Caught between them, the mother endures her own struggles as peacemaker. But it’s hard to think of another song where all those elements are combined.Blue tells the story of a loving, tight-knit family in modern-day Harlem struggling against increasing odds as the father proudly dons the blue uniform of NYPD while his son grows more politically active and socially aware. There are songs that are a call to action. It was an appeal for dignity combined with a blatant lubricity. “Respect” had the biggest impact, with overtones for the civil rights movement and gender equality. In 2010, the song’s producer Jerry Wexler reflected on Aretha’s career:

In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked “Respect” at #5 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time. “Sock it to me” became a major meme in the late ’60s-Richard Nixon even used it to help get elected President in 1968. Its lyrics popularized several phrases, including “taking care of business” and “propers” (which later became “props,” one of the defining slang terms of the hip-hop era). “Respect” appeared on Aretha’s 11th album I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You, her first for Atlantic Records. Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me

Aretha and her sisters rewrote the lyrics, including the song’s memorable breakdown: Engineer Tom Dowd-who worked on both Redding’s version and Aretha’s-suggested covering the song, and created a new arrangement. Otis Redding’s original had a significantly different storyline: it’s sung from the perspective of a hard-working man demanding “respect” (a euphemism for sex) from his woman. The song hit #1 on Billboard’s pop chart for two weeks in the summer of 1967, causing Rolling Stone to remark, “Aretha Franklin has shot out of nowhere and become Lady Soul.” Originally a minor hit by Otis Redding in 1965, Aretha’s “Respect” was given a new arrangement and new lyrics about a woman boldly demanding the respect of her man. Aretha Franklin’s signature song was a groundbreaking female empowerment anthem of the late 1960s.

Aretha franklin lyric opera house