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Aretha Franklin's gendered re-authoring of Otis Redding's 'Respect

Bibliographic Data

ID4304987
AuthorsVictoria Malawey (0009-0006-9697-3406, Macalester College, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume33
Issue2
Pages185-207
Publication date2014-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopular Music (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0261-1430 • E-ISSN: 1474-0095
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0261143014000270
OpenAlexW1998250738
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited22

In her re-authoring of Otis Redding's 'Respect', Aretha Franklin's seminal 1967 recording features striking changes to melodic content, vocal delivery, lyrics and form. Musical analysis and transcription reveal Franklin's re-authoring techniques, which relate to rhetorical strategies of motivated rewriting, talking texts and call-and-response introduced by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The extent of her re-authoring grants her status as owner of the song and results in a new sonic experience that can be clearly related to the cultural work the song has performed over the past 45 years. Multiple social movements claimed Franklin's 'Respect' as their anthem, and her version more generally functioned as a song of empowerment for those who have been marginalised, resulting in the song's complex relationship with feminism. Franklin's 'Respect' speaks dialogically with Redding's version as an answer song that gives agency to a female perspective speaking within the language of soul music, which appealed to many audiences

Agency (philosophy · Art · Feminism · Linguistics · Literature · Lyrics · Melody · Musical · Perspective (graphical · Poetry · Rhetoric · Rhetorical question · Social science · Sociology · Visual arts · Gender Studies · History · Music History and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy · Poetry Analysis and Criticism

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