SHE'S ALIVE! ALIVE!

You may have seen this already, but if you're a Aretha Franklin freak and haven't seen it, put your phone away and take a few minutes to remind yourself that the Queen of Soul is still very much alive. This was filmed at the Kennedy Center Honors, on December 6. The honors are given to "those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture". Aretha Franklin wasn't the honoree, though she was in 1994. On this particular night, one of the honorees was singer songwriter Carole King. On her own and with her late writing partner Gerry Goffin, King has written tons of songs you know well. Franklin comes out to sing King's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", sitting down at the piano and letting go with one of the best performances of any singer, of any age, I've seen all year. It's not good for a seventy three year old woman, this is an outstanding performance for a singer of any age, gender or genre. Check out Carol King, she goes absolutely bananas. And she wrote the song.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Aretha Franklin - Rock Steady (alternate mix) mp3 at Plain or Pan
Aretha Franklin - Chain of Fools mp3 at Russ Strathdee
Video:
Aretha Franklin - Chain of Fools at YouTube 1968