006: Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967)

September 04, 2018 / Amanda Rodgers

“On any given night, when that lady sits down at the piano and gets her body and soul all over some righteous song, she’ll scare the s**t out of you. And you’ll know — you’ll swear — that she’s still the best f**kin’ singer this f**ked-up country has ever produced.”

--Billy Preston

Do we really need to introduce Aretha Franklin? Undisputedly the best soul singer around — perhaps the best singer, period — her string of massive hits and modern classics is longer than some other artists’ entire careers. Her voice is so recognizable now that it’s easy to take for granted, but when she moved to Atlantic Records in 1967 and released I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, she made gospel-style music blare from American radios at a volume then unheard of, and with a confident feminist swagger.

When we recorded this episode, we had absolutely no idea that we were doing it at the end of the Queen of Soul’s reign. We’re all very glad we took the opportunity to delve into her amazing recordings, and we hope we did her justice. The Queen herself may be gone, but she’ll never, ever be forgotten.

Miscellany

The excitable dialogue in the introduction is adapted from a November 11, 1967 review of an Aretha performance at New York’s Philharmonic Hall, published in New Musical Express and written by June Harris, who was similarly jazzed up about the Queen of Soul.
Amanda slightly misremembered Aretha’s scene in The Blues Brothers (see links below). Although it is worth noting that the most unrealistic part of that scene is that everybody’s hair doesn’t blow straight back as soon as Aretha opens her mouth to sing.
In case there’s any confusion about our process: DJ Rich plays clips of the songs from the album while we’re recording so we can discuss them (although he is not always reliable, as you’ve heard). Then Producer Mike inserts better-quality clips while he’s editing the episode, as well as any other music we’ve decided we need to share with you guys.
Amanda was working with a new microphone setup and kept bumping into the mic stand. She is sorry and will try to do better on future episodes.
Ever wonder why Aretha always had her handbag on stage with her? Back at the beginning of her career, she saw a lot of artists get ripped off - so she collected payment up front and then kept it where she could see it.
One of the backup singers is Cissy Houston, who is not only an incredible singer but also Dionne Warwick’s aunt and Whitney Houston’s mother. That was one impressively musical family.
Our Spotify playlist for this episode is extra good. We included every song we mentioned during the recording. There are 58 tracks on this playlist, and a surprising number of them are by Led Zeppelin.

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call

Phil Maddox (host)
Amanda Rodgers (moderator)
Rich Bunnell
Benjamin Marlin

I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You tracklist

Respect
Drown in My Own Tears
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
Soul Serenade
Don’t Let Me Lose This Dream
Baby, Baby, Baby
Dr. Feelgood
Good Times
Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
Save Me
A Change Is Gonna Come

Other clips used

Aretha Franklin:

Think
Chain of Fools
You Made Me Love You
I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (with George Michael)
I Say a Little Prayer
Spirit in the Dark

Others:

Otis Redding - Respect
Ray Charles - Drown in My Own Tears
Isaac Hayes - Soulsville
King Curtis - Soul Serenade
The Coasters - Yakety Yak
The Supremes & the Four Tops - Don’t Let Me Lose This Dream
Motley Crüe - Dr. Feelgood
Cypress Hill - Born to Get Busy
Sam Cooke - Good Times
Flying Burrito Brothers - Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
Them - Gloria
Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come

Songs we mentioned but didn't clip

Aretha Franklin - A Rose is Still a Rose
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog
Elvis Presley - Hound Dog
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - Natural Born Lover
Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Takin’ Care of Business
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Sam & Dave - When Something is Wrong with My Baby
Coolio - Gangsta’s Paradise
Stevie Wonder - Pastime Paradise
Puff Daddy - Come With Me
Led Zeppelin - Kashmir
The Coasters - Charlie Brown
Boots Randolph - Yakety Sax
The Four Tops - So Deep Within You
Led Zeppelin - Misty Mountain Hop
Marvin Gaye - I Heard it Through the Grapevine
The Temptations - Ain’t Too Proud to Beg
Starland Vocal Band - Afternoon Delight
Cypress Hill - Insane in the Brain
AC/DC - Night of the Long Knives
Elvis Presley - Kentucky Rain
Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds
Aimee Mann - Save Me
Van Morrison - Beside You
Richie Havens - Here Comes the Sun
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Aretha Franklin - (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
Aretha Franklin - Freeway of Love
Aretha Franklin - Spanish Harlem
Aretha Franklin - The House That Jack Built

Band/album personnel

Aretha Franklin – piano, vocals
Spooner Oldham – keyboards, piano
Jimmy Johnson, Chips Moman – guitar
Tommy Cogbill – bass guitar
Gene Chrisman, Roger Hawkins – drums
Melvin Lastie – trumpet
Charles Chalmers, King Curtis – tenor saxophone
Willie Bridge – baritone saxophone
Carolyn Franklin – background vocals
Erma Franklin – background vocals
Cissy Houston – background vocals

Credits

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:

Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Aretha Franklin - Save Me (this episode only)

You can buy or stream I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You and other albums by Aretha Franklin at the usual suspects such as Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Follow Rich @zonetrope, Amanda @MagneticInk67, Ben @BenjaminM1019, and Phil @pamaddox. Special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and editing. See you next album, and be ever wonderful.

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