Saturday Night Attitude Dancing at the 2024 Birthday of Lady Soul Aretha Franklin

by Robert Wilkinson

March 25 was the birthday of the remarkable Aretha Franklin. This music's so good we're beginning the show early. We have some amazing performances and Aretha certainly has plenty of attitude!

Aretha Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was a legend, and led a legendary life. Daughter of a preacher who was a rock star in Detroit, the “man with the million dollar voice,” she grew up around some of the biggest stars of her era, including Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Billy Preston, the Staples Singers, Jackie Wilson, and Martin Luther King Jr., and led a much raunchier life than she let on way back when. Her voice seemed to swoop in from the heavens, ringing like a bell that compelled your attention the minute you heard it.

Tonight we celebrate a big woman with a big voice who transformed all the music she did into a pure soul experience! Since covering her entire career would involve hundreds of songs, these clips are from the beginning into the 70s.

Her first R&B charting single for Columbia hit in late 1960! “Today I Sing the Blues”

Her 1964 live performance of this tune has vanished, so instead, here’s the studio version of “Running Out of Fools.”

From Shindig that same year, Aretha giving us “It’s In His Kiss (the Shoop Shoop Song)”

That same year, she hit the Top 40 with this tune! Her live performance on the the Steve Allen Show in 1964 is gone, so instead, from Shindig!, a great performance of "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody."

From that Steve Allen appearance, she gives us this one which she took to #7 R&B in 1961, “Won’t Be Long”

This is a fantastic 32 minute clip of a bunch of her different live performances on The Steve Allen Show! This is a great set! Aretha Franklin Live on The Steve Allen Show

Going back to Shindig, this is a great performance of "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody."

Very live on stage, cranking out “Won’t Be Long.”

And in yet another 1964 appearance on The Steve Allen Show. “Lover Come Back to Me”

Live on tv in the mid-60s, she belts out “(No No) I’m Losing You”

Her life and music changed directions when she went with Atlantic in 1967, backed by the Muscle Shoals rhythm section! She had a short session, but it was productive. She recorded this, which went to #1 R&B and #9 on the Top 100! Live in 1967 on television, "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)"

That year, she took this song from Otis Redding and rode it to global fame! Here she is on a soundstage in 1967 belting out an awesome performance (to a backing track) of “Respect”

From 1968, another electrifying live performance of “Respect”

She performed it on The Midnight Special in 1976, looking very different than the Aretha we all came to know! “Respect”

She had 2 more top-ten singles in 1967! These are great live performances of "Baby I Love You" and and “You Make Me Feel (Like a Natural Woman)”

From 1967, live on the Mike Douglas Show, “Do Right Woman”

Last year’s performance on Rockpalast in 1968 of “Baby I Love You” has disappeared, so instead, from that same year, here’s a 56 minute video of Aretha Franklin Live in Stockholm - 1968

In 1968 she released Lady Soul and Aretha Now, which included some major hits!

Here’s a great live tv performance from 1968 of "Chain of Fools." From what looks to be a tv show a few years later, another definitely live version of "Chain of Fools."

Here’s the studio version of “Ain’t No Way”

Here’s Aretha in 1968 on Venezuelan tv lip-synching "Think." And for a truly live performance, here’s the official video from 1989 of "Think."

Though Dionne Warwick made this into a hit, Aretha took it back into the Top 10! This live performance from 1970 is great! "I Say A Little Prayer." Also from that same year, live on The Cliff Richard Show in the UK, a b/w performance of "I Say A Little Prayer."

the early 1970s, she gave us top-ten singles! First, the studio version of "Spanish Harlem", which we'll follow with three great live performances! From 1971, "Rock Steady." And on Soul Train, "Rock Steady" and live in Chicago in 1985, "Day Dreaming"

Some albums from that era include Spirit in the Dark, and this masterpiece, Young, Gifted and Black

Moving into some great videos, she went live in 1975 on The Midnight Special giving up a great duet with Ray Charles as they move and groove on ”Georgia on my Mind” and “It Take Two To Tango”

Here 1979 performance of this song on Soul Train is gone, so instead we have a live 1972 performance at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in LA of “Mary Don’t You Weep.”

Here’s the other part of that 1979 Soul Train appearance! After a long intro, she joins Smokey Robinson of “Ooh Baby Baby”

This live performance with James Brown in 1987 is awesome! For your enjoyment, the King and Queen of Soul in a wailing performance of “Please Please Please”

In 1993, she teamed up with Smokey Robinson to give us “Just To See Her”

Live in 1994 at the White House, Aretha and Lou Rawls teamed up to do an entire 56 minute show! In Performance at the White House – Aretha Franklin and Lou Rawls

Here's the extraordinary video of a tune she took to #1 R&B in 1985! Yes, that's the BIG MAN, Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band, wailin' at the sax break groovin' to "Freeway of Love."

Beginning to wind this tribute up and down, at Montreux in 1971 she took this Simon and Garfunkel classic into the stratosphere, and took all of us to church! For your remembrance, "Bridge Over Troubled Waters." Wow!

Last year we had a great compilation of ALL her performances on The Midnight Special in 1976, with “Respect,” “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Easy to Remember,” “Midnight Train To Georgia,” “Mr. DJ,” and “Sparkle,” but this year it’s gone. However I found these three Midnight Special performances from 1976! First, “Something He Can Feel”, which we’ll follow with “Sparkle” and close with “Respect”

We’ll close this show with a gem of a live set where Lady Soul wails! For your enjoyment, live in Paris in 1977, "Respect Yourself,” which we’ll follow with “Midnight Train To Georgia,” and finish with “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”

It’s back! For our first encore, a full 54 minute show in 1968 on Rockpalast! Aretha Franklin Live at WDR Studio in Koln Germany.

For our second encore, a DVD split into 13 parts of her 42 minute show in Amsterdam in 1968. Have fun as she’s at the top of her game! Aretha Franklin Live in Amsterdam – 1968

Our final encore could only be one performance. Here’s Aretha starring in her most famous movie role! For your enjoyment, Jake, Elwood, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, and Aretha cranking out "Think."

RIP Lady Soul.

© Copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson

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