The History and Popular Music of the ’60s class learned about Aretha Franklin’s 1967 breakout album. Here are their reactions.
Pritam Khalsa:
In 1967, just 15 days before her 25th birthday, Aretha Franklin released I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You. It was her 10th studio album, however, this is when she first gained popularity. It was her first album with Atlantic as the studio and that is what made all the difference. When she was working under Columbia Records, she was forced to play very mainstream music which wasn’t her style and did not fit her voice very well. When she got to Atlantic, however, they’re goal was to let “Aretha be Aretha.” This started her on the path of a more gospel and R&B style album which was less common on the radio at the time. It resembled the type of music she would sing in church as a child when people had first started noticing her amazing voice. Another big difference with this album was that she co wrote four of the songs and got to help put together the track list as opposed to only a song or two like on her previous albums. This helps make the album feel like it fits together very well and the order of the album flows nicely. Her two singles were “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)”, written by Ronnie Shannon, and her version of the Otis Redding song “Respect.” While her cover has gained the most popularity with some people not even knowing it was Redding’s song to begin with, he too was very impressed by her version. She took his song and turned it into a feminist song. He would sometimes talk about it, once even saying “well, I guess it’s that girl’s song now.” On the charts, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You got to number 2 on both US and Canadian charts, and it got to number one on US R&B charts. This one of the two highest ranking albums in her discography that really started her fame.
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You by Aretha Franklin is possibly the most popular and well-recognized classic soul album of all time. It was vastly commercially successful, reaching number one on the Billboard R&B Albums chart, and number 2 on the overall Billboard Hot 100. It was rated 83 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, which was revised in 2020 to have it at number 13.
While this album is about the somewhat oversaturated topic of love, I personally found it to be much more mature about the subject matter than other works of similar topics. There is a sense of sincerity to a lot of the lyrics, whereas with other albums such as Where Did Our Love Go by the Supremes, it felt much more artificial, without the depth that Aretha Franklin brings to the table.
The standout tracks for me were “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)”, and in particular the second verse. “Some time ago I thought / You had run out of fools / But I was so wrong / You got one that you’ll never lose / The way you treat me is a shame / How could ya hurt me so bad / Baby, you know that I’m the best thing / That you ever had / Kiss me once again.” When you just look at the words on a piece of paper, It doesn’t seem at all revolutionary or special, but Aretha Franklin’s voice is really what sells the emotion behind the words for me. Her voice is, simply put, breathtaking, and not only impressive but also expressive. I feel like even if the lyrics were in a different language, I would still understand where she was coming from, emotionally speaking. Other standout tracks for me included “Dr. Feelgood,” “A Change is Gonna Come” and “Respect.”
Nearly everyone has heard the song “Respect” by Aretha Franklin but most don’t know that it was originally an Otis Redding song. She covered the song in 1967 and it gave her an enormous career start. “Respect” got her noticed as the Queen of Soul. When the cover was released, it immediately went number one on the charts and stayed there for a good 12 weeks. For the roughly 6 million times that the song was played on the radio, she made no profit. Otis Redding got all the money because of an aspect of copyright laws in the recording business. Most strongly believe that she completely changed the song and deserved the profit. Legally, Otis Redding owns the rights to ‘Respect’ but when he decided to sing the song at the Monterey Pop Music Festival he starts by saying, “This next song is a song that a girl took away from me. A good friend of mine, this girl, she just took the song, but I’m still going to do it anyway.”
Aretha Franklin changed the song into the version that we all know and love today. She noticeably changed the meaning of Redding’s song when she sang it. She made it into the anthem that caught on with the feminist, black power and human rights activists and movements across America. ‘Respect’ didn’t just resonate with one movement it spoke to everyone. Her reproduction of the song empowered many people during 1967 to fight for their personal and political liberation. Redding’s ‘Respect’ was more straightforward with its meaning, and it is without a doubt from a man’s point of view. The original version of the song tells us a story of a man telling/asking his woman that when he comes home he wants to be respected because he brings home the money. In Otis’ lyrics, he is saying that this woman needs to cut him or the man some slack, the man says he will give her anything she wants as long as she gives him respect. Many people argue Aretha’s version is not a cover. She changed the meaning so much that it is no longer the original song. Some have noticed that in parts of Aretha’s song, there is almost a direct response to Otis. In verse two of Otis Redding’s version, he says, “Do me wrong, honey, if you wanna / You can do me wrong, honey, while I’m gone” and in Aretha’s verse two she responds to him with the line, “I ain’t gonna do you wrong / While you’re gone / Ain’t gonna do you wrong / ‘Cause I don’t wanna.” She turned Otis Redding’s song of wanting respect from a woman into a song that empowers women instead of diminishing their worth. She switched the power role in the relationship, the original says that the woman needs to respect the man. She redesigned the lyrics so the woman is the one that can walk out of the relationship and demand respect. She ends the song with the powerful line, “You might walk in / And find out I’m gone.”
Lily Brooks:
I remember that session very clearly. It was one of the weekends I hot to go to the studio at 1841 Broadway with my dad while he worked. Aretha and her sister looked at my dad and said Tom we have a song that we think we want to do. My dad sat down on the piano bench with Aretha and she began to play Respect. My dad looked at her and her sister and said I already made this song with Otis. He told them that it was a guy song. Aretha and her sister told him that they rewrote the chorus and began to play it for him. My dad’s synaptical energy kicked in and the rest is history.