Music

The 20 Best Aretha Franklin Songs You Probably Don’t Know

These lesser-known songs could use a little more R-E-S-P-E-C-T

By Bonnie Stiernberg / August 13, 2021 10:12 am

This weekend, the highly anticipated Aretha Franklin biopic Respect finally hits theaters after several delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jennifer Hudson stars as the Queen of Soul — handpicked by Franklin herself to take on the demanding role — and she’s already earning Oscar buzz for her portrayal of the iconic singer, who passed away at age 76 back in 2018.

The film will no doubt cycle through the career highlights we all know by heart at this point, tracing her early days singing standards for Columbia Records in an attempt to maximize her crossover appeal (in other words, make her more palatable to racist white people) before depicting her jump to Jerry Wexler’s Atlantic Records and her fateful trip down to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where she finally found her voice and went on to become a superstar. The songs on that first record she recorded there — 1967’s I Never Loved a Man the Way That I Love You — and the ones that came soon after went on to become standards in their own right, modern classics that will outlive us all.

It goes without saying, then, that you already know why “Respect” is so great. You’ve probably tried (and failed) to do justice to “Natural Woman” or “Ain’t No Way” or “Think” at karaoke. You definitely don’t need us to tell you why the ’60s and ’70s output that made her famous is worth revisiting, so to pay our respects to the Queen ahead of the new movie, we decided to change things up a bit and focus instead on her lesser-known work, the deep cuts that are unjustly overlooked. Check out 20 of our favorites (in no particular order) along with a Spotify playlist below.

“Pullin’” (from 1970’s Spirit In the Dark)

Franklin and her sister Carolyn co-wrote this defiant Spirit In the Dark track, which sees her backed by the legendary Swampers (rebranded as the “Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section” by this point), her frequent collaborators perhaps best known for playing on her breakthrough I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You album in 1967. The band is tight as usual, and they play around with tempo in the song’s back half to simulate the titular “pullin’,” before wrapping up with the Aretha Franklin equivalent of the Michael Jordan shrug: a quick, audacious “Well?” that dares us to find anything wrong with her performance.

“Today I Sing the Blues” (from 1961’s Aretha: With the Ray Bryant Combo)

Aretha Franklin was still a teenager when she recorded “Today I Sing the Blues” in her first session for Columbia Records, but by that point she was already a mother of two, becoming pregnant at just age 12 and again when she was 14. Her childhood wasn’t an easy one, and her mother died when she was 10. That’s all to say that by the time she stepped into the booth to lay down this track, she’d already accrued a hell of a lot of trauma — something she’s able to channel effectively into this weary blues number.

“Sparkle” (from 1976’s Music from the Warner Bros. Picture “Sparkle” )

Long before Jennifer Hudson would win her Oscar for Dreamgirls (and in fact, before she was even born), there was Sparkle, another movie musical loosely based on the history of The Supremes. This one, however, boasted a soundtrack written and produced by none other than Curtis Mayfield, and — thanks in part to her excellent take on the title track — it represented a return to form for Franklin after Hey Now Hey and You, two mid-’70s records that failed to make a commercial impact.

“Ain’t Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)” (from 1967’s Aretha Arrives)

Written by Franklin’s sister Carolyn, “Ain’t Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)” feels in many ways like a sister song to “Respect,” with the narrator vowing to stop allowing herself to be manipulated, declaring, “Ain’t nobody gonna talk sweet talk to me/Ain’t nobody gonna tell how sweet your love can be/I’m gonna take my love and put in on the shelf/Ain’t gonna give it to nobody else.” It also features backing vocals by The Sweet Inspirations, serving as a little hint of what was to come the following year with Cissy Houston’s iconic, operatic “ooooOOOOOO”s on Lady Soul‘s “Ain’t No Way.”

