started playing the bridge to natural woman. carole king described turning to her daughter behind her and saying, oh, my god, she s playing natural woman for me, she described herself as this jewish woman from new york writing for aretha franklin. and of course that song is the anthem for so many women of any age and any color. david, what has this meant, do you think, to the city of detroit, to have this tribute, ten-day-long, however long it s been since aretha s death, i ve lost track, and had this great celebration? you know, i was thinking, andrea, that when aretha franklin was first coming into her own in late 1962, she sang at her father s church at the memorial service for the great dinah washington. and there have been so many of
to detroit and in the 1950s developed probably the most powerful ministry in detroit, the first bethel baptist church, located in what was then the black bottom of detroit, and was so popular that hundreds of people would line up to listen to her sermons on the loudspeaker. he also was very active in civil rights and was the driving force that brought martin luther king to detroit in the summer of 1963, where he delivered his i have a dream speech a few months before it became famous in washington. and aretha herself continued that message over the years, singing and supporting civil rights at every possible opportunity. and david, right now reverend al sharpton, our colleague and friend, is speaking, and i want to listen to his message. it is easy to celebrate the gifts that god gives. it is more difficult when
singing out, singing r-e-s-p-e-c-t. there are some great voices there, they should do america s got talent or some contest out there right in the streets of detroit. joining us is david maranis, author of a detroit story, and the washington post s fashion critic, welcome both. and david, one of the things you ve written about aretha which really caught my eye was, you wrote in today s post that aretha was not a manufactured image like many of today s performers but a sound, a supernaturally wondrous sound from this natural woman, a great reference there, who made us all feel so alive. if the human voice is the most glorious of instruments, aretha franklin was the proof. speak to me about that. well, she was of course an image in many respects.
source of uplift and inspiration. thank you, robin, thanks to ron mott, david maranis. we ll keep track of this. in washington tomorrow. they are coming the to the gathering of john mccain. they ll be in the key chandra and barack obama will be doing the eulogy and as well as george w. bush. with me here is michael beschloss and bill crystal both knew and covered john mccain. this commemoration here in washington, aretha franklin is the queen of soul. john mccain is getting a send off which is presidential. this is presidential level, you know? since reagan and 2004 which was about a week as you remember, both of the ceremonies, this is something we used to do with
coming up, and then we ll hear from bill clinton a little later. david maranis, you are in a unique position because you not only write about detroit. it s listen to smokey for a second. i looked and saw walkers and gray hair and no hair. and i kept looking at them and looking at smokey. and i said, i want what you re drinking. give smokey robinson a hand. he ll be followed by the clark sisters. [ applause ] i didn t know where you were going to go with that. i m about 8 years old and i m outside and playing with my neighborhood friends, phoebe and