Aretha Franklin

Songwriter: Ewart Abner Jimmy Reed

Producer: Tom Dowd Arif Mardin Jerry Wexler

Don’t you know that I love you?
Honest, I do (oh, honest, I do)
I’d never placed no one above you

Please tell me you love me (tell me you love me)
Stop drivin’ me mad
'Cause you’re the sweetest and the best thing baby (sweetest and the best thing, yeah)
That I’ve ever had

Oh, don’t you know that I love you? (you know that I love)
Honest, baby, I do
And I’d never place no one above you, no

Ooh-ooh
Hmm-hmm

Oh, you know I love you, baby
Honest, I do (honest, I do)
And I’d never place, oh-oh
No one above you, yeah, yeah, yeah

You know that I love you, baby, love you, baby (love you, baby)
Honest, I do (oh, honest, I do)
And you know that I’d never place no one above you
Yeah, yeah, yeah, baby

Aretha Franklin is both a 20th and 21st century musical and cultural icon known simply by her first Aretha. She is the reigning and undisputed “Queen Of Soul” with a legacy that spans five decades. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Aretha began her career singing gospel at her father, minister C. L. Franklin’s church as a child. In 1960, at the age of 18, Aretha embarked on a secular career, recording for Columbia Records with modest success.

After moving to Atlantic Records in 1967, she released a steady string of US top ten hits through 1973 including “Spanish Harlem”, “Chain Of Fools”, “Baby I Love You”, “Since You’ve Been Gone”, “Daydreaming”, “The House That Jack Built”, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", ”Think“ and her first chart-topper “Respect” – a song that also won Aretha her first of 18 Grammys. During this time, several of her songs were also successful overseas.

By the mid-70s, Aretha’s commercial success waned and she left Atlantic for Clive Davis' Arista Records in 1980. Her 1982 song “Jump to It,” returned her to the top 40 for the first time in six years. 1985’s Who’s Zoomin' Who? got her back into the top 10 twice with its title track and “Freeway Of Love”. Four more songs reached the top 40 through 1986.

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Spirit in the Dark

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Spirit in the Dark (1970)

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Honest I DoAretha Franklin

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Spirit in the Dark