The life of Aretha Franklin

Brut America

She demanded R-E-S-P-E-C-T for herself and others. Her music was the soundtrack of a movement. Aretha Franklin died three years ago today.   This is her story.

Transcript

00:00Everyone wants respect. Everyone needs respect.

00:03♪♪

00:08♪♪

00:20Music is my thing. That's who I am.

00:22I'm in it for the long run, so I'll be around singing

00:28what you want. Baby, I got it.

00:32♪♪

00:42♪♪

00:52♪♪

01:02♪♪

01:06I don't know how many people can say, as she could,

01:09that she could go downstairs and you've got Dr. Martin Luther

01:12King sitting in the living room talking with her dad,

01:15all these different artists.

01:17♪♪

01:29I know she had a love for, like, all genres of music,

01:33and she never thought she could learn enough.

01:36♪♪

01:46♪♪

01:58Gee, we'll always be and is one of the greatest

02:01representations of Black culture, Black church,

02:06Black women, women, just everyone overall.

02:11♪♪

02:21♪♪

02:34Think about what you're trying to do to me.

02:36I mean, that line just resonates in terms of feminism

02:39and the whole respect and how women want to be treated.

02:42♪♪

02:52♪♪

03:12♪♪

03:41It was kind of, as you say, a woman's anthem,

03:44a battle cry, a mantra.

03:48When Aretha first told us what R-S-P-E-C-T meant to her...

03:55laughter

03:59...she had no idea it would become a rallying cry

04:02for African Americans and women.

04:05And then everyone who felt marginalized

04:07because of what they looked like or who they loved,

04:09they wanted some respect.

04:39♪♪

04:44I'm not really in a great hurry to get back on the plane,

04:48so much more convenient than the way I travel,

04:51but the way I travel is fun, it's custom,

04:54and we have big fun.

04:56♪♪

05:21♪♪

05:29What are you going to be studying?

05:31Classical piano one.

05:32Really? Uh-huh.

05:33Can you imagine how intimidated those freshmen are going to be?

05:36No!

05:37♪♪

05:45When Aretha Franklin first walked in the famed studio in 1967,

05:51most of the other musicians had never heard her sing live before.

05:56When they did, one of them said,

05:58the floors rumbled and the walls shook.

06:02My brain shook.

06:04It was magic.

06:06♪♪

06:19If you track that she went from the Jim Crow days

06:23to singing at the inauguration of the first black president,

06:27Aretha Franklin's music and life

06:30showed the growth and empowerment of blacks in America.

06:34She was our soundtrack.

06:36♪♪

07:03That's our queen.

07:04And particularly with the black community, we lost our queen.

07:08She transcended art.

07:09She transcended music.

07:10She was the embodiment of the black movement in the 1960s.

07:15She was the embodiment of female empowerment in the 1960s.

07:18♪♪

07:30She was the queen of soul.

07:33She was serious about her, like, y'all need to know I'm the queen of soul.

07:36Yes, ma'am, I'm aware you're the queen.

07:37And that's what got me through having her encouragement

07:40and knowing that I had her blessing

07:42to be able to do such a massive project.

07:45Our responsibility in this whole thing.

07:50♪♪

07:58That's the thing with Aretha, like, she was universal.

08:01You know, she's universal and she's timeless to all of us,

08:04no matter the culture, the sex, the time, the race.

08:08It's just, she's timeless.

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