Aretha
How often is it that one word can completely change the way you feel? Say it with me:
Aretha.
Unless you’ve been living in a sensory deprivation chamber for the past fifty years, that word conjures a soaring, explosive voice singing…
R-E-S-P-E-C-T,
Find out what it means to me.
OK, I guess you can rightly accuse me of piling on here. It seems like everybody on the planet has written a tribute to the Queen of Soul, but I can’t help it. This woman was a musical force of nature who spent a lifetime changing the world around her.
I think I was about 15 years old when I developed a crush on her. After all, she told me, straight out, that I made her feel like a natural woman!
When my soul was in the lost and found,
You came along to claim it…
Yes, I certainly did. When she sang, she was powerful, confident, dazzling, and just short of terrifyingly sexy.
Aretha.
In 1980 I went to the theater to see a new and wonderfully stupid movie put together by a gang of lunatics from National Lampoon and Saturday Night Live. I didn’t know much about the movie, other than having seen the promotional appearances by John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd on SNL, so I was pleasantly surprised to see Cab Calloway and James Brown show up in musical cameos.
When the boys walked into a little diner to recruit Matt “Guitar” Murphy into their Mission From God, I was trying to figure out if they were talking about the Matt Murphy who played with Buddy Guy, and completely overlooked the apron-clad lady flipping burgers behind the counter.
Then there was that “Seriously? She’s in this?” moment when Ackroyd asked her for dry white toast, and Belushi ordered four fried chickens and a Coke, after which she strutted out into the diner and delivered one of the most memorable musical moments in motion picture history.
You better think…
Aretha.
I did not have the good fortune to have ever met her, but the one thing I’ve read or heard in every account by people who did is that they were overwhelmed by how nice she was. This woman was an international superstar, with shelves full of Grammys and other awards, acknowledged as one of the most gifted performers who ever walked this Earth. She had every right to be aloof or egocentric. Incredibly, the first thing that comes to mind for all her friends and acquaintances is her consistent, deep-rooted humility, kindness, and gentle spirit.
Sure, we all tend to canonize our heroes when they pass. We forget their shortcomings and amplify their strengths, but this feels different to me. This woman simply did not seem to have any shortcomings.
Aretha.
To me, she was like a marvelous tapestry decorating my life. For more than fifty years, I never once heard that incredible voice without sitting up a little bit straighter, or smiling a little more broadly, or being otherwise uplifted. Watching on television, I wept along with the President of the United States when she sang, “My Country Tis of Thee” at his first inauguration. She was a musical powerhouse, yet she moved through the world with a rare grace and dignity, and left happiness in her wake.
The day she made her transition, the world found solace and comfort in day-long tributes that consisted of simply treating us to example after example of this amazing woman using her voice to turn ordinary lyrics into the stuff of angels. That simple gift, magnificently delivered, was all that needed to be said about her.
What you want,
Baby, I got it.
Yes, you always did, and you always will.
Aretha.