Part 6: Gospel Roots of Rock and Soul

(soft music) - You're listening to Saturday night and Sunday morning, the gospel roots of rock and soul, I'm CC Winons. At Mahalius funeral, one singer's tribute to another passed a torch between a generation that had struggled for racial equality and one that was beginning to benefit from the struggle. - Mahalius Jackson knew the Aretha Franklin from the time that she was a child. - Mark Anthony Neal, chairs Duke University's Department of African and African American Studies. - Clearly, Mahalius was somebody that Aretha Franklin respected. And so it was part of really natural, I think, in some ways for her to sing at Mahalius Jackson's funeral. - Two weeks before Mahalius died in 1972, Aretha made a record that became the best-selling live gospel album of all time. - You know, Aretha sings "Precious Lord" also on the amazing Grace album, but she does a version of it that connects it with Carol King's "You've Got A Friend." ♪ When you're down ♪ ♪ In trouble ♪ (soft music) ♪ You need some love and care ♪ (soft music) ♪ Ain't nothing ♪ ♪ Ain't nothing ♪ ♪ Going right ♪ - And I think that performance is so critical because it acknowledges who Thomas Dorsey is. It acknowledges who Mahalius Jackson was as a person who really gave voice to the song. But it also acknowledges the impact of someone like Carol King and ultimately elevates Thomas Dorsey on the same level of what we think of as a great American songwriter that we had begun to accept Carol King as. ♪ Precious Lord ♪ ♪ Take my hand ♪ ♪ We need ♪ - The Emerging Generation built on the foundation of gospel innovators like Thomas Dorsey, Sam Cook, and Mahalius Jackson. Mark Anthony Neal told us. - You can make the argument that Aretha Franklin and her peak in the 1960s did more to mainstream to traditions of gospel music than any artist who had come before then because she had taken those kind of gifts she had gotten from the black church and created a secular context for it. Marvin Gaye is a little less pronounced solely because he was at a label like Motown that was much more interested in hit records and in specifically two and a half minute hit records. ♪ Ain't no mountain high ♪ ♪ Ain't no valley low ♪ ♪ Ain't no river wide enough baby ♪ ♪ You need me call me ♪ ♪ No matter where you are ♪ ♪ No matter how far ♪ ♪ No matter where you're living ♪ ♪ Just call my name ♪ ♪ I'll be there in a hurry ♪ ♪ You don't have to worry ♪ ♪ Oh baby, man ♪ - Aretha and Marvin grew up in the church. Aretha spoke with NPR's Terry Gross in 1999. - Certainly gospel was my background, is my background, my upbringing was in the church. We had to attend regularly. And of course the church provided a training ground for me so to speak as a young vocalist. And certainly gave me all of the spiritual values that I needed as a young lady. - Her father was the famed Baptist pastor, Reverend C.L. Franklin. - As a young girl, I certainly enjoyed watching and listening to my dad. - You know preaching me nothing, except just reciting Bible stories. Unless you can make it relevant to life today. - Because she was her father's child, many of the great saw to her musical training. Detroit gospel radio host Deborah Smith Pollard. - She would have been influenced by the great Mahalia Jackson, by a clear award who for a long time apparently was engaged to her father, to the soulsters, to the caravans. And so she would have heard that, but I was told people dead in Detroit, half the people can sing and the other half can really sing. - Marvin Gaye's father was a Pentecostal minister. He immersed his son and namesake in the harmonies and rhythms of the church meetings that sometimes gathered in their own home. You can hear the gospel influences on some of young Marvin's early Motown records. ♪ I listen everybody ♪ ♪ And especially the youth girl ♪ ♪ She's really right to be left alone ♪ ♪ While the one who loves, never home ♪ ♪ I love to hall ♪ ♪ And my friends sometimes say ♪ ♪ But I believe, I believe ♪ ♪ I want my children up back with ♪ - Whatever and wherever Marvin and Arita saying, they brought the church with them. Richard Smallwood is a gospel musician and a friend of Arita's. - Arita never left the church because it was so much a part of her, regardless of what she was singing, regardless of the genre, even though Ignacio Dorma was gospel. ♪ And I still don't know ♪ - Yes, even a Puccini Arita. ♪ To Poreo, bring Chimpesa ♪ ♪ Yeah, I'm too afraid ♪ ♪ Stanza, quadrilo, stale ♪ ♪ Can't you write my name? ♪ - Mark Anthony Neal. When you think about that generation of black artists, you really can't divorce African-American musical culture from the gospel tradition. Everything in turns of the use of the black voice that pieces that talked about in turns of a Lisma, this kind of style of singing behind the note, that is stuff that's all uniquely black singing connected to the black church. And whether or not you're listening to black artists who are very specifically seeing gospel music or come through the black church tradition, you hear those kind of elements. ♪ Can you see ♪ (audience cheering) - In 1983, the NBA invited Marvin to sing at the start of its All Star game. As he walked onto the basketball court, a drum track started up. ♪ What so probably we've had ♪ ♪ At the twilight's last gleaming ♪ - It was the blackest that the Star Spangled Banner had ever been performed, you know, at least in such a very public venue, you know, for folks who had listened to the Star Spangled Banner all their lives, hearing him bend those notes in the way that he did. It was almost as if they were hearing the song for the first time. ♪ What's up ♪ ♪ What's up ♪ ♪ What's up ♪ ♪ What's up ♪ ♪ What's up ♪ ♪ What's up ♪ ♪ Where am I ♪ ♪ We were ♪ - On Thanksgiving Day 2016, Arita took to the piano before NFL fans in Detroit, and a national TV audience, to deliver her own Star Spangled Four and a half minutes. ♪ I'm the ♪ ♪ The rocket ♪ ♪ Red light ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ - Mark Anthony Neal. - You know, this would be one of the last really major public performances that she does. And what you hear to read to Franklin in those days is someone, you know, that her voice is weathered, it is matured, it's different, but she knows how to control her instrument. And again, because she's home, this is Detroit, she's a long time Detroit line span. She knows the reality of her mortality. You know, what you hear in her performance at that time, you know, it's almost something akin to a home going, so. ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh, she can ♪ ♪ And say ♪ ♪ Said, "Oh, the sky ♪ ♪ The spring of the night ♪ - Gospel is about uplift and transcendence. It inspires people and taps into deep feelings in listeners. Listeners like Richard Smallwood. - When I got to Howard University in my freshman year, respect had just hit. ♪ What you want ♪ ♪ Baby, I got you ♪ ♪ What you need to ♪ ♪ You know I got it too ♪ And I was like, Who is this singing like this? I mean, this is one of the most amazing voices that I've heard. And whenever she would come to the DMV area, we'd get our little pennies together and get the closest seat that we could at the concert because going to see a wreath of life, especially in those days, was like a revival meeting. I mean, she would go right from, I've never loved a man the way I loved you, right into how good Jesus is. And so it was a quiet and experienced, that emotional, powerful, annoying experience that I had never, ever experienced before. Like Sam Cook, Marvin Combine, the heightened emotions of gospel performance with sexuality. I got you, baby. Come on. Oh, come on. Whoo! Let's get it on. Cultural scholar, Mark Anthony Neal. And this is going to sound, you know, crazy, right? But there's a way in which let's get it on might actually be his gospel album. But what he essentially does is elevate the pursuit of sex and sexuality on the same plane that one might think about the pursuit of religion and spirituality. ♪ ♪ ♪ We're all sensitive people ♪ ♪ We're so much together ♪ He's literally trying to make this argument that religion and sex belong in the same place. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ The potent mixture of gospel feeling with secular sensuality changed American pop forever. With the way music and technology have changed, we don't just have to talk about the way these artists indirectly influence future artists. Aritha and Marvin, Mejelia and Sam have been heavily sampled. Their 1950s and 60s and 70s selves are showing up alongside today's artists and ways that combine the gospel and soul of generations past with hip hop and other contemporary music. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I got a whole other level that I could tap and sue ♪ ♪ Max said they only blessed when they attached to you ♪ ♪ The only dead pieces, whatever beats I've been rapping to. ♪ There isn't a facet of American music today that doesn't owe a depth of gratitude to gospel. We hear it everywhere. ♪ It seems like blessings keep falling in my lap. ♪ ♪ I got a whole other level that I could tap and sue ♪ ♪ Max said they only blessed when they attached to you ♪ ♪ The only dead pieces, whatever beats I've been rapping to. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I got a whole other level that I could tap and sue ♪ ♪ Max said they only blessed when they attached to you ♪ ♪ The only dead pieces ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ precious ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Arithas Passing invites us to reflect more deeply on the legacy she left behind. Aritha had a huge impact on my career. She taught me to give everything I have. I think that was one of the secrets that she had. She knew who she was. She knew the gifts she had. Her home-going service showed the way she bridged multiple generations from Thomas A. Dorsey, Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cook, and the Soulsters to the musicians today. The service included musical tributes from Faith Hill to the Clark Sisters, Ariana Grande to Stevie Wonder, and many more. ♪ ♪ This is a transcendent music, even when this nation seems most divided and broken. As when the 44th president delivered a eulogy for nine African Americans, murdered inside their church rackets, murdered inside their church Center. The church is the most beautiful church in the world. The story of gospel music is the story of American pop music. It is the heart of this country's musical past, present and future. And maybe, most of all, it's soul. This hour of Saturday night and Sunday morning, the gospel roots of rock and soul was written and produced by Whitney Jones. For more stories, visit our website at xpngosporuce.org. The gospel roots of rock and soul has been supported by the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. The executive producers are Roger LeMay and Bruce Warren, senior producer Alex Lewis, assistant producer Whitney Jones, editor, Cheryl Devall. Mixing by Jeff Town, our production assistant is Rachel Ishikawa, archival audio courtesy of MPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, the Stutt's Turco Radio Archive, the Library of Congress and Seattle Pacific University. Special thanks to Ann Powers, Robert Merovitch, Jerry Zolton, and Donald Dubson. I'm CC Winons. Thanks for listening. The gospel roots of rock and soul is presented in collaboration with NPR Music and is produced in Philadelphia by WXPN at the University of Pennsylvania. In the home of another soul and all my way, I use the pew. Die, die, die, die, die. Okay. Oh, oh, oh, oh. [APPLAUSE]