, and you can best believe it’s one of her high-octane highlights in her live show.

“Baby, I Love You”
(1967; #4 pop)
Writer: Ronnie Shannon, Jimmy Holiday
Producer: Jerry Wexler
from the album Aretha Arrives

Showing off the heavy artillery of both the King Curtis and Muscle Shoals’ army, “Baby, I Love You” swings like a Stax record, but it isn’t that difficult in identifying the Southern country gene inside the swampy guitars and Franklin’s twang-esque opening lines. Despite fading way too soon before the radio-ready, three-minute mark, the Ronnie Shannon track was a success from the jump, even if it was the only thing released as a single off of Aretha Arrives. Others have re-recorded it in their own flavorful way, including Donny Hathaway, Roberta Flack, B.B. King, the Bar-Kays, Lisa Marie Presley and Irma Thomas, but none comes close to touching Aretha’s 1967 original.

“Bridge Over Troubled Water”
(1971; #6 pop)
Writer: Paul Simon
Producer: Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, Arif Mardin
from the album Aretha’s Greatest Hits

“Bridge Over Troubled Water,” inspired by a lyric that seeped through gospel quartet singer Claude Jeter’s take on “Mary, Don’t You Weep,” was already blessed like a 20th century Methodist hymn when Simon & Garfunkle cranked it out in early 1970. When Aretha jumped on the gem in March 1971 for her Aretha’s Greatest Hits compilation, she decided to turn it into a meditative Baptist choir processional. She extended the reaches of the song past the three-minute radio conventions by warming up the intro with warm Rhodes action, King Curtis’s jazzy sax and light gospel harmonization. The first verse actually starts at the two minute mark. A three-minute version of the song was rushed to radio and retail, giving Lady Soul yet another Top 10 hit.

“Day Dreaming”
(1972; #5 pop)
Writer: Aretha Franklin
Producer: Tom Dowd, Arif Mardin, Jerry Wexler
from the album Young, Gifted & Black

Like a psychedelic kaleidoscope in motion, “Day Dreaming” opens and fades like a hazy fantasy. The euphoric atmosphere continues deep into the grooves as Hubert Laws serenades the track on the flute and Donny Hathaway rides the electric piano with a Stevie Wonder type of finesse. In her 1999 autobiography From These Roots, Franklin admits that she wrote the song about Temptations singer Dennis Edwards, whom she dated briefly. “The lyrics I wrote were straight from the heart but naive, though I didn’t realize it then. We were two entirely different people with two different sets of principles.” The song was nominated for a Grammy for Favorite Pop Vocal Performance, Female, but ended up losing to Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman.”

“Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)”
(1973; #3 pop)
Writer: Stevie Wonder, Clarence Paul and Morris Broadnax
Producer: Arif Mardin, Jerry Wexler
from the album Let Me In Your Life

In conversation with Foxy co-creator and producer Ish Ledesma, he proudly declares that “Until You Come Back to Me” was Aretha’s best vocal performance. And there’s enough evidence there to prove that. She carefully sings in her lower range for much of the verses, but builds herself up before bursting into the anticipated chorus. By the time she executes her wailing triumphs on the vamp, she has proven the weight of her versatility as a singer. She’s also masqueraded by a glowing arsenal of studio giants, which includes Bernard Purdie (drums), Hugh McCracken (guitar), Donny Hathaway (electric piano) and jazz flutist Joe Farrell. On top of that, Arif Mardin – a genius behind the sound board – develops the perfect horn and string tapestries to go on the mix. Stevie Wonder originally recorded the song in 1967, but only resurrected to the public years after Franklin’s version long disappeared from the charts. Still, there’s no comparison of the two. Aretha’s take is far more superior.

“(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone”
(1968; #5 pop)
Writer: Aretha Franklin, Ted White
Producer: Jerry Wexler
from the album Lady Soul

Like a golden Stax number, “Since You’ve Been Gone” seems to never grow old. Supporting its everlastingness is a masterful groove enshrouded with a sneaky walk-up guitar line concocted by Tommy Cogbill (with support from Aretha on the piano). At best, it shows off the brilliance of Aretha’s underestimated pen. Things were easier for Aretha to pen these kinds of anthems in 1968: Motown had giving her lots of inspiration to gleam from (Martha & the Vandellas, The Supremes), plus Chess Records fired up “Rescue Me” in 1965 on Fontella Bass, which sounded so much like a precursor of what was to come. To this day, many people still believe that was Aretha that recorded that.

