Respect is a soul tune written and originally performed by Otis Redding, released in 1965 as a single from the album Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul. Redding rewrote the lyrics and sped up the tempo with producer Steve Cropper, turning the ballad into a confident plea for respect at home. The song became a crossover hit, reaching the top five on the R&B charts and crossing over to pop radio, peaking at number 35 on the US Billboard Hot 100. In 1967 Aretha Franklin reimagined Respect for her Atlantic debut I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, rearranging the lyrics and adding the famous stop-time groove and the chant-like refrains. Franklin’s version, produced by Jerry Wexler with the Muscle Shoals rhythm section and arranged by Arif Mardin, became Aretha’s signature song and an icon of civil rights and second-wave feminism, earning two Grammys and later induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the National Recording Registry. Today it is regarded as one of the greatest R&B songs of all time, frequently appearing on lists like Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
