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Respect by Aretha Franklin
What you want
Baby, I got
What you need
Do you know I got it?
All I'm askin'
Is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit)
Hey baby (just a little bit) when you get home
(just a little bit) mister (just a little bit)
Comments: Aretha, quick to declare that she possesses an adequate supply of what her baby needs, only asks for respect in return. She almost gets out another interrogative request for more respect, but then stops.
I ain't gonna do you wrong while you're gone
Ain't gonna do you wrong (oo) 'cause I don't wanna
All I'm askin'
Is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit)
Baby (just a little bit) when you get home (just a little bit)
Yeah (just a little bit)
Comments: Here, Aretha assures her other half that she will not engage in adulterous activities while he is gone, because she does not want to. She then goes on to ask for respect in exchange for her faithfulness.
I'm about to give you all of my money
And all I'm askin' in return, honey
Is to give me my propers
When you get home (just a, just a, just a, just a)
Yeah baby (just a, just a, just a, just a)
When you get home (just a little bit)
Yeah (just a little bit)
Comments: Aretha proves here that she desires respect more than anybody in the history of the human race by offering her entire checking and savings account to this lucky man in exchange for the somewhat overrated respect.
Ooo, your kisses
Sweeter than honey
And guess what?
So is my money
All I want you to do for me
Is give it to me when you get home (re, re, re ,re)
Yeah baby (re, re, re ,re)
Whip it to me (respect, just a little bit)
When you get home, now (just a little bit)
Comments: Aretha deviates from the "respect" aspect of the song here by comparing his kisses to her money. I highly doubt that either of them actually maintain a higher sugar-count than honey does, thus they appear in the figurative mode here. She then ends her unprecedented 10-second streak of NOT talking about respect by.............demanding more respect when he gets home...
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, TCB
Comments: In case her loved one did not successfully make it past 2nd grade where most people learn how to spell this word, Aretha gives him an assist by spelling out "respect". She then leaves two astonishing mysteries: First, what exactly DOES "r-e-s-p-e-c-t" mean to her? He's more than likely wondering if it means that she will offer her love or her money... or both; And second, she denotes the end of the song by signing "take care, TCB"... Only, there is another verse after this. Aretha either seriously misled or simply forgot.
Oh (sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me)
A little respect (sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me)
Whoa, babe (just a little bit)
A little respect (just a little bit)
I get tired (just a little bit)
Keep on tryin' (just a little bit)
You're runnin' out of fools' (just a little bit)
And I ain't lyin' (just a little bit)
(re, re, re, re) 'spect
When you come home (re, re, re ,re)
Or you might walk in (respect, just a little bit)
And find out I'm gone (just a little bit)
I got to have (just a little bit)
A little respect (just a little bit)
Comments: In a brand new usage of the verb, Aretha asks her lover here to "sock" respect to her. Webster's Dictionary could not help us make sense out of this one. Aretha threatens to divorce him if he does not respect her. The overwhelming theme here in this song is that Aretha needs respect like fish need water.
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