“Think”
(1968; #7 pop)
Writer: Aretha Franklin, Ted White
Producer: Jerry Wexler
from the album Aretha Now

Championing the girl power of “Respect,” Aretha composes a feisty in-your-face rant at the fellas using “Think.” This anthem was all about T.C.B. delivered with attitude. She shouts for “freedom” and puts the man in check using one of the most sassiest lines ever aimed at a two-timing player: “I ain’t no psychiatrist/I ain’t no doctor with degrees/It don’t take too much I.Q. to see what you’re doing to me.” All the while, Franklin is surrounded by a host of call-and-response singers trained with Sunday morning agility. In 1980, Franklin would reprise her feminist anthem in the John Landis film The Blues Brothers. For this round, Franklin was spitting out the lyrics like a proto rap star.

“Rock Steady”
(1971; #9 pop)
Writer: Aretha Franklin
Producer: Tom Dowd, Arif Mardin, Jerry Wexler
from the album Young, Gifted and Black

Aretha’s greatest funky composition, “Rock Steady” stands out as an artistic triumph on many levels. This grade of funk, never heard before on an Aretha record, comes at a time when George Clinton hadn’t totally organized his P-funk conclave. And like a James Brown record, Franklin’s vocals blasts into the speakers like a cannonball, particularly when she transforms into a banshee on her emotional sirens. She’s totally surrounded by hefty studio giants: The Memphis Horns, the mouthpieces of Stax, are present, along with Richard Tee’s screaming organ and Bernard Purdie’s amazing drum work. The Sweethearts of Soul, Aretha’s regular backing members, are also there to give the song that extra zing: “What it is, what it is, what it is.”

“(You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman”
(1967; #8 pop)
Writer: Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Jerry Wexler
Producer: Jerry Wexler
from the album Lady Soul

Coming out of the Brill Building factory, “(You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman” was intently penned for Aretha Franklin by songwriting duo Gerry Goffin and Carole King. The idea of the “natural woman” was all Jerry Wexler’s idea, after he had been wrestling over the idea that there were dozens of “natural man” songs but hardly one celebrating the natural physics of a woman. Wexler felt that Franklin, who had just stormed the charts with “Baby, I Love You,” deserved such an anthem. It remains one of the pivotal gems in Franklin’s catalog, and also one of King’s dearest treasures since it has been successfully covered by the likes of Celine Dion, Mary J. Blige and Kelly Clarkson. A year after Franklin’s version soared into the Top Ten of the pop charts, Goffin and King divorced, which placed a major strain on their illustrious songwriting partnership.

“Respect”
(1967; #1 pop)
Writer: Otis Redding
Producer: Jerry Wexler
from the album I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

Otis Redding culled the original 1965 version into a stage act of snazzy Stax horns and an undeniable presence of machismo. When he performed it live, the stunning finale was usually fired up with sweaty rants boasting sharp one-liners and James Brown ad-libs (“give it to me now”). It crossed over to white audiences, but it was only because of the huge sensationalism that came with his unstoppable live antics. When Aretha touched it two years later, she transformed it into a woman’s anthem by beefing it up with female backing vocals and a clever arrangement working to her advantage (“Re-re-re-respect” seemed to be a perfect fit on her popularized nickname; her “take care, T-C-B” line became a popular cultural term, even pushing Redding to use it in his last shows before his passing). At a time when the women’s lib movement was still trying to find its voice and with the Civil Rights Movement reaching epic heights, Franklin took this piece of Redding’s raw soul and polished it up some, thanks to the advice of producer Jerry Wexler and the well lubricated machine of King Curtis and his King Pins. Members of the Muscle Shoals band were also present on the timeless track (Dewey ‘Spooner’ Oldham, Charles Chalmers). The song is not just Aretha’s crowned jewel; it’s a testament to the power of soul music. Everything that came after it had to fight to live up to the bar of expectations shouldered by its success. Gloria Gaynor came close with her 1979 No. 1 hit, “I Will Survive,” but that was more of a pageantry of disco than it was soul. “Respect,” a two-time Grammy winner in 1968, stands out as one of the greatest R&B records ever put on wax.