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| Aretha Franklin recording "Amazing Grace" album |
I walked into a theater and found myself suddenly at New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts, California, on January 14 and 15, 1972.
How I remember that year! Aretha Franklin was about to turn 30, and I was 23. The following summer I married and turned 24.
Aretha was singing her heart out and accompanying herself on a Steinway piano, working so hard that beads of sweat appeared on her face and neck.
The video recorded back then has been found and resurrected, finally connecting the video and the audio. For decades only the CD was available, and it became the best-selling gospel album of all time.
Seeing her sing these powerful hymns is like looking into her soul.
"Through many dangers, toils, and snares," she sings "I have already come." Her voice toils and strains and suffers as she looks at her difficult earlier years--the death of her mother when she was six years old, the birth of her first child when she was 14, and her work toward a career.
With her I felt the dangers, toils, and snares of my younger years--my many mistakes as a mother--and I was in tears.
But then she sang "'Twas grace that kept me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home."
What a powerful message! She went home in 2018 at age 76. I turn 71 this summer, so I'm nearing that final journey home.
She sang a moving blend of "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" and James Brown's "You've Got a Friend."
When you're down and troubled
And you need a helping hand,
And nothing, oh nothing is going right.
Close your eyes and meditate on him,
And soon he will be there,
To brighten up even your darkest hours...
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you've got to do is call
And Jesus will be there, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You've got a friend.
Precious Lord, take my hand.
Lead me on, let me stand.
I get tired, I get weak, I get worn.
Through the storm, through the night,
Lead me on to the light.
Yeah, you've got a friend in Jesus...
On the second night she wore a green and white swirling gown--the queen of soul and of nature, elegant and unpretentious.
Her father, the Reverend C.L. Franklin, is introduced in the second performance along with the singer Clara Ward, a presence in the Franklin home and mentor to Aretha.
He told an anecdote that reveals much about himself and his daughter. A friend saw Aretha perform on television. C.L. asked, "How did she do?"
"She was okay," the friend said, "But I'll be glad when she comes back to the church."
"She hasn't ever left the church," C.L. retorted.
Her performance of "Climbing Higher Mountains" was also deeply moving as her face shone with sweat and the green and white dress swirled around her.
I'm climbing higher mountains, trying to get home.
My road has been a little rocky on my way home.
I'm climbing higher mountains, Lord, climbing, climbing...
I'm going up the rocky side of the mountain on my way home.
I'm going higher to meet Jesus, higher, higher...
Some of the songs were new to me and wonderful, like "How I Got Over." Others were classics I love, like "What a Friend Have in Jesus."
What a privilege it is to carry everything to God in prayer.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit! Oh, what needless pain we bear, Lord--yes, we do,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Her interpretation of "Mary, Don't You Weep" evoked the Jesus who comforted Mary, her sister Martha, and African-Americans slaves enduring centuries of servitude.
Mary, don't you weep, and tell your sister not to mourn.
Aretha recites the story of Jesus raising their brother Lazarus to life (John 11:1-44).
Her constant message in this album is that Jesus sees and hears our pain, and that there really is a "somewhere--where the world will cease from troubling."
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