A Queen, Without Comparison

A lot has been said in recent days about the lasting legacy of Aretha Franklin, and rightfully so. Her singles were often not just classic hits, but anthems at a time of social upheaval. She could also bring new meaning to other people’s songs – most notably Otis Redding’s “Respect”, as her interpretation turned his tune into a rallying cry for feminists.

Still, it points out one problem with her discography at times: the reliance on covers meant that her versions would inevitably get compared to the originals. In addition to “Respect”, she also made the top-40 with remakes of Dionne Warwick’s “I Say A Little Prayer”; the Band’s “The Weight”; the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby”; Elton John’s “Border Song”; and Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” – among others! Even “The House That Jack Built”, the unofficial theme song for the late WBLS DJ Hal Jackson, was a cover, although only Aretha’s version was a hit. This isn’t even counting all the charting B-sides that were new takes on familiar material, as well as many more album tracks. This even happened  in later years, when covering the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” (with Keith Richards on guitar) in 1986; Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People” in 1991; or Clivillés and Cole’s “Pride (A Deeper Love)” in 1994. She’d even cover herself in 1989, with a new rendition of “Think” for the messy album “Through The Storm”.

Sometimes her interpretation was considered a classic alongside the original (such as Ben E. King’s “Spanish Harlem”), and other times an improvement (arguably Stevie Wonder’s “Until You Come Back To Me”), but the comparisons were still there. Therefore, perhaps the best way to remember her for now is to focus on those songs that were clearly her own – often because she actually wrote them herself, a detail that has barely been mentioned in the past week’s news stories.

While several of Aretha’s first hits for Atlantic Records were covers, she did introduce writer Don Covay’s “Chain Of Fools” in her breakthrough year of 1967 – even though there was talk of giving that one to Otis Redding as well!

Aretha would end up with six hits in 1967 – and seven in 1968! Naturally, she is credited with introducing “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman” in ’67, but since it became so closely associated with its composer Carole King as well (despite never actually being a single off the “Tapestry” album), it technically falls into the ‘comparison’ category. However, she did have two top-10 hits the following year that she penned: “Since You’ve Been Gone” and “Think”.

(If that wasn’t enough, the B-side to “Think”, “Ain’t No Way”, was written by her sister Carolyn Franklin – and also became a hit! Carolyn would later write Aretha’s “Angel”.)

From there the covers tended to dominate for a while again, but she’d have a #1 R&B hit with another of her own compositions in 1970: “Call Me”, which later topped the same chart in 1991 through a Phil Perry remake.

Her 1971 album “Young, Gifted And Black”, while still featuring several covers, gave Aretha her greatest success as a writer, as three of her own works were released as singles and became hits. Besides the top-40 hit “Al The King’s Horses”, there was the 1-2 punch (literally – those were their respective R&B chart peaks) of “Day Dreaming” and “Rock Steady”.

In 1976 she introduced the Curtis Mayfield composition “Something He Can Feel” (later covered by En Vogue) for the film “Sparkle”, but her momentum slowed for much of the late 1970’s. She would have better luck with a series of albums in the early 1980’s – most notably with “Jump To It”, written and produced by a singer on the rise at that moment, Luther Vandross.

A second album with Luther didn’t do as well, but then came the massive 1985 comeback release “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?”, with such defining moments as “Freeway Of Love” and yet another feminist anthem. “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves” with the Eurythmics.

In 1986 she collaborated with another star in the making: George Michael, who would go on to have six more top-5 hits over the ensuing two years. It may be hard to believe, but “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” was only Aretha’s second #1 on the pop charts – after “Respect”, twenty years earlier.

Aretha would have a few minor hits throughout the ’90s and beyond, thanks to collaborations with Michael McDonald, Babyface, and Lauryn Hill. but if they receive less attention, it certainly is understandable, given how much of a legacy she’d already established up to that point. With any luck, the examination of Aretha’s accomplishments will have less to do with comparisons, and more with just how much she simply did on her own.

 

 

The Making Of The #ForTheHorse Playlist

Those who are aware of the work of Twitter user “NotCloudyAllDay” know how much work she regularly puts in on behalf of horses. Her daily updates on what’s happening on the nation’s racetracks receive regular feedback, helping in the efforts to rescue those horses that have raced long enough and now just need to retire.

