Aretha Franklin's 1967 hit "Respect" has been ranked the best song of all time by Rolling Stone. Interestingly, the song wasn't originally Franklin's. It was written and recorded by Otis Redding (think "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay") in 1965, but Franklin made the song her own when she recorded it with her own flair. She enlisted her two sisters Erma and Carolyn Franklin, to sing back-up vocals, making "Respect" a family affair.
"Respect" became Franklin's first-ever No. 1 hit, and the song put her on the music map, effectively earning her the title of the Queen of Soul.
"'Respect' catalyzed rock & roll, gospel, and blues to create the model for soul music that artists still look to today. Just as important, the song’s unapologetic demands resonated powerfully with the civil rights movement and emergent feminist revolution," Rolling Stone reports.
In February 1968, Franklin won two Grammy Awards for "Respect"—Best Rhythm & Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female and Best Rhythm & Blues Recording. Franklin was also nominated in the Best Vocal Performance, Female, but lost to Bobbie Gentry for "Ode to Billie Joe."
Franklin was just 24 years old when she released the track.
“It was the need of a nation. The need of the average man and woman in the street, the businessman, the mother, the fireman, the teacher – everyone wanted respect," Franklin wrote in her autobiography (via Far Out Magazine).
