Music Jar – week 14

At the start of the year, I put the names of 52 artists into a jar. Each week, I take one out and focus on that musician, singer or band. This week I had the absolute pleasure of listening to Memphis’s own, soul sen-goddamn-sation, Aretha Franklin!

What I Knew Before: It’s pretty hard not to at least be familiar with Aretha. The woman was (I’ve found out this week that she’s dead) a powerhouse performer with a legacy of songs that are a force to be reckoned with. I knew her best for her performance of Think in Blues Brothers and unfortunately from the version of Respect in Blues Brothers 2000.
What I Know Now: There are a lot more Aretha songs that I knew and didn’t necessarily associate with her. Her version of Son of a Preacher Man is something else.
I also watched Amazing Grace, the 2018 documentary show of her 1972 show at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

Favourite song(s): All the big hitters I suppose; I Say A Little Prayer, Respect, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Think, Preacher Man, Chain of Fools, You Send Me.
Favourite album(s): Everything from The Electrifying Aretha Franklin through to Runnin’ Out of Fools is damn near perfect.

This is unprecedented in the fourteen weeks I’ve been posting my music jar listens, but please, watch this. Everything about it is incredible. What a woman.