On the occasion of her birthday this past Sunday, a new YouTube playlist premiered that features fifty songs related to horses and ponies. Putting together such lists can be somewhat time-consuming, but it was still a labor of love, given both the person who inspired it and the quality of the songs included. There are some things you may not have noticed about the playlist, even if you’ve already heard it all the way through.

The songs are presented in chronological order, going as far back as 1955 and as far forward as this summer. The plan was to go back even further, to 1951, with the original Broadway rendition of “Fugue For Tinhorns”; unfortunately, that version has yet to appear on YouTube. Still, most wouldn’t complain that the 1955 movie version was used instead, given that it does feature vocals by Frank Sinatra!

As for the most recent songs, Keith Urban’s “Horses” was being considered as a Song Of The Day shortly after its release as part of Keith’s latest album this spring, but that will now happen another time. Dwight Yoakam’s inclusion was a total fluke: when I decided to see if he had any songs on this subject, it was shortly after he’d just released a new one called “Pretty Horses”!

Some of the best-known horse metaphors (or cliches) show up along the way, including variations on “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away”; “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink”, and “If wishes were horses, then beggars (or in this case, dreamers) would ride”. There was also the expression “Dark Horse” that became the basis for the same-named Amanda Marshall song. The Mila Mason cover from a year later was left out, but only because it was so similar to the original, and because the list’s chronological order would have placed them almost back-to-back. In fairness, Mila’s version can be seen below.

Two other covers had enough distance from the originals that both were used. The Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses” and the Sundays’ well-known remake (a recent Song Of The Day) had a 20-year gap, while 37 years separated Dan Fogelberg’s original “Run For The Roses” and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s recent take. (Both were featured as “song of the day” choices on Kentucky Derby weekends: the first in 2015, and the second this year.)

There were some songs, however, that were left out altogether – mainly due to content issues, but sometimes because they had so little to do with horses. The title of Taylor Swift’s “White Horse” – co-written by the highly regarded songwriting duo of Mary Ann Kennedy and Pat Rose, plus Kyle Fleming – relates to the old idea of men from fairy tales rescuing princesses, but the horse is somewhat of an afterthought here. Toby Keith’s “Beer For My Horses” also has little to do with the title animals, and its overriding theme (no pun intended) would already lead to its omission. Still, his duet partner Willie Nelson made it onto the list, anyway, with “Silver Stallion”, when Willie reunited with the Highwaymen in 1990. (Another song that mixed horses with alcohol, Peter, Paul, and Mary’s hit cover of “Stewball” from 1963, did make the cut.)

There was also a Guns ‘N Roses song that made use of the metaphor about a horse being mistreated after its demise, and that really would have spoiled the mood (and again, the song isn’t really about horses). A 1983 novelty tune by Laid Back that shares its title with Taylor Swift’s may have made the top-40 – but not only does it have a dated sound, its use of a pejorative term for a woman guaranteed its exclusion. Then there are tunes by Ginuwine, Katy Perry, and Salt ‘n Pepa that may have horse-related titles but actually have other things on their mind – and were ‘scratched’ from the start. One was left off just for being too silly: Paul McCartney’s “All You Horse Riders” from 1980, which starts off nonsensical and then just drifts off into another song. In the process, that allowed the aforementioned Rolling Stones classic to take its place.

Five songs come from films about horses, and were included even when their lyrics were off-topic. Those are “Fugue For Tinhorns” (from “Guys And Dolls”); Alison Moorer’s Oscar-nominated “A Soft Place To Fall” (from 1998’s “The Horse Whisperer”); Bryan Adams’ “Here I Am” (from 2002’s “Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron”); Frank Lovato Jr.’s “A Legend In The Game” (from 2003’s “Seabiscuit”) and AJ Michalka’s “It’s Who You Are” (from 2010’s “Secretariat”). All five will be featured together in a future theme week.

