Photo courtesy of kissdetroit.com
REMEMBERING THE GREATEST SINGER THAT EVER LIVED AND LISTING MY FAVORITE SONGS FROM HER
When I heard that Aretha Franklin was on her death-bed earlier this week,
Besides my thinking “Any day now”, particularly since, as it turned out, she was dying of what’s essentially a death sentence in pancreatic cancer,
My other predominant thought was that the world lost the greatest singer that’s EVER sung a note.
I know that lots of people give that ultimate honor to Frank Sinatra, and while he’s just as much of a legend in my book, Aretha’s my choice for the greatest singer of all time.
My biggest personal memory of her, interestingly enough, came from a movie role she did in 1980 that was most memorable and iconic, playing the soul food restaurant owner in the classic comedy The Blues Brothers, singing her mega-hit “Think” as she tried to dissuade Matt ” Guitar” Murphy from rejoining Jake (John Belushi) and Elwood (Dan Ackroyd) and helping them put “…the band back together again.”
Of course that eternal “Queen of Soul” did so much more than that, her career being filled with a complete embarrassment of songs that would rank among some of the biggest hits ever recorded.
Here’s a short list (in chronological order) of my favorites; just click on the link…
1. Respect (1967) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzPXozDgvYs
2. Chain of Fools (1967) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWOpINYVU38
3. You Make Me Feel (Like A Natural Woman) (1967) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay6oJZQ0Y4w
4. Rock Steady (1971) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gWHD54GXmk
5. Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do) (1974) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOSB4Y8e3Z4
In her iconic role in the classic movie “The Blues Brothers”. Photo courtesy of screen crush.com
Granted, the songs I’ve listed are no surprise to anyone who was any kind of fan of Aretha’s, but that doesn’t stop them from being my favorites all the same.
I particularly remember listening to “Until You Come Back To Me…” on my green box radio as a little kid in Riverside, lying in my bed at night hearing that great voice, which I didn’t know belonged to Aretha as I was just six or seven years old and barely knew anything detail-wise;
All I knew was that I liked the song.
I honestly wasn’t surprised at her passing after hearing how ill she was, but like pretty much everyone else on this planet, Aretha’s death, while to say that she lived a full life with an infinity of accomplishments would be a pronounced understatement,
Is still sad nonetheless as like Michael Jackson, Prince, and so many other iconic artists before her, the world has lost an absolute asset and credit to the over seven billion human beings living in it.
I’m sure that God has told her these two words upon entering Heaven earlier today…
” Well done.”
This should obviously go without saying, but of course I’m going to state this anyway:
Rest in Peace, Aretha.
Heaven just added a wonderful resident to its pearly gates and beyond.
And I and pretty much everyone else on Earth will dearly miss you.
Photo courtesy of npr.org
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