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We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white. It's our basic human right.

Aretha Franklin

It was with deep sadness that I learned of the passing of Aretha Franklin earlier this week. A modern-day Icon, she was respected by presidents and the humble citizens of her home town Detroit with equal measure. A songstress of unique ability, she will be remembered for a multitude of instantly recognisable songs, she will also be remembered as a passionate advocate of the Civil Rights Movement.

The song that brings both these elements of her persona together is Respect. First recorded by Otis Redding in 1965. Aretha came to the song in 1967 and frankly made it her own. She subtly shifted the emphasis. Where Redding had promised, “What you want, honey you got it,” Franklin sang, “baby I got it.” And where Redding asked for respect when he came home, Franklin requested “a little respect when you get home.” In her hands, the song sounds like a call from a woman to man to acknowledge all that she gives him. That includes “all of my money” — the female speaker in Franklin’s version was apparently not just financially self-sufficient but able to support her partner. Proclaiming this fact proudly still feels revolutionary today!

Franklin also added backup singers, and what are now probably the song’s most famous lines:

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Find out what it means to me!

Released during a pivotal time in the feminist and civil rights movements, Aretha’s version of “Respect” became emblematic of both. She wrote in her autobiography, “So many people identified with and related to Respect, it was the need of a nation, the need of the average man and woman in the street, the businessman, the mother, the fireman, the teacher — everyone wanted respect. It was also one of the battle cries of the civil rights movement. The song took on monumental significance.”

In addition to speaking specifically to listeners involved in the feminist and civil rights movements, “Respect” wowed audiences across the world. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart and won Aretha two Grammys in 1967, one for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording and the other, a new category, Best Rhythm & Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female. Aretha went on to win the latter category eight times in a row, so many times in fact it was nicknamed the “Aretha Award!”

Reiland Rabaka, a professor of African, African American, and Caribbean studies at the University of Colorado commented, “As both political anthem and mainstream hit, “Respect” continued a long tradition. Since the time of enslavement, African Americans have created music that essentially has one meaning within the black community, and perhaps a separate, qualitatively different meaning once it leaves the community. Just like with Ben E. King’s song ‘Stand By Me” he added, “a lot of things are coded.”

And, of course, “Respect” itself remains popular to this day. In the wake of Aretha’s death, the song has already inspired numerous analyses and tributes. “The reason you learn ‘Respect’ is the way ‘Respect’ is sung,” wrote Wesley Morris at the New York Times. “Redding made it a burning plea. Ms. Franklin turned the plea into the most empowering popular recording ever made.”

Its impact will undoubtedly endure long after Franklin’s death, as new generations hear their own lives reflected in her words.

RIP Aretha Franklin – March 1942 to August 2018