It’s not a surprise that most of the songs have a country feel, given where horse racing is most popular. It also is comprised primarily of white artists, which does speak to a lack of diversity within the sport. (Decades went by without any African-American jockeys in the Kentucky Derby, due in part to Jim Crow laws.) Still, the three songs in the playlist by Black artists – Cliff Nobles’ classic 1968 instrumental “The Horse” (which sounds as if it could have inspired Boz Scaggs’ “Lido Shuffle”); the Hues Corporation’s 1973 cover of Allan Toussaint’s “Freedom For The Stallion” (the follow-up to “Rock The Boat”); and Jon Butcher’s Jimi Hendrix-inspired “Wishes” from 1987 provide a nice change of pace. While Latino jockeys have dominated in the Derby in recent years, the only artists of that background on the list are Joan Baez (1971’s “Three Horses”) and Los Lobos (the lively “Jenny’s Got A Pony” from 1990).

Still, the songs do reflect the love and compassion that so many people have “for the horse”. The hope is that it will inspire those working on their behalf, as the 63-year span of the songs allows them to look at the bigger picture when potentially facing temporary setbacks. If it does that for you, please feel free to comment below. Thanks for reading.

Here’s the link to the playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfPL7VlP7At2aWCY2MAQpWV-JPOOQu6Js .

 

The Streaming Dilemma

The ten songs featured on the Twitter and Facebook pages this past week (sung by the artists in the above picture) have a common thread to them: they were all written by the same person. This has happened before on these pages (including last week, as well as an upcoming week in August), but the difference now is that this songwriter has been accused of a variety of crimes – some dating back more than twenty years.

The singer’s name won’t be mentioned here, but he became universally recognized when his song “I Believe I Can Fly”, from the 1996 film “Space Jam”, became a #1 hit. Starting with his 1993 solo debut, his albums were part of the movement in R&B towards a greater hip-hop influence – and much more explicit lyrics. Still it didn’t keep him from maintaining mainstream success, as he collaborated with everyone from Celine Dion to Kirk Franklin to Trisha Yearwood.

All along, however, there were disturbing accusations brought against him, and many were common knowledge. In 1994, he was reportedly married to singer Aaliyah when she was not yet 16. Several reports followed over the years, mostly dealing with relationships with minors, but while some resulted in charges brought against him, most were dropped, and in other cases he was found not guilty.

In recent months there have been new accusations against the singer, as well as a greater push for the entertainment industry to sever its ties with him. This case is ongoing, but Spotify and other streaming services have already taken action, deleting most of his songs from their own playlists. In May Spotify released a statement that said in part, “We don’t censor content because of an artist’s or creator’s behavior, but we want our editorial decisions – what we choose to program – to reflect our values.” In response, the singer released a 19-minute song to his Soundcloud account on July 23rd, “I Admit”. The lyrics didn’t cover every accusation against him, and the point of the song seemed more to call out those who’ve leveled those charges – a somewhat common and frustrating practice among musicians in those situations.

The problem for streaming services is an obvious lack of consistency in its policy. Spotify has completely banned groups with white-supremacist messages, but still makes available the final track of Guns ‘N Roses’ album “The Spaghetti Incident?”, which was written by Charles Manson. As singer Chante Moore pointed out, Ted Nugent has made threatening remarks to his Democratic critics, but no action has been taken against him.

Spotify also removed tracks by rapper XXXTentacion from playlists for a while, after reports that he abused his pregnant girlfriend; however, after such high-profile musicians as Kendrick Lamar argued against the action, those songs returned. (The rapper was killed not long afterwards, in what appears to have been a random shooting.) Meanwhile, the accused singer’s songs have not returned. If any of the ten songs featured this week were currently popular, would they get removed from playlists, too, because he wrote all of them?

So why go to so much trouble to leave out his name here? There are some artists – and politicians, as you know – who thrive upon controversy and welcome any kind of attention they can get for themselves. While this attitude obviously predates the age of social media, the number of celebrities who thrive upon that attention – positive or negative – has been rising dramatically. It may not even matter to some as to what’s true or not after a while. At the same time, there’s a story for journalists to tell. So if you’re more of a blogger than an actual journalist, maybe it’s just best to leave the person’s name out and deny them that little victory.

The one definitive thing we can learn from this situation is that there are no easy answers – and those who say otherwise are too eager to come up with a quick ending to this story and move on. The story’s not over, though, especially as long as new allegations surface – and as long as these companies have inconsistent policies. More importantly, if influential people in the music industry would just stop tolerating the behavior of their most controversial performers, these issues wouldn’t have to be addressed so often.