(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman: CAROLE vs. ARETHA

Why is there even a second choice in this poll?

CK. Only because I'm sick to death of the Aretha version, and just can't get enough of Tapestry which I just discovered (I only knew It's Too Late-So Far Away-and I Feel the Earth Move)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Actually like both of these

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Do we get to keep you around Stebe????

Yes yes I heartily approve of these poll results!!!

THX U ILX

Ugh, Carole King *vomits*

Ugh, Johnny Fever *vomits*

guys don't puke on the tapestry!!!

Only because I'm sick to death of the Aretha version Tapestry

lol Abbbottt

I wasn't watching last night, but I just looked at the "Natural Woman" Aretha clip from the Kennedy Center ceremony: indeed pretty fantastic. A few too many reaction shots of Carole King, I suppose, but that's the network's decision--it's her night, she can do what she wants. (Couldn't spot Willie Mays...I thought he was being honored too.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RIgeu-6Jcs

I love it. I've seen it several times. At the beginning she hangs behind the beat, conserving her energy, until she lets it rip exactly in the right place. Loved her piano playing, her makeup, the manner in which she discarded the coat.

A great performance, and the way she discarded her coat was wonderful too. The queen of soul still reigns.

Oh, Clemenza, Willie Mays was not an honoree.

Rita Moreno Tribute
Gina Rodriguez – Spoken Tribute
Rosie Perez and The Muppets‘ Animal – “Fever”
Lin-Manuel Miranda – Spoken Tribute
Karen Olivo – “America” from West Side Story

George Lucas Tribute
Carrie Fisher – Spoken Tribute
Mellody Hobson – Spoken Tribute
Steven Spielberg – Spoken Tribute
Martin Scorsese – Spoken Tribute
C-3PO, R2-D2 and Stormtroopers – Special Guests
Kennedy Center Honors Orchestra – Indiana Jones and Star Wars themes

Special Tribute to The Eagles
Miranda Lambert – “Desperado”

Cicely Tyson Tribute
Tyler Perry – Spoken Tribute
Viola Davis – Spoken Tribute
Kerry Washington – Spoken Tribute
CeCe Winans and Terrence Blanchard – “Blessed Assurance”

Seiji Ozawa Tribute
Itzhak Perlman – Spoken Tribute
Renee Fleming – Spoken Tribute
Yo-Yo Ma – Tchaikovksy’s “Andante Cantabile”

Carole King Tribute
John Kerry – Spoken Tribute
Chilina Kennedy and Scott J. Campbell from Broadway’s Beautiful – “So Far Away”
Paul Anthony Stewart – Spoken Tribute
Janelle Monae – “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “One Fine Day”
James Taylor – “Up on the Roof”
Sara Bareilles – “You’ve Got a Friend”
Aretha Franklin – “Natural Woman”
Tribute Cast – “I Feel the Earth Move”

i didn't think she could still sing like that - amazing

the manner in which she discarded the coat was breathtaking, letting it fall off her left arm as she raised it toward the heavens

My favourite part is when she sits down at the piano and starts to play, which I take it from Carole King's reaction is not something Aretha does very often anymore.

Mays got the Presidential Medal of Freedom this year--got the two confused.

As her records got hi-tech she abandoned the piano, which is a pity because she can play it percussively and melodically: it isn't mere singer-songwriter dabbling.

Her piano playing seems to inspire her vocals

Isn't that part of the legend- that when she left Columbia for Atlantic and they took here down to Muscle Shoals, Jerry Wexler let her or had her play the piano and her vocals improved?

yes indeed

holy fucking shit that performance

Honestly I love all the reaction shots - Carole for sure but also Barack & Michelle, Gina, Viola <3

I haven't gotten tired of this version :/

i'm sad I missed that video til now. wow. 74 years old and still wailing. kinda wish I'd seen her when she recently stopped by!

Happy birthday, Re! Here are my 35 permanent fixtures.

Good list, especially number 1 and 13. I would lobby for her version of “I Say a Little Prayer,” love the way it heats up during the chorus, both Aretha and Purdie.

Except it's not Purdie, it's Roger Hawkins, apparently. Fine by me.

Or is it?

No, it's Roger (despite what Bernard's webpage says)

i didn't think she could still sing like that - amazing

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand),

wtf, Tracer? She's Aretha Franklin.

oops i missed the word still in there. apologies!

This is really great:
https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/june-2017-reasons-love-roger-hawkins/

And if you click within for a further interview, you get a mention of Alfred's latest entry in Worst Songs Ever.

great list! glad whenever Jimmy Lee gets recognised. no love for Angel tho?

Found a cheap CD copy of Jazz to Soul last week, which collects early Columbia recordings. A lot of overlap with The Legendary Queen Of Soul, which I already had on vinyl.

Comparing Aretha's covers of "Walk on By" (recorded a few months after Dionne Warwick's) and "I Say a Little Prayer" (closer to two years after the original) is like night and day. She stays so close to the original with "Walk on By"--maybe a small flourish here and there, but very similar. "I Say a Little Prayer," she's off in the stratosphere. (Not that the original isn't great too.)

Searching for the most relevant thread for this, is that right that there's never been a big Aretha poll?