I always thought it would be fun if she were saying “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, take out the P-E-C”.
“He” would then be leaving her some “rest”.
Sweet Basil
Hey, Da Ace, TCB goes back at least to the 50s.
Its roots are in Black lingo, just like “Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
Ever heard “60-Minute Man” by The Dominoes?
“I’ll rock 'em, roll 'em, all night long. I’m a 60-minute man.”
This was recorded before Alan Freed started using the term.
They weren’t talking about music, either.
Well, my WAG was that she was really saying something like “take over TCB,” referring to the musicians or the backup singers. (IIRC, the backup singers have a riff right after that line.)
“Take out TCB” still doesn’t make much sense to me – yeah, “takin’ care of business” is a reference to sex, but is she saying that the only way she’ll get “just a little bit of respect” is to get rid of (“take out”) sex? That just seems like a really tortured and obscure reading.
…but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
I’m sorry, folks, but I just don’t buy the “Taking Care of Business” explanation. Franklin is talking about RESPECT, not nookie.
I’ve been doing some work on this. I visited www.kissthisguy.com (the repository of misheard lyrics) and found nothing. So I don’t hope that you’re thinking that I’m dismissing your speculations out of hand.
Perhaps the right person to ask is Aretha Franklin herself, but even then I’m not sure that we will get the right answer. A few months ago, I wrote to a rock group in Australia asking about what a particular line was, and I proposed several possible interpretations (based on what I though I’d heard). The artist told me that one of those lines was “right”, but in the context of the song, it made absolutely no sense. I had the impression that he was just trying to get rid of me.
I’ll continue to watch this thread, in the hopes that somebody can tell me what Aretha Franklin is actually saying in that song.
Are you educated, erudite and maybe a bit eccentric?
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Did you see my answer at “incomprehensible lyrics.” It truly is the definitive answer.
Her exact speech and the meaning of it is This: “Take Care, TCB” It means "Take care, [you know what I’m talking about] take care of business [baby]! Indeed, this refers to the entire “business” of reciprical awareness, sensitivity, and due attention to needs… My further explanation is given under the other thread.
Notice she never says “of.” The “of” is part of the TCB (as in USA—U.S.ofA.)…
See???
Nikkos… for a year I have been meaning to open a thread on this very same question!!! 
[quote]
Originally posted by ASPA:
A
Ummm, slight correction/modification regarding my “definitive” answer. This is a slight BUT important correction since I need to acknowledge what can be heard on the record. I’d almost forgotten, since the interpretive significance is zero. Anyway, I said, “There is no ‘of’,” but what I should have said is that the barely audible “of” {“Take care <of> TCB”) is by a vocal slip (force of tendency) and obviously deemed by the recording artist and her producers and studio engineers to be insignificant/uncontaminating — so they didn’t go through the time and expense of another taping and/or tape-editing. This is clear to me. Bobby Brown’s superperforming wife, as well as other top recording artists, have made similar slips that remain audible on their records, and maybe someone else has examples at the forefront of their mind. The audible slip, if integrated into the meaning, does not much prevent interpretive value and explanation of the phrasology. I mean, the value and explanation remains that of emphatics, chrystalization, and nitty-gritty. The vocal slip does, however, place weight on emphatics. Sense: (Take care of, TCB : Take care of, take care of business : as in this analogy> Get off of, GET OFF OF THAT SWING! Hope this helps.
Mjollnir_ I got a copy of the Mac the Knife song.It’s awesome.she just completely forgot the lyrics and made up stuff. There is also a version of “How High the Moon” where she forgets the words. Makes you kind of wonder. I bet if you look around on Napster long enough you;ll find them.
4 by 4, with Ella, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, and Billie Holiday. You can get it at BMG
Great. Any more recollections of vocal slips of majoe or minor proportion? Oh, I should mention, usually when one given lyric or verse is “forgotten” and so, then. “thoroughly revised,” it’s no mistake. It is a authentic or primary cultural tradition that (and way of honoring the original verse when) the secondary or future performers take the given lyric or title or thematic line and creatively do ther own version. We ae not bound to “remember” so the “forgetting” is not actually the kind of “forgetting” American-style, if you know what I mean. But, that said, it would be appropriate and fun to continue to relate further recollections. This will add to the understanding that goes along with the explanation of Aretha’s useage of <of>. The guy who originated this thread said hel’ll keep checking, and he’ll be entertained and informed by this thorough reply. Hopefully he’ll let us know he’s read some of the replies.
Well, in my continuing quest to prove everybody else wrong and my own tortured interpretation correct, I’ve finally found proof that there, indeed, was a band called “T.C.B.” The only problem is that (as I’d thought) it was Elvis Presley’s backup band (website here), and none of them seem to have ever played with Aretha at all. They’ve all played with every other freakin’ musician in the world, according to AllMusic, but not with Aretha. [large sigh]
So, my idea that Aretha was telling the band to “take over” has finally hit the crapper.
I’m your only friend
I’m not your only friend
But I’m a little glowing friend
But really I’m not actually your friend
But I am
I just now heard that song by Tony Braxton—the one about being lonely for her lover. It’s an example of one oft he points I wanted examples for, so I’ll tap it in.
The deliberate lyrics include, “Song came on—on the radio.” Repeating the word on is a device for crystalization / emphasis / emotive power, etc. So, too, in this way the phrase “Take Care of, TCB” [Take Care of Business] has purpose and meaning. Keep in mind that the initialism does stand for Take Care of Business (and not Taking Care of Business).
Find out what it means to me.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take Care, T-C-B
A little respect
“The truth does not make a good story; that’s why we have art.”
JOHN, If I am right, you are only a little wrong about RESPECT being in the Blues Brothers, she sang it in the sequel