RESPECT, by Aretha Franklin.

Aretha Franklin in 1967 sang “Respect”, a cover of Otis released song. This song remains after all those years a very popular protest song. We are now going to understand why this song has become

the reference it is today.

As it is well-known , the segregation in America during the 1960's was very important and the fight of the African-American to change that situation was lead by the Civil Rights movement. Aretha was at that time a young 25-year-old black mother of three sons.

The song starts with the lyrics

“What you want / baby I got it / What you need / You know I got it”

She is saying that she has the power of giving her man what he wants.

“I ain't gonna do you wrong /while you're gone/ […] 'cause I don't want to”

She is defying herself as a responsible woman and is trying to reassure him on what is coming next.

Then she says that “ All I want is little respect / When you come home”

She exposes her definition of feminism : gender's equality in marriage and not a women supremacy.

She may work because in her song she talks about her money: “All of my money”.

That means she can be an independent woman but chooses to be married and this put under the light the fact that mariage is not reduced to a man working and paying the bills and a woman staying at home.

When she is saying “ Or you might walk in and found out I'm gone”, she is not threatening him but just warning him not to her for granted. He doesn't own her in any way.

In this song Aretha gives her definition of feminism: gender equality. And when she spells the word RESPECT she wants to show us that it is the only way to live as an independent and happy person.

We both love this song because we are very aware of the world we live in today and its inequalities. It gives us hope for a better future for all of the women on hearth because we are not the only one fighting for this cause.

                                                              A review by Stalter Caroline and Abdelqari Inès.