Aretha, Queen of Soul, dies

August 16, 2018 • 10:05 am

by Grania

Aretha Franklin died in Detroit today reportedly from advanced pancreatic cancer. She was 76. The world has lost an irreplaceable voice, although her music will be immortal.

People are paying tribute to her life and her work from all over the globe.

 

 

 

 

58 thoughts on “Aretha, Queen of Soul, dies”

  1. A great loss, but as you say, her music will live on.

    I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for a tribute from the current office of the White House.

    1. I wouldn’t want him to offer a tribute, and if he does, it wouldn’t be sincere, just parroting something somebody else wrote, and he doesn’t even do parroting well at all — you can tell he doesn’t mean it. Then he’d probably tweet something racially and sexually disparaging later on.

      2. He is not fit to carry her furs, and if her name crosses his stupid, ugly, orange lips, I hope that’s the first place the shit weasel develops necrotizing fasciitis.

        This not my best curse, but I’m too sad to think more.

      3. Egg-fuckin’-zactly. I’ve never heard him mention music, or dance, or art, or movies, or literature, except for the books that bear his name (but which he clearly did not write) and the bible (which he clearly has never read). It’s no time to start pretending otherwise now, asshole.

        1. I think the only thing he cares about when it comes to ‘down-time’ is golf. Not much thought involved, just muscle memory and choosing the correct club.

      4. +1. She was wonderful, and I don’t want my memories of her being tainted by him saying her name.

    2. You were on the money Bruce – this is what the Orange One said according to a pool report at a WH cabinet meeting today [Thursday US] – putting himself at the centre of greatness: “I want to begin today by expressing my condolences to the family of a person I knew well. She worked for me on numerous occasions. She was terrific—Aretha Franklin—on her passing. She brought joy to millions of lives and her extraordinary legacy will thrive and inspire many generations to come.”

      In his Tweet about her death he gives god the glory for her great voice

    1. WMG [Warner Music Group] have been geo-blocking Germany, but I didn’t think they did if to France.

  5. An Icon. So sad when someone so iconic for so long dies. Brings to mind thoughts like “all glory is fleeting,” and, to riff off an example of Christopher Hitchens’, though the party does continue on for us it might not be quite so fine a party as it was before.

    But as others have pointed out her music will be a part of the party for a long time to come.

    Irreverently, I’ve got an urge to re-watch The Blues Brothers.

  8. A big loss. She was wonderful.

    Indeed, watch The Blues Brothers, if for nothing else just to hear her say, “shit!” after Matt Guitar Murphy leaves the cafe.

    Of course, we just lost him in June too. (Dunn and Rubin are gone too.)

  10. I always suspected, after SCOTUS signed off on same-sex marriage in Obergefell and that religious wacko clerk-of-court in Kentucky refused to grant the same-sex couple a marriage license, and both sides took to protesting and hollering at each other in front of the courthouse — I always suspected that if someone showed up on the courthouse steps with an ice chest full of beer and a cassette of Aretha singing “Respect” from a boom-box, well, that pretty soon both sides would’ve started dancing together and that the nice same-sex couple would’ve got the marriage certificate, and the respect, they goddamn well deserved.

    But maybe that’s just me.

  11. I am ashamed to admit that I never saw here perform nor do I own any of her albums. How I could have allowed this situation to develop is beyond me. I’ll have to rectify the deficit in album ownership tout de suite.
    I’m also grateful that the sjw’s never went after her for A Natural Woman, which of course probable offends trans and LGBTQ persons.

    1. Somebody put this up back when Jerry did a post a coupla years ago about the greatest soul music vocal performances. I hadn’t heard it before that. (Guess I skipped the Emmys that year.)

      My goosebumps still get goosebumps of their own every time I hear it.

    2. I was just going to post that but you beat me to the punch. The woman could sing anything. I bet she could sing some dynamite Peking Opera, too, if she’d wanted to.

          3. TG’s the best interviewer around, you ask me. People can take issue with her style if they wanna, but she’s always maximally prepared, and almost always interviews people she has an abiding interest in. It shows.