“First Snow in Kokomo” (from 1972’s Young, Gifted and Black)

She’s obviously one of greatest singers to ever live, but Aretha Franklin doesn’t get enough credit for also being an incredibly talented songwriter. One of her finest compositions is the incredibly underrated Young, Gifted and Black track “First Snow in Kokomo,” which eschews traditional pop song structure to chronicle a peaceful winter with friends and family in Kokomo, Indiana. (“A poem of mine set to music. I was feeling free and willing to take creative chances,” Franklin wrote in her 1999 autobiography Aretha: From These Roots. “In a free-verse style, I painted a picture of a blissful January afternoon when we pulled into the small, peaceful Midwestern town to visit [my partner Ken’s] family.”) It’s serene and understated — totally lovely in the way it lives in those small, tender moments — and even though it’s set in January, it could almost pass for a Christmas song.

“River’s Invitation” (from 1969’s Soul ’69)

Franklin’s bluesy interpretation of Percy Mayfield’s “River’s Invitation” is rooted in bleak subject matter, chronicling a jilted lover’s suicidal ideation. (“I spoke to the river/ And the river spoke back to me/ It said oh, you look so lonely/ So full of misery/ If you can’t find your baby/ Come and make your home with me,” she sings.) But even with its devastating lyrics, it’s tough not to have a smile on your face as you listen to Aretha absolutely wail on this one over dramatic, crescendoing horns.

“Are You Sure” (from 1961’s Aretha: With the Ray Bryant Combo)

“Are You Sure” originally appeared in the 1960 Broadway musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown, but Franklin puts her gospel background to good use here, rendering the tune almost unrecognizable (in the best possible way). It’s an early glimpse of the vocal powerhouse we’d later come to know and love and a reminder of how rarely she got opportunities to really let loose like this during her time with Columbia Records.

“So Soon” (outtake from 1967’s Aretha Arrives sessions)

“So Soon” didn’t see the light of day until 2007 when it was included on Rhino’s Rare & Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul collection. It’s a simple-yet-irresistible tale of a relationship that was over almost as quickly as it started. (“So soon, so soon, so soon, how could you leave me, baby?” she wonders.) It’s the kind of track that feels destined to be a radio hit; the fact that it didn’t even make the record only speaks to the depth of Franklin’s talent.

“Try Matty’s” (from 1970’s Spirit In the Dark)

As a whole, Franklin’s Spirit In the Dark album doesn’t get anywhere near the credit it deserves. It was her first album for Atlantic that failed to crack Billboard’s Top 20, but it’s full of should-have-been classics like “Try Matty’s,” a character study written by Franklin about a diner and its neighborhood patrons that features a killer hook, a catchy call-and-response bridge and a tight horn section.

“You’ll Never Walk Alone” (from 1972’s Amazing Grace)

It feels a little odd to call anything off of Aretha Franklin’s live gospel record Amazing Grace a “deep cut” at this point — especially after the long-lost footage from her performance at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles was finally resurrected to much acclaim in 2019 — but this one remains a bit of an outlier on what eventually became the highest-selling gospel album of all time. It doesn’t appear in the film version of Amazing Grace, and the secular Rogers and Hammerstein composition doesn’t exactly fit in with hymns like “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” or the title track. But when the choir comes in around the four-minute mark and our Queen summons us to “walk on,” you’d swear the message was coming straight from the heavens.

“Sweet Bitter Love” (from 1985’s Who’s Zoomin’ Who?)

Franklin’s ’80s output often gets dismissed as overproduced and inconsequential, falling victim to the day’s trends and masking her undeniable voice behind too many synths or other electronic effects. “Sweet Bitter Love” doesn’t have that problem, however; it’s a slow build, and it’s actually a re-recording of a song she recorded back in 1967. Both versions are great, but we’re partial to the slightly more jaded-sounding 1985 rendition.

“You’re Taking Up Another Man’s Place” (outtake from 1970’s Spirit In the Dark sessions)

It speaks to the genius of Aretha Franklin that her throwaway tracks rival other artists’ best work. “You’re Taking Up Another Man’s Place” is a Spirit In the Dark outtake that was finally released in 2007 as part of a rarities compilation on Rhino. Penned by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, it features Aretha getting bluesy as she realizes she could do better than the controlling man she has at home. (“You don’t even want me to go to the store alone/ You run over me trying to answer the telephone,” she sings.) The fact that this one didn’t make the album only speaks to how outstanding the rest of it is.

