When Jerry Wexler, vice president of Atlantic Records, approached Aretha Franklin in 1966 after her departure from Columbia Records, he brought song suggestions, including Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” and Ray Charles’ “Drown in My Own Tears.” Franklin appreciated the ideas, but already had a powerful song in mind: “Respect,” a track she had been performing live. Wexler, in conversation with Franklin’s manager Ted White, as recounted by biographer David Ritz, expressed some reservation, “Long as she changes it up.” White confidently responded, “You don’t gotta worry about that. She changes it up all right.” This exchange foreshadowed the transformation of a song that would soon become recognized as one of the Top Songs Of All Time.
Otis Redding originally penned and recorded “Respect” in 1965 for Stax/Volt Records. However, it was Aretha Franklin who indelibly claimed the song, crafting a definitive rendition at Atlantic’s New York studio on Valentine’s Day 1967. This recording of “Respect” not only became her first Number One hit but also solidified her reign as the Queen of Soul, firmly placing it among discussions of the top songs of all time.
Redding’s version of “Respect” was a forceful plea, a “brawny march” demanding equal treatment. Franklin, however, approached the song from a position of strength, not supplication. Her rendition was a declaration from “higher ground,” a woman asserting her need for respect, ending the “exhaustion and sacrifice of a raw deal” with undeniable sexual authority. In essence, her message was clear: respect is earned. As Wexler noted in his autobiography, Rhythm and the Blues: A Life in American Music, “For Otis, ‘respect’ had the traditional connotation, the more abstract meaning of esteem,” but Aretha’s voice demanded more. “Respect also involved sexual attention of the highest order. What else could ‘Sock it to me’ mean?”
The electrifying “Sock it to me” refrain, delivered by Franklin’s sisters and backup singers, Carolyn and Erma, was indeed Aretha and Carolyn’s creation for that session. Engineer Tom Dowd recalled being astonished by Carolyn’s addition of the now-iconic breakdown where Aretha spells out “R-E-S-P-E-C-T.” Furthermore, lacking a bridge in Redding’s original, Wexler ingeniously instructed the Muscle Shoals studio band to incorporate chord changes from Sam and Dave’s “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby” under King Curtis’s tenor saxophone solo, further enriching the song’s texture and solidifying its place amongst the top songs of all time.
The raw passion embedded within Franklin’s controlled and powerful delivery was unmistakable. It’s widely believed that her tumultuous marriage at the time fueled her interpretation. Wexler affirmed, “If she didn’t live it, she couldn’t give it,” yet emphasized, “Aretha would never play the part of the scorned woman.… Her middle name was Respect.” This authenticity and strength are key reasons why “Respect” resonates so deeply and is considered one of the top songs of all time.
“Respect” spearheaded her Atlantic debut album, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, and acted as a catalyst, merging rock & roll, gospel, and blues into a soul music blueprint still emulated by artists today. Mariah Carey herself acknowledged Franklin as “my mentor,” highlighting the song’s profound influence. Beyond its musical innovation, “Respect’s” unapologetic demands resonated deeply with the burgeoning civil rights movement and feminist revolution. This was fitting for an artist who supported the Black Panther Party and sang at Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral. In her 1999 memoir, Franklin articulated the song’s broader appeal: it reflected “the need of the average man and woman in the street, the businessman, the mother, the fireman, the teacher — everyone wanted respect.” This universal yearning for respect is as relevant today as it was then, ensuring “Respect” remains not just a hit song, but a timeless anthem and one of the top songs of all time.
