When Aretha Franklin (Memphis, 1942-Detroit, 2018) sang that phrase tearfully in 1967, it seemed that she was answering the popular question that Sigmund Freud put on the air decades before: "What does a woman want?" The most curious thing is that Respect, for posterity a feminist anthem and one of the best known and most revered songs in the history of soul, was previously an Otis Redding composition intended to be sung by men. Respect is not only an anthem today because of its powerful and vindictive lyrics, but because those lyrics arose when everything that a man asked of a woman was turned around.
Lyrics of the song
(ooh) what do you want
(ooh) Baby I got it
(ooh) what do you need
(ooh) You know I got it?
(ooh) All I ask for
(ooh) It's a little respect when you get home (just a little bit)
Hey baby (just a little bit) when you get home
(just a little bit) sir (just a little bit)
I'm not going to hurt you while you're gone
I'm not going to hurt you (ooh) because I don't want to (ooh)
All I ask for (ooh)
It's a little respect when you get home (just a little bit)
Baby (just a little bit) when you come home (just a little bit)
Yeah (just a little bit)
I'm about to give you all my money
And all I ask in return, baby
Is that you give me my benefits
When you walk into the house (only one, only one, only one, only one)
Yeah baby (only one, only one, only one, only one)
When you come home (just a little bit)
Yeah (just a little bit)
Ooo, your kisses (ooh)
Sweeter than honey (ooh)
And you know what? (ooh)
This is my money (ooh)
All I want you to do (ooh) for me
It is to give it to me when you enter the house (re, re, re, re)
Yeah baby (re, re, re, re)
Spank me (respect, just a little bit)
When you come home now (just a little bit)
I RESPECT
Guess what it means to me
I RESPECT
Be careful TCB**
Oh (give it to me, give it to me, give it to me, give it to me *)
A little respect (give it to me, give it to me, give it to me, give it to me)
Whoa, babe (just a little bit)
A little respect (just a little bit)
I get tired (just a little bit)
Keep trying (just a little bit)
You're running out of lies (just a little bit)
And I don't lie (just a little bit)
(re, re, re, re) speto
When you get home (re, re, re, re)
Or you could come in (respect, just a little bit)
And discover that I'm not (just a little bit)
I have to have (just a little bit)
A little respect (just a little bit)
Otis composed the song and offered it, in ballad form, to Speedo Sims, who was the manager of his tour but also had a band, The Singing Demons. But Speedo, fortunately for everyone involved in this story except for himself, could not record the song: his vocal abilities were not up to par in the studio. Otis Redding kept it, recorded it, and published it on a 1965 album, Otis Blue. The song was a moderate success on the American charts and several bands, both American and British, released versions of the song over the next two years, adapting them slightly to their styles, but keeping the lyrics and spirit of the original.
Aretha's version reached number one not only on the R&B chart, but also on the general one, known as the Billboard Hot 100, and made her a great star of the genre. Today his version is the most popular and the one that is covered by both men and women. The British singer Rumer, current great heir to that school of soul, is not only a dedicated fan of Aretha but also published a song called Aretha that sums up very well the feeling of emptiness and at the same time of gratitude that millions of fans around today of the world after her death: “Oh, Aretha, I don't want to go to school because they don't understand me and it seems like a cruel place to me. But I always have Aretha, in the morning, ringing in my headphones as I walk to school ”.