Talking Shit with a Yank & a Brit - 45. Chit Chat Before The Shit Chat

Episode Date: April 4, 2024

This week were talking Whetherspoons, Easter's Here! Is Spring Here?! We also have a story of a woman of glory and a juicy AITA!Get in contact with the pod at [e-mail] and @TSYBPOD

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Well, that's just how we roll. Like a piece of meat in a crock pot. Exactly. Well, hello, everyone. And here we are. Oh, God. We're doing it again again We're doing it again This is episode 45 Bam

Damn Damn We're nearly at 50, baby It still feels like episode 3 I know, it just feels like we've just begun our journey I suppose in the grand scheme of podcasting we still are. But, you know,

for those keeping track, we have taken it to the next level and incorporated some video into our episodes and so now everyone can see my face for radio, Gemma's face for fame and uh yeah here we are my hungover face see me drinking tea oh yeah really living it up now because you're hung

over in tea is the magic cure-all for everything right yeah? Yeah. I've also got water. Two. And Dr. Pepper zero. Three beverages. Yep. As you do. Yeah. You have to. That's the rule. Three beverages. A fizzy, a warm, and a cold. Yes, exactly.

This is talking shit with a yank and a Brit, by the way. Yeah, that's what we're doing here. I'm the yank. She's the Brit. Yep. We've just swapped accents for this one. Yep. Someday we'll have to figure out how to, like, superimpose your audio onto my video.

That could be a challenge. So our mouths won't match, but it'll still sound like I have a British accent, like bad dubbing. Maybe we should try, say, or mouth, hello, I'm the Brit. Do you want me to do it on like the count of three? Yeah.

One, two, three. Hello. I'm the Brit. That felt real natural and like we nailed it for sure. It felt good to me. It felt good. It felt good. How are you doing aside from being hungover yeah I'm okay I've had like a really mental week it's been very busy with lots of different things and stuff and crap and you know things um I'm quite glad it's over, to be honest.

It's been mentally heavy. Anything you can share? Yeah. Just obviously work. You know, that happens because I have to do that. And then I've had lessons and doing stuff behind the scenes with that. Also had a little showcase for a potential spot at Glastonbury, which I think was consuming my mind more than I realized.

Yeah. Kept having anxiety dreams about it and stuff. It went well, so that was good, but then also had gigs to do as well and went out last night and got very drunk. It sounds like it was well-earned at least. Maybe I needed a little blowout. Yep. How are you? How was your week?

Good. I don't even really remember, but busy-ish with work. I did a closet purge yesterday, which was necessary because like i hate all my clothes and like a lot of it was just work wear that i don't need anymore because i don't leave my house and just was getting sick of looking at my full closet of things i hated so did that and hung out did not go blow off steam because I don't live in my house. Yeah. Little hermit.

Yeah, pretty much. It feels nice doing that, though, doesn't it? I did it the other week. I've got literally outside the door, actually, I've got a bin bag full of clothes that I'm going to take to the charity shop. And I sorted. I've been meaning to do this for years and never do it. And I sorted, I've been meaning to do this for years and never do it, but I sorted my clothes into like summer and winter and put the ones I don't need in a big like Ziploc bag under my bed.

Nice. And now I can actually fit stuff in my wardrobe. Before I was like, get in there, shut the door. Now I can. And where's the one thing that I haven't seen in six months but I can't find because my shit's too jam packed yeah exactly yeah it does feel good to do that

the other frustrating thing is I still hate the clothes I kept and I would like to get new clothes but I hate everything that's out there. I think we've bitched about this before and it's just like it's gotten better. I think there's less mesh now. Yeah, there is less mesh. But it's still very 90s kind of like just like, oh, let me put on this, like, sack with these big shoes.

Yeah. Last night, all the girls were wearing, like, wide leg jeans and corsets. I'm kind of into that. I like wide leg jeans. That's cool. I do as well. But I was just like, dude. The corsets now.

The effort. Well, I was just like, dude. The corsets now. The effort. I was in trainers and jeans and a shirt because I was like, I can't be fucking to get dressed up. Damn, the effort. I think some additional context about that is many under 20-year-olds, right, were where you were at. Yeah, we were at an 18th birthday party. Also ended up going to W weatherspoons after the party so i love weatherspoons dude it was have you been to the one in tumblr drills

i might have years ago i i know where it's at i don't i can't i want to say no but i bet nigel listen to this and be like yes you fucking have you dumb cow if not well i'll take you there because i'm i'm obsessed with it because it's the most incredible opera house building yeah you walk in and it's insane and i decided last night in my drunken state to make it my goal in life to reinstate that building for its natural purpose and be a theater again and not a fucking weatherspoons it was literally full to the brim of like teenagers all wearing the same outfits it was really weird like they all looked exactly the same um and yeah it was we felt very old yeah yeah so can you like describe

what weather spoons kind of is because yeah i know it is like a very cheap place right and it's like a chain it's in every town blah blah blah and i think it takes over buildings that are kind of historic right yeah it really fