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Hey everybody.

This is Chris Malanthe, host of Hit Parade, Slate's podcast of Pop Char History.

Welcome to The Bridge.

That's Aretha Franklin's cover of Paul Simon's composition, Bridge Over Troubled Water, a number one R&B, number six pop hit in the spring of 1971.

We're recording this episode just a day after we learned of the passing of the Queen of Soul.

Joining me at the mic for this episode of Hi, Hi, J. Rafael, senior producer for Slate Podcasts.

Hi, T.J.

Hey, Chris.

How are you?

I'm good. I can't believe the news about Aretha Franklin, though. I'm heartbroken.

Aren't we all? With Aretha, we had a preview of this news for several days that, you know, she was ailing and she was not long for this world. And so I feel like, unlike some of the other titans of American music, we've lost in the last decade, this may have come as less of a shock when the news finally came in,

but it still hurts. Oh, absolutely. I mean, for myself, I didn't grow up with Aretha as somebody that was born in the late 80s. But I mean, I guess in a way, I kind of did grow up with her.

My parents were huge fans of Aretha Franklin. And I grew up in the car, you know, listening to Chain of Fools with my dad. You know, my mom is a huge feminist. So we would blast respect in the living room and dance together. So Aretha was always around in my household. I have a different relationship with her. But yeah, my parents were

children of the 70s. They love Studio 54. They lived in New York. So they were big disco fans even

after they had kids and not just disco, obviously, Seoul and all of that. So it is sad to see her go.

You know, she was a legend, is a legend. Yeah, I mean, her career was so long-lasting and covered so many decades that I feel like virtually everyone who's been alive for the last 50 years has been touched in some way by Aretha Franklin, whether it's, you know, those who remember her 60s hits. That doesn't even include me. I was born in the early 70s. Or people who remember

her at the inaugural of President Barack Obama or the Kennedy Center honors when she, just about

three, four years ago when she honored Carol King by doing that amazing performance of,

you make me feel like a natural woman.

I feel my girl. you begin my come on.

I mean, where do you begin to talk about somebody who's that big a legend?

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