Aretha Franklin: “Our Lady of Mysterious Sorrows”

The release of the movie “Respect”, based on the life of Aretha Franklin and starring Jennifer Hudson, put me in mind of something I wrote on August 19, 2018, a few days after Miss Franklin’s transition, but never published publicly. Corrections and edits have been made for Medium, August 18, 2021.

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Aretha.

Soul waking, soul stirring, fiery, passionate Aretha.

From my first awareness as a child in the joyous scene in The Blues Brothers until now and for always, when she sang, she spoke, and she spoke for everybody.

She lullabied, funk-tified, rock-tified, gospel-wailed and sang from the depths of her being and the world didn’t just hear, it felt.

The news of Aretha Franklin’s transition led me to see if I could find her autobiography, From These Roots.

It’s out of print and unavailable as an e-book. That seems just as well, because as I went searching for From These Roots, some additional research on the overall reception to that book led me to read about David Ritz and his biography, ***Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin.***

The research reminded me of why I didn’t buy From These Roots when it was first published in 1999. To paraphrase a quote in Ritz’s bio:

“Girlfriend was not going to give it up.”

This memory ought to give you some perspective: at the time the book came out, it seemed a huge amount of attention was placed on trying to figure out the identity of the unnamed female singing diva Aretha wrote she nearly came to fisticuffs with at a Washington D.C. event in the 1990s.

Really? That was the big takeaway from this remarkable, history making woman finally sharing her life story (not to mention the possibility that no such “battle of the Divas” came close to taking place)?

Nothing about her experiences in the recording industry or trials of her personal life registered a blip during the promotion of the book. There seemed to be very little depth, and that’s not because Aretha Franklin wasn't a woman of depth.

It’s because “girlfriend did not give it up.”

David Ritz co-authored From These Roots, and in the prologue for Respect, states that he knew From These Roots was not the story, and that Aretha was unlikely to ever fully and truly share her story. She was steely when it came to revealing struggle.

As Ritz had achieved with Ray Charles and Marvin Gaye (although incomplete as a result of Marvin’s tragic death), he merely wanted to facilitate Aretha’s story. It would be her story in her words and her voice, but with his assistance.

Even mere facilitation became problematic, as it became quite apparent that Aretha was glossing over, or outright avoiding discussing the deeper aspects of her own history.

Take a look at some moments from Aretha’s 60 Minutes interview with Ed Bradley and you might get a sense of what it was like for Mr. Ritz to try and get Aretha to talk for real.

In the years that followed the publication of From These Roots, Ritz debated whether or not to write her biography from his point of view, based on years of dedicated research and interviews.

He ultimately decided to do just that, and with the death of Miss Franklin, his Respect will likely be the lasting and definitive written testament to her life story.

Although Aretha dismissed Ritz’s book as “trash” and “full of lies,” all one needs to do is read his missive to understand that it isn’t. Ritz is unabashedly a fan/historian who knows the ins and out of her entire musical legacy.

The narrative is deeply sympathetic and unflinching in its understanding of why Miss Franklin wanted total control over what her audience and the public thought of her.

Ritz conducted significant interviews with people associated with Aretha over decades, but what gives the book its highest depths of credibility are the stories and quotes he was able to obtain from the people closest to Aretha: her brother, Cecil, and her two sisters, Erma and Carolyn. Aretha’s long time booking agent, Ruth Bowen, is also a significant contributor.

Without the memories of these people (and those who worked with Aretha live and in-studio), perhaps the book would be mere conjecture and the “trash” Aretha labeled it. It is not. The book is not about innuendo or spilling secrets for the sake of gossip or controversy.

It paints a picture of the likely story — one that rings true because of Ritz’s love, affinity and sympathy for his subject. Although even he refers to Respect as a “version” of Aretha Franklin’s life, this is the closest anyone is likely to get to the reality now that she is gone.

While I was always in love with Aretha’s soul, over the years I could not mistake the incredible ego on display.

Respect makes it logical, without overtly stating it, that all of that ego was a mask for deep insecurity, fear and unspeakable pain. None of which Aretha would ever acknowledge or, perhaps, was incapable of acknowledging.

In a way, it doesn’t matter, because whatever she would avoid speaking would come out through her singing. Her humanity is as clear in her music as that Divine Spirit.

Listen to the way latter day Aretha sings “It Hurts Like Hell” from the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack and try to tell me she didn’t feel every inch of that lyric on a deeply profound level.

As Jerry Wexler, the producer behind Aretha’s unquestionably greatest success at Atlantic Records in the late ’60s / early ’70s once said:

“I think of Aretha as Our Lady of Mysterious Sorrows. Her eyes are incredible, luminous eyes covering inexplicable pain. Her depressions could be as deep as the dark sea. I don’t pretend to know the sources of her anguish, but anguish surrounds Aretha as surely as the glory of her musical aura.”

I spent most of my weekend reading Respect, and have come away not only with a deeper understanding of Aretha Franklin’s artistry, but a deeper understanding of the human psyche, and how people create the world the way they want it to be as opposed to how it actually is. Especially our “geniuses.”

Beyond that, since David Ritz knows the music inside and out, I learned about so many of the singers and musicians Aretha emulated, learned from and studied in her formative years.

I also learned about King Curtis. His was a name I had not known, but he is responsible for the spectacular assistance given to Aretha over three legendary concerts in March 1971, that became the basis of Live At Fillmore West, which is considered her greatest album after her stratospheric gospel performance, Amazing Grace. King Curtis was murdered a few months after these shows.

I’ve picked up a complete, unedited collection of all three of those nights, and it’s the cream of the crop essence of rhythm, blues and soul. I’m remiss I hadn’t heard most of the music (except for the totally unexpected pairing with Ray Charles at one of the shows) until now.

If you want to know a bit more about Aretha Franklin, David Ritz’s Respect is not only the story to read, but will inevitably lead you to so much Aretha Franklin music you may not have been aware of.