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fandomhigh2006-10-10 01:54 pm
karaoke-lizard.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2006-10-10 01:54 pm
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Music is Love: [10/10]
The music room's stage has returned to normal and Lorne sits on the edge of the stage sipping his coffee as he waits for the students to take their seats.
"Okay kitties, last week we talked about the different styles of American music and today we're going to focus on one singer in particular," Lorne said leaning back on the stage. "She's my own personal savior in particular. A woman by the name of Aretha Franklin.
"Aretha Franklin is one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged. Her astonishing run of late-'60s hits with Atlantic Records--"Respect," "I Never Loved a Man," "Chain of Fools," "Baby I Love You," "I Say a Little Prayer," "Think," "The House That Jack Built," and several others--earned her the title "Queen of Soul," which she has worn uncontested ever since.
Franklin's musical roots started with gospel music. She first sang at the Detroit church of her father while growing up in the 1950s. In fact, she made her first recordings as a gospel artist at the age of 14. It has also been reported that Motown was interested in signing Aretha back in the days when it was a tiny start-up. Ultimately, however, Franklin ended up with Columbia, to which she was signed by the renowned talent scout John Hammond. While she made a name for herself in the first half of the sixties, it wasn't until she left the columbia record label for Atlantic that she truly began to break out.
In the late '60s, Franklin became one of the biggest international recording stars in all of pop. Many also saw Franklin as a symbol of Black America itself, reflecting the increased confidence and pride of African-Americans in the decade of the civil rights movements and other triumphs for he Black community. The chart statistics are impressive in and of themselves: ten Top Ten hits in a roughly 18-month span between early 1967 and late 1968 and a steady stream of solid mid-to-large-size hits for the next five years after that. Her Atlantic albums were also huge sellers, and far more consistent artistically than those of most soul stars of the era. Franklin was able to maintain creative momentum, in part, because of her eclectic choice of material, which encompassed first-class originals and gospel, blues, pop, and rock covers, from the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel to Sam Cooke and the Drifters.
Franklin's commercial and artistic success was unabated in the early '70s, during which she landed more huge hits with "Spanish Harlem," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and "Day Dreaming." She also produced two of her most respected, and earthiest, album releases with Live at Fillmore West and Amazing Grace. The latter, a 1972 double LP, was a reinvestigation of her gospel roots, recorded with James Cleveland & the Southern California Community Choir. Remarkably, it made the Top Ten, counting as one of the greatest gospel-pop crossover smashes of all time.
In her career she's won over 18 grammys, was the first woman to be inducted into the Roc and roll hall of fame, was awarded the national medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom and had her voice recognized by the United States government as a National Treasure."
"Your assignment today is to pick a song by this wonderful woman and perform it to the best of your ability. C'mon kids! Show me what you got."
[ooc:Wait for the OCD is up.]
"Okay kitties, last week we talked about the different styles of American music and today we're going to focus on one singer in particular," Lorne said leaning back on the stage. "She's my own personal savior in particular. A woman by the name of Aretha Franklin.
"Aretha Franklin is one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged. Her astonishing run of late-'60s hits with Atlantic Records--"Respect," "I Never Loved a Man," "Chain of Fools," "Baby I Love You," "I Say a Little Prayer," "Think," "The House That Jack Built," and several others--earned her the title "Queen of Soul," which she has worn uncontested ever since.
Franklin's musical roots started with gospel music. She first sang at the Detroit church of her father while growing up in the 1950s. In fact, she made her first recordings as a gospel artist at the age of 14. It has also been reported that Motown was interested in signing Aretha back in the days when it was a tiny start-up. Ultimately, however, Franklin ended up with Columbia, to which she was signed by the renowned talent scout John Hammond. While she made a name for herself in the first half of the sixties, it wasn't until she left the columbia record label for Atlantic that she truly began to break out.
In the late '60s, Franklin became one of the biggest international recording stars in all of pop. Many also saw Franklin as a symbol of Black America itself, reflecting the increased confidence and pride of African-Americans in the decade of the civil rights movements and other triumphs for he Black community. The chart statistics are impressive in and of themselves: ten Top Ten hits in a roughly 18-month span between early 1967 and late 1968 and a steady stream of solid mid-to-large-size hits for the next five years after that. Her Atlantic albums were also huge sellers, and far more consistent artistically than those of most soul stars of the era. Franklin was able to maintain creative momentum, in part, because of her eclectic choice of material, which encompassed first-class originals and gospel, blues, pop, and rock covers, from the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel to Sam Cooke and the Drifters.
Franklin's commercial and artistic success was unabated in the early '70s, during which she landed more huge hits with "Spanish Harlem," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and "Day Dreaming." She also produced two of her most respected, and earthiest, album releases with Live at Fillmore West and Amazing Grace. The latter, a 1972 double LP, was a reinvestigation of her gospel roots, recorded with James Cleveland & the Southern California Community Choir. Remarkably, it made the Top Ten, counting as one of the greatest gospel-pop crossover smashes of all time.
In her career she's won over 18 grammys, was the first woman to be inducted into the Roc and roll hall of fame, was awarded the national medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom and had her voice recognized by the United States government as a National Treasure."
"Your assignment today is to pick a song by this wonderful woman and perform it to the best of your ability. C'mon kids! Show me what you got."
[ooc:
Re: Perform: [10/10]
However, the contrast of him singing Aretha Franklin was particularly hilarious.
This is the house that Jack built, y'all
Remember this house!
This was the land that he worked by hand
It was the dream of an upright man
There was the room that was filled with love
It was a love that I was proud of
This is the life, the life that he planned
On the love, the same old loved
Of the house that Jack built.
Remember this house!
There was the fence that held our love,
There was the gate that he walked out of
This is the heart it has turned to stone
This was the house, it ain't no home
This is the love that I destroyed
On the day that I toyed with love,
This is the house that Jack built,
I'm gonn' remember this house!
Oh-ohh wha-a-at's the use of crying?
You know I brought it on myself
There's no denying
But it see-e-ee-ems awful funny
That I didn't understand
Until I lost my upright man
Up on the hill
Everything stands still
In the house that Jack built
I'm gonna remember this house
Listen!
I got the house
I got the car
I got the rug
And I got the rack
But I ain't got Jack
And I want my Jack back!
I turned my back on Jack
He said he wasn't coming back
I turned my back on Jack
He said he wasn't coming back
Ohhh, Jack
You oughta come on back
Ohh Jack
You oughta come on back
To the that you built
It's the same one that you built
I didn't understand
Until I lost a upright man
Come on back Jack
In his mind, he's singing the Metallica version.