          8. My mam had a huge handbag – a typical female accoutrement of the ’50s – suitable for use as a dinghy should the need arise. It horribly fascinated me, so maybe I’m a deep cover Oirish Earnest – waiting unknowingly for the code sequence that sheds my Michael cover. Hope not.

          10. Dame Maggie Smith my favourite. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie her best role – long before she soiled her hands & bulged her bank account with Downton Abbey & Harry Potter! She’s over 80 – bit of a shock.

          11. “I’m an international Brit”

            I know you are, Michael; I made you for being pretty hip about Yank culture right from the jump. 🙂

          14. I was sure that’s what you meant, but when I was looking for a video of the Mozart, I saw a video of the Whitney Houston song, and said to myself, that’d be damned fine, good too. But Aretha doing the Mozart would have been absolutely spectacular, especially in costume, in the opera.

    3. That’s already taken down “Video unavailable” due to copyright claim by The Recording Academy, who own the Grammys. Here’s the same performance that hasn’t yet been whisked away from us:

      1. Hoping the other videos of Nessun Dorma stay up. The fucking Recording Academy. They don’t care about music, all they care about are the bucks. Too bad Aretha didn’t sing “Money, Money, Money.” But on reflection, that’s a song I sincerely doubt that she would have wanted to sing, given the narcissistic and avaricious sentiments expressed in the song.

        A friend just sent me this video of her singing “Say a Little Prayer” in 1970 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_qHlFuopvM (hope it hasn’t already been posted), when she was so fresh and young, bright-eyed and hopeful, though I don’t think that she ever lost hope. She maintained buon corragio all through her life.

        1. Bacharach & David wrote “I Say a Little Prayer” for Dionne Warwick. It was a huge smash although Bacharach worried before release in ’66 it was too fast a tempo, but the public disagreed with him. He was right though! This version is far superior – with a bluer, slower tempo that matches the sentiment of the lyrics.

          I have a suspicion that 1970 clip is lip synced unless she insisted otherwise – the host, Cliff Richard, used to sync his BBC TV stuff

    4. And as a backup there’s this version from as recent as 2015 [great pipes for 72 years of age!] – with black fur coat. She’s singing for a criminal organisation:

  15. As Grania pointed out in the Hili dialogue this morning, Elvis dies on this day in 1977. Fitting, I suppose, that The King & The Queen depart on the same date.

    That’s royalty even I can get behind.

    1. effing annoying Ken. This is what many US online newspapers look like from the EU:-

      LOS ANGELES TIMES: Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market.

      But Variety is accessible LINK to us 2nd class Euros

  17. VIDEO: Jimmy Fallon, Tonight Show: Ariana Grande & The Roots Perform “Natural Woman” in Tribute to Aretha Franklin. Very credible effort from a 5ft tall soprano with four octave range – I thought she was an autotune star until this:
    https://youtu.be/xN6C_WuEbGI

    1. Damn, I had no idea that little gal could sing like that. The fuck is she doing puttin’ out that cheesy, over-produced pop crap when she’s got pipes like this?

      1. I know. Inferior singers have been taught various vocal ‘mannerisms’ designed to hide their limitations [small range, can’t hold a note, warbling when belting it out]. She learned to sing by copying a handful of established artistes – two of them Whitney Houston [the awful eardrum splitter I Will Always Love You] & Mariah Carey [Butterfly, Can’t Take That Away & many other vocal scale exercises disguised as tunes] she absolutely adores, but honestly it’s a bad idea to build your talent on the foundation of those two overwrought, histrionic warblers.

        The problem is her audience is still teen pop [Manchester bombing concert was heavily pre-teen/teen girlie fans] – that limits the style & lyrics severely, you’re stuck with the usual mind-numbing stuff about love & loss…

        But I’m waiting for her new album because 50% of the tracks are produced/co-written with Pharrell Williams – could be good. Maybe.

        Another problem is her earnings are also in fashion, shoes etc & she can’t shift quickly from her base & her ponytail image. A lot of these singers really need good writers – equivalent to Carole King/Gerry Goffin who can introduce more mature, less sugary themes into the lives of stars living in bubbles who don’t have to grow up. I dunno if such writers exist today.

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