If all goes well tomorrow, we’ll have a special treat: Professor Ceiling Cat’s (Emeritus) list (and videos) of the most soulful soul songs ever recorded. (This is of course my opinion, and does not necessarily reflect that of the University of Chicago.) And, after listening to them all—of course few people will!—you can vote for your favorite in our online poll.
But I’ll put one entry up now as a teaser because it’s a very powerful performance by The Queen—73 years old when she performed this last year—and because, as you’ll see, it made Barack Obama cry. This was at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, and Aretha Franklin has clearly lost very little since she recorded this classic in 1967.
The blond woman moved to tears is, of course, Carole King, who co-wrote this gorgeous song with Gerry Goffin. She’s clearly startled when she realizes Franklin is performing her own composition.
You’ll recognize some of the other folks, too (look for Clive Davis). Be sure to watch it all.
This was broadcast on CBS on December 29, 2015 at 9:00 p.m.
This performance brought tears to my eyes.
The entire Kennedy Center Honors show was wonderful.
Wow, my heart just exploded with happiness.
Goosebumps, breath-holding, and tearing.
Fantastic. Thanks for sharing.
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Fantastic!!! A friend and I drove down to Palo Alto from Berkeley to see Aretha at the Circle Star Theater in Palo Alto in ’71 or ’72. On the way home we ran out of gas on 101 and the AAA guy who stopped to help us offered us a joint. Sign of the times….My friend just emailed me to remind me of this after she’d watched the Kennedy Center show, which I somehow didn’t watch, erroneously thinking it was a repeat. Silly me!
Also saw Aretha a couple of years ago in Toronto, but that show was kind of overproduced, with way to much orchestra.
One of my favourite songs! Thanks. 🙂
Sweet! If you want to see a good nominee (mine) for Aretha’s 21st Century successor, check out Brittany Howard</a of Alabama Shakes. Pretty good composer, very young (~25-26), and a powerful voice.
(If hyperlink is bad, it to song "You ain't alone" performed live in Sydney)
She is fantastic!! Saw them maybe a year ago at some White House special. She looks about 15…
This is a great era for rock ‘n’ soul if you look for it… unfortunately not much is played on the radio.
For more retro soul, check out a gangly young white boy who is from a small town a few dozen miles from me named Allen Stone – he is obsessed with Stevie Wonder (and sounds somewhat like him); I recommend starting with “Sleep”.
A young Sam Cooke clone who is getting a fair amount of attention is Leon Bridges – it took a while for him to click with me because his earliest stuff was live recordings that didn’t sound that great. Recommend starting with his ode to his mother, “Lisa Sawyer” and exploring from there if you like it.
Oops – didn’t close hyperlink but still works.
What a joy! I love Aretha! Thanks for posting this.
(Of all the songs in the Blues Brothers, her ‘Respect’ is always my favourite.)
Also loved her singing “Think” up on the diner counter in Blues Bros😀
Mr Star Wars himself, too !
Man! She’s still got it!
Remarkable.
Wow…..
In case any Aretha fans haven’t seen this, here’s a concert she did in Amsterdam in 1968. Music doesn’t get much better than this. (The actual concert starts about 6 mins in.)
WOW!! Thanks for posting this. Love this version of Ain’t Never Loved a Man. Interesting how shy and soft-spoken she seems at the beginning.
Yes – she comes across as disarmingly unassuming as a person; extraordinarily so, for someone with such incredible talent and stage presence. I love that her band has a conductor.
Brilliant performance! Vocals, piano, all of it!
she’s still holdin’ strong. Great.
As Dr. Coyne demonstrates above, the word soul refers to something an atheist can believe in, at least when the word is used as an uncountable noun.
The Queen of Soul can still bring it like nobody’s business.
The “little girl” with the huge pipes who took Otis Redding’s hit song away from him and claimed it as her own still burns within.
That is just moving as hell. Hail to the Queen!
How could anyone not cry listening to that? Such strength and provenance.
Glad I’m not the only one who cries when experiencing music like this….