brent johnson digs up another lost treasure, this week from Otis Redding …
You may not recognize it at first.
The soulful guitar intro is missing. So are the sassy backing vocals. And that bold refrain of “R-E-S-P-E-C-T”? That’s not there, either.
Maybe you didn’t know that Aretha Franklin’s signature song was a cover. But in 1965 — two years before the Queen of Soul turned it into a No. 1 hit and a feminist anthem — ‘Respect’ was the latest single written and recorded by R&B great Otis Redding.
The original is practically a different song. Instead of a string-bending guitar riff, it’s a catchy brass motif that opens the track. Instead of a woman standing her ground to an indifferent lover, it’s a man pleading with his spouse for support. And where Aretha’s version is full of swagger and declaration, his is an exercise in what Redding did best: mixing rock and soul with the kind of rhythm that compels you to dance. Few artists today sing with such natural passion. Just look at him move in this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAh-FXX-MYI
Redding’s version wasn’t a massive hit, reaching only No. 35 on the pop charts. But it did help open his music to a new — read: white — audience.
Aretha, of course, gave ‘Respect’ a whole new life in 1967. She and producer Jerry Wexler polished its raw edges, revamped the arrangement and added a key new element: the ‘find out what it means to me’ breakdown that most everyone can recite nearly a half-century later.
Sadly, Redding died at age 26 in a plane crash just a few months after Aretha carried his song to the top of the charts.
But while her version may be the classic, his is charming in its own right.
