Weird coincidence: The King of Rock and the Queen of Soul both died on August 16.
When Frank Sinatra died I heard some commentators on the radio discussing the man and his music. They played a bit of one of his songs, “You make me feel so young” I think it was, and it dawned on me that NOTHING that anybody could SAY about him would speak so eloquently as the music itself. As it was then with The Chairman of the Board, so it is now with The Queen of Soul.
And what do we have now? Beyonce? Please.
Music was better back in the day…
Greatest female vocalist ever as far as I’m concerned.
A true giant has left us.
RIP. Thanks for the memories.
Never a better voice than her. This is tragic. Let’s play the music and love it all. RIP.
She will always have by RESPECT.
My favorite Aretha song: I Never Loved a Man (the way that I love you)
Her version of Chain of Fools is unrivaled. I love it as much as Red Wiggler does.
Long let her spirit and sound ring loud and proud.
RIP, Aretha. 
Or rather, R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
In heaven, she’ll learn what really happens if you take out T-C-P from R-E-S-P-E-C-T. (And before anyone leaps to correct me, I am aware that this is not the actual lyric, but I sure thought it was for the longest time.)
Such a loss. Besides That Voice, she was a great piano player too.
“Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody”
“Won’t Be Long”
“Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)”
“Evil Gal Blues”
I’ve been watching/listening to a lot of Aretha today. Most recently I’ve been finding Jazz and Gospel songs she sang, such as
“Running Out of Fools”
(here’s another, much more soulful, version)
and “Precious Lord (Take My Hand”)
(and by the way, anyone who loves that song needs to watch Rev. Thomas Dorsey tell the story of how he came to write that song. It’s devastating.)
Finally, just because I needed to smile again, this spirited cover of “Mockingbird” is so much fun. Aretha looks like she’s having a grand old time, as does Ray Johnson, who does a great job of keeping it straight playing the piano and singing while Aretha is doing her amazing thing.
Mine. It Ain’t Fair, featuring the great Duane Allman on guitar.
Let’s not get sidetracked from talking about Aretha, but Ariana Grande did Natural Woman on Jimmy Fallon and did a good job.
One of my favourites is Aretha’s version of Ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive. It was my own little pep talk song when I go all whingey and woe is me.
I don’t know how true it was but when I was in Iceland it was rumored that “Aretha” was pretty close to a slang term meaning “to fuck” in Icelandic. As a consequence, the local AFRS DJs would introduce her songs as being by, “Miss Franklin.”
God speed, Miss Franklin, God speed.
An additional thought . . .
When I first heard the song “Until You Come Back to Me” I was immediately taken by it. Then I found out it was a Stevie Wonder song. I listened to his recording. All I could think was, “how can anyone do Stevie Wonder better than Stevie Wonder?” She did. To me that is a huge complement and tribute.
Yes, and she “out-Carole-Kinged” with “Natural Woman” too
For those who haven’t heard it, hereis a cool song about Aretha Franklin.
I like some of Aretha’s hits. I would turn up the radio when they came on. I Say A Little Prayer is my favorite song.
I don’t own any of her albums. I should get her greatest hits for my mp3 player.
Great artist that will be missed.
RIP
I bought one relatively recently (ie not years and years ago), just because I saw her name on it. Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics. There’s a difference in her voice as an old(er) person and when she was “a kid”, but it’s Aretha. She had “star quality”. sigh.