The news that Aretha Franklin is gravely ill hit me like a punch in the gut. I’m not sure I realized it until that moment, but she provided an important anthem for my teenage years. Decades later, I can still remember how my high school girls track team would blast Franklin’s rendition of “Respect” on our boom box at the track and on the bus ride to meets. We could never replicate Franklin’s powerful, resounding voice, but we sure tried. I can still remember Jill, a sassy blonde 400 meter runner, standing up in the bus and belting out the lyrics — R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me! — while pointing her finger and sashaying her hips. We’d all join in, at the top of our lungs. The music spoke to us.
The song’s lyrics gave us a language for standing up for ourselves. Aretha helped us find our voice.
I was recently in the car with a friend I’ll call Wild Rose, and we turned her satellite radio to the 80’s/90’s station. As is our tradition, we were singing along to the music when a special song came on — Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves.
Yes, another Aretha Franklin tune… I couldn’t help but sing, and also contemplate how far (as in, not a lot) women had come since Franklin had sang that duet with Annie Lennox.
When that song was popular in my youth, I thought that women were really on the verge of making it. We were going to rule the world, rise to lead big companies and be President soon. Hearing it now made me sad to realize how little progress we’ve really made.
Photo of Franklin at the dedication of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial by DOI.