Aretha FRANKLIN - "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" (1984/LIVE)

Thanks to WADE !

Aretha reaches for Gospel.

"WITH HER SOARING VOICE and sometimes fiery abandon, Aretha Franklin has had a long, variable but frequently incandescent career. She's been a queen of soul, she's sung jazz and the blues, but the basis of her style has been gospel music (...)

Gospel is at the root of many black singers' styles, from blues and soul shouters to opera divas (surely Mahalia Jackson would have been a great opera singer if she had come along after the desegregation of the operatic stage). But Miss Franklin comes by her affinities to gospel even more directly than being part of a church congregation. Her father, the late Rev. C. L. Franklin, was a longtime preacher and gospel singer in Detroit, as well as an early leader in the civil rights movement. Miss Franklin grew up in his church, and made her first recordings as a 14-year-old gospel singer on Chess Records in 1956. For ''Amazing Grace,'' she appeared at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles (...)

What distinguished Miss Franklin from other women gospel singers was, above all, the sheer power of her voice, its high belting chest register pushed into the soprano range without the operatic tonal roundness of a trained soprano extension. This is not mere technical gibberish: It defines a way of singing common to most popular vocalists in our time. But Miss Franklin did it better than almost anyone. And unlike some, she has an upper extension, but she uses it for coloration, mostly in soft singing, not for sustained high passages or surging climaxes. (...)"
John ROCKWELL, 1987, NY Times.

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[MimiDove9]

WADE, thanks for posting this video. My beautiful daughter (23), was killed in a car accident tonight, and I needed this. God bless you.

[READY4REVELATION]

Many of the younger people today who hear Aretha today don't realize why we older heads make such a fuss over her. This woman is 70 years old or close to it and has been singing since she was 5y/o. All those years are bound to take a toll on anyones vocal cords...but when we older people hear her today we see her in her totallity. Aretha was unmatched in her prime and could bring the house down at anytime she pleased. She could sing the yellow pages and make you shout to it before you knew it.

[READY4REVELATION]

You got me twisted....you seem to be under the impression that i am looking for your approval or agreement with my comment. I said what i said and i stand by it. BHO is an abomination and a sodomite. THE MOST HIGH rebuke him and all his supporters. He has spit in the face of the word of GOD. What GOD calls unclean he calls clean. If you support that HAMITE than you are no better than he is.

[taddyd1]

I do not agree with BHO's use of drones nor his overuse of military intervention when diplomacy would be much more effective (and humane) but that is no excuse for your profanity and homophobia which Aretha and I find totally unacceptable. US presidents are never visionaries, they are compromisers, and have to run a machine that (The USA) that has a lot of

evil components. PEACE, LOVE and ARETHA!

[READY4REVELATION]

Shut up you ignorant,brain dead idiot. Obama could murder 1,000 people and simple minded negroes like you would find a way to justify it just because he is Black. People like you belong on a plantation.

[taddyd1]

Your disgraceful remarks have no place on this Holy performance.

Ms Franklin's family members are gay and she, along with John Lewis, Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton, Julian Bond, Coretta King, Andrew Young and all those who fought for civil rights are pro gay rights too. Go back into your hick cave.

[celestialpathway]

The world is alright when Aretha sings!

[almightyant90]

That's an understatement since she was one of Aretha's influences of course she would do it better. I wouldn't be influence by someone who isn't doing something great or better than me for that matter. It's like Whitney singing a song Aretha has sung and she don't kill it like her. Nonetheless Aretha killed it for someone who singing this for a lost one loved especially being that it was her father who she adored.

[mzjones0974]

Greeneye lady I am so sorry to hear that please know you are in my prayers!

[greeneyedlady loulou]

GOD BLESS YOU SO VERY MUCH I WISH YOU PEACE I LOST MY 24 YEAR OLD SON IN A CAR ACCIDENT

[READY4REVELATION]

Thank You...he is a liar and a conman. That worthless nigga told us during his campaign that the Bush payroll tax cut was set to expire and how it would hurt the working poor and he pledged to never let that happen. Well...he did and it is hurting people who have to live from paycheck to paycheck. Fuck Obama with his gay ass self. The only thing he has done has all been for the gay community. The man is a liar and had no business being elected. He is a weak ass leader. Piece of shit house nigga.

[carmellabe]

Listen to Elvis Presley version of this song