A cavalcade of Cadillacs for Aretha’s 6-hour finale
Motown stars join mourners to pay Respect in send-off for Queen of Soul
EVEN by royal standards, this was one hell of a send-off.
America had come to say farewell to Aretha Franklin at Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple with a service that was already scheduled to last for six hours at the outset.
It then started an hour and a half late because of the sheer number of mourners flocking to pay their respects.
As a result, the metropolis of music and motors began its exhaustive tribute to the Queen of Soul yesterday morning and it was still going strong long into the afternoon.
Detroit was determined to show the world its own version of a state funeral – with a cavalcade of pink Cadillacs (a homage to Aretha’s 1985 hit Freeway Of Love, in which she sang ‘riding in my pink Cadillac’), an ex-President, whole pews of charismatic pastors and preachers plus numerous celebrities swaying self- consciously to the gleefully infectious gospel vibe.
What we all really wanted to hear, of course, was the music. For a talent of this magnitude – a prodigy who had her first record deal at 12 and was still packing halls in her seventies, a diva hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as the ‘greatest singer of all time’ – there was going to have to be some pretty exemplary music.
No pressure, therefore, on the lengthy line-up of musical mourners including Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Ariana Grande.
First, however, came the tributes. Dozens of them. And they did not hold back. Aretha had been the daughter of a famous preacher, the Rev Dr C L Franklin. She was raised on fiery Biblebashing and Sunday choirs.
Representatives of what seemed to be every church and denomination in Detroit lined up to honour one of their own and did so with great passion.
Two hours had passed before the performances finally kicked off courtesy of country music star Faith Hill singing What A Friend We Have In Jesus.
Soon afterwards, the youthful Ariana Grande skipped on to sing (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, a Franklin hit decades before she was even born.
The best seats in the house were reserved neither for musicians nor clergy but for politicians. As many speakers pointed out, Aretha Franklin’s role as a pillar and symbol of
‘Aretha Franklin rocked the world’
the civil rights movement was every bit as important as her musical attributes.
America was, after all, laying to rest a woman who had performed at the funeral of Dr Martin Luther King and the inauguration of Barack Obama.
Her body – in a sparkling fulllength gold dress with sequined heels – had been brought to the church in the same hearse that carried the great civil rights protester Rosa Parks to her final farewell.
In pride of place was a rather wobbly looking Reverend Jesse Jackson, twice a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, alongside Bill Clinton.
The ex-president was doing his awkward best to clap along and show that he was suffused with the spirit while not overdoing the head- shaking, the gyrations and the ‘Amens’. Shades of Theresa May on her current dancing tour of Africa.
Another giant of the civil rights movement, the Reverend Al Sharpton, launched into an effervescent riff attacking everyone from President Trump to the Grim Reaper – with plenty of ‘Hallelujahs’ from the congregation – before reading out a message from Obama.
‘From a young age, Aretha Franklin rocked the world of anyone who had the pleasure of hearing her voice,’ Obama wrote.
‘In the example she set, both as an artist and a citizen, Aretha embodied those most revered virtues of forgiveness and reconciliation, while the music she made captured some of our deepest human desires – namely affection and respect.’
A similar message from George W Bush was received
with generous applause. He told the congregation: ‘Aretha was a woman of achievement.’
Clinton went on for more than twice his allotted five minutes, describing himself as an original ‘Aretha groupie’. ‘She had the voice of a generation,’ he reflected, ‘maybe the voice of a century.’
Every strand of American society seemed united in respect and solemnity yesterday. By sheer coincidence, Aretha Franklin’s grand departure coincided with the funeral of Vietnam hero- turned- Republican colossus Senator John McCain.
The news networks found themselves hopping between the stiff upper lips and uniforms of the political and military establishments in Washington and the exuberant emotions on display in Detroit. There was no sense of competition or incongruity. Rather, these two substantial commemorations seemed to complement each other handsomely. One person conspicuously absent from both events, of course, was the current president. The tributes to Aretha extended far beyond Detroit. Even that other Queen over the water had a tribute of her own. Yesterday’s Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace broke off from the usual repertoire of marching favourites as the Band of the Welsh Guards launched into Franklin’s most famous hit. The crowd swayed along to R- E- S- P- E- C-T and broke into applause at the end. British state occasions can be a little on the lengthy side but none comes close to this bladderbusting celebration/ commemoration (more than twice the duration of the Coronation).
The local politicians were not going to miss out, however. Detroit mayor Mike Duggan took to the stage to announce that the city council would be renaming its most famous park Aretha Franklin Park.
The city council then rose as one to deliver an impromptu vote to ratify the decision, prompting much applause. Quite right, too. So much classier than an airport. No Queen wants to be remembered for lost luggage.
Noting that a major highway would bear the singer’s name, another civic worthy stood at the lectern and demanded that America issue an Aretha Franklin postage stamp.
Michigan governor Rick Snyder reminded mourners that in the Eighties her voice was registered as an official natural resource.
There is not the remotest chance that future Detroit generations will not have heard of the very great Aretha Franklin.