“96 Tears” (from 1967’s Aretha Arrives)

No one could record a cover song quite like the Queen of Soul. Her interpretations of classics like “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Eleanor Rigby” are iconic in their own right, but her attempt at ? and the Mysterians’ garage-rock hit “96 Tears” isn’t quite as ubiquitous. That’s baffling, because it’s another excellent example of Franklin completely making an existing hit song her own — and in this case, it’s even better than the original.

“Drinking Again” (from 1964’s Unforgettable: A Tribute to Dinah Washington)

In 1964, Franklin released Unforgettable: A Tribute to Dinah Washington to pay tribute to the late jazz singer, who had just passed away in December of the previous year. Nowadays, Franklin’s mostly associated with her otherworldly vocals, belting it out like no one else could, but her more restrained jazz-pop material from her time at Columbia Records reveals a different side of her. On Johnny Mercer’s “Drinking Again,” however, she soars, and it’s easy to hear how she was only a handful of years away from superstardom.

“The Woman” (from 1998’s A Rose Is Still A Rose)

1998’s A Rose Is Still A Rose is often dubbed Franklin’s “hip-hop album,” because it features production by and collaborations with the likes of Diddy (who was still going by “Puff Daddy” at the time), Jermaine Dupri, Babyface, Dallas Austin and Lauryn Hill. But its closing track, the sprawling “The Woman,” is decidedly not what you’d expect to hear after reading those names. It’s a ballad that sees the Queen of Soul reminding listeners she hadn’t lost a step, getting jazzier as the song goes on (and yes, even scatting for a bit).

“So Swell When You’re Well” (from 1973’s Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky))

Franklin has co-writing credit this album track from 1973’s Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky) with legendary New Orleans pianist James Booker, and you can definitely hear his funky influence on the track. (In truth, there have been questions raised about that credit and just how much Franklin contributed, as Booker wrote the track — which was recorded and released by Fats Domino in 1968 — himself.) Still, she’s handles the piano solo here, and of course the song is carried by her excellent vocals and Quincy Jones’s production.

“Every Little Bit Hurts” (from 1964’s Runnin’ Out of Fools)

In April 1964, Brenda Holloway released her version of “Every Little Bit Hurts” on Motown Records. It became a hit, and by November of that same year, Aretha Franklin had recorded and released her own cover of it. They’re both great, but as you might imagine, the Franklin version’s a little more soulful. It didn’t do much for her at the time, but it remains an underrated gem.

“Operation Heartbreak” (from 1961, B-side to “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody” single)

This early B-side from Franklin’s Columbia years was actually one of her most successful singles from her time at the label — though that’s not saying much, given how notoriously mishandled she was by them. It was a modest hit, peaking at No. 37 on the charts, but it served as an early indication of her talent. The song itself is a simple, catchy doo-wop number, but her voice is powerful, despite the fact that she was only 19 years old at the time.

“Master of Eyes (The Deepness of Your Eyes)” (from the 1994 reissue of 1973’s Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky))

Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky) was originally supposed to be a jazz album, and even though that didn’t entirely wind up being the case and “Master of Eyes” didn’t make the final cut, you can hear that influence in the track (which eventually wound up being released as a bonus track on the CD reissue of the record in the ’90s). At times, it sounds almost like a lush James Bond theme; come for Aretha’s typical greatness, stay for the fun, jazzy flute solo by Joe Farrell.

“Spirit in the Dark (Reprise)” with Ray Charles (from 1971’s Aretha Live at Fillmore West)

The studio version of “Spirit in the Dark” is obviously not a deep cut on its own — it peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970 — but this live version recorded during an electric 1971 performance at San Francisco’s legendary Fillmore West is a rare treat. It features guest vocals from none other than Ray Charles, who was plucked from the audience by Franklin and also sits down at the piano for a bit at her behest. You can tell they’re both energized by each other’s presence, and they stretch the normally-four-minute song out to a nearly nine-minute gospel jam.