If you have never heard Aretha Franklin cover “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, you owe it to yourself to go download it now. I’ll wait.
Done?
No, I can wait.
Ok, all set? Good. Give yourself 5 minutes of uninterrupted time to let this one settle in. There is a reason why she is the Queen of Soul. Some people, Joe Cocker, cover songs (the Beatles.) Some people, Steely Dan, rip off songs (Keith Jarrett.) A few people take a song and so completely make it their own that the song no longer belongs to the original artist.
Did you know, for instance, that “Respect” was written and first recorded by Otis Redding? Yes, R-E-S-P-E-C-T. That’s the one, although I don’t think he included the spelling lesson. If you really listen to the words, it makes more sense coming from a male perspective (assuming you can adopt a 1960’s male perspective vis-a-vis who is at home and who is coming home. To wit: “Ain’t gonna do you wrong / when I’m gone / All I want / is a little respect when I come home.”) Doesn’t matter, because it’s Aretha’s song now. Otis said so. Someone asked him what he thought of the way she did his song, and he said it was not his song anymore.
Does it need repeating that Aretha Franklin has the ability to transport us to another place, a whole new place, with a song in a way that few other artists can? Lot’s of artists brighten our surroundings. Some of them transform them in one way or another. Few absolutely blow them away. Not that I am always ready to go, but when I am, the Queen is always able to take me.