Natural Women
It should be no surprise to anybody that the rock and roll era was dominated by men. I don’t relate to the traditional meaning of “feminist” so I’m not angry about this; however, I was paging through the thousands of websites devoted to the music from my growing-up times and decided to write about some women rock and roll singers I like/love.
Who can not love Aretha? You can’t just “like” her. She cuts across every social stratus–black/white, male/female, young/old, professional musician/just a fan. And there’s been so many words written about Aretha where writers try to put into words what this woman possesses. I decided, while putting together this blog entry, to say that the brain doesn’t have any importance in this. When Aretha sings it goes straight from your ears to your heart and soul. When I was young, listening to her singing “Respect;” I didn’t know for years what she was talking about when she sang “…give me my propers when I get home.” What were propers? I finally figured it out. Also, a song I already wrote about–Son of a Preacher Man–was originally meant for Aretha. Dusty Springfield recorded it instead because Aretha was linked to church music and it did not fit her image. I actually remember–and this was years and years ago–reading that Dusty Springfield, after a recording session, stepped into an elevator and ran straight into Aretha. All the First Lady of Soul said was: “You go, girrrl.” Now that’s class. Her songs are pure heartache and longing–“I Never Loved A Man The Way That I Love You.” There is also anger–“Think”–where she gets mad at a long time love for having not treated her nicely. She’s the very best. And I still haven’t said what I really love about her. Oh well…
Janis Joplin used to scare me. In a way she still does. Everything about her is open; eyes/mouth/legs. She’s hungry and lonely and will do anything to find fulfillment. So I don’t know if I like her, love her, or I’m too scared to listen to her raspy voice, begging a man to “…take another little piece of (her) heart.” Go around and ask women you know if they ever felt that way…that they want to give yet another piece of themselves to a man. And are willing to scream it, like Janis. If these women you know are honest, they will agree; love makes you do ridiculous, shameful things. Janis died at 27 from a heroin overdose. Let’s hope she rests in peace.
Carole King is worlds away from Janis and Aretha; through years of hard work, long hours, a young husband, and childcare worries while composing first rate music for other people to sing, she built an authentic life. I think you can see this in her face. Something clean and classy along with hard won dignity. Someone, I can’t remember who, persuaded her to record her own music so she recorded Natural Woman after Aretha did. That took guts, don’t you think? I can recall, again, a while ago, reading an article about Carole and she said that during the very late fifties and early sixties–the “Brill Building” years–she got to hang out with Black singers and musicians for the first time. She was from a different world. Listening to these girls and women talking about their love lives and experiences got her a major injection of soul. You can hear it in a lot of her songs. “I Feel The Earth Move” is one of my favorites, but there are so many.
Finally, I want to mention Gladys Knight. She didn’t sing alone but there’s no doubt that her voice is the important one. I will never, ever get tired of her singing “Midnight Train To Georgia.” It made me feel as if I was on that soul train, having gotten rid of all my possessions, hoping for a new start.
lgmwriting 