“Respect” is a song written and originally recorded by American singer Otis Redding. It was released in 1965 as a single from his third album Otis Blue and became a crossover hit for Redding. In 1967, fellow soul singer Aretha Franklin covered and rearranged “Respect”, resulting in a bigger hit and her signature song. The music in the two versions is significantly different, while a few changes in the lyrics resulted in different narratives around the theme of human dignity that have been interpreted as commentaries on traditional gender roles.
At first a ballad “Respect” was brought to Redding by Speedo Sims, who intended to record it with his band, the Singing Demons. No one is really sure who wrote the original version of the song. Bandleader Percy Welch said it was a guitarist at Bobby Smith’s recording studio in Macon. Redding took Sims’ version, rewrote the lyrics and sped up the tempo. Redding then decided to sing the song himself, which Sims agreed to. Redding also promised to credit Sims, but this never happened. Sims never pressed Redding on the issue, possibly because he himself had not really written it in the first place. The original version of “Respect” was produced by Steve Cropper, who also played instrumentals for the hit track along with William Bell and Earl Sims on backup vocals.
Producer Jerry Wexler booked Franklin for a series of recording dates in January–February 1967, starting in Alabama and continuing in New York using the same engineer and the same musicians, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, affectionately known as the “Swampers”, for both sessions. During the following week, they recorded “Respect”, which Franklin had been performing in her live shows for several years. Her version of the song flipped the gender of the lyrics, as worked out by Franklin with her sisters Erma and Carolyn. Franklin instructed the rhythm section how to perform her established arrangement of the “stop-and-stutter” syncopation, and in the studio she worked out new parts for the backing singers. “Respect” was recorded on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1967.
The resulting song was featured on Franklin’s 1967 breakthrough Atlantic Records debut album, I Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You. As the title track became a hit on both R&B and pop radio, Atlantic Records arranged for the release of this new version of “Respect” as a single. Cash Box called the single a “frantic, driving, wailing, up-beat workout.”
According to NPR, “So much of what made ‘Respect’ a hit—and an anthem—came from the Franklin rearrangement (including the Muscle Shoals musician’s soulful guitar hook, the background vocals, and the added sax solo/chords). Franklin’s rendition found greater success than the original, spending two weeks atop the Billboard chart. The changes in lyrics and production drove Franklin’s version to become an anthem for the increasingly large Civil Rights and Women’s Rights movements. She altered the lyrics to represent herself, a strong woman demanding respect from her man. Franklin’s demands for “Respect” were “associated either with black freedom struggles or women’s liberation.”
It has often been considered one of the best R&B songs of its era, earning Franklin two Grammy Awards in 1968 for “Best Rhythm & Blues Recording” and “Best Rhythm & Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female”, and being inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2002, the Library of Congress honoured Franklin’s version by adding it to the National Recording Registry. It was placed number 1 on Rolling Stone’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” in 2021. It was also included in the list of “Songs of the Century by the RIAA and the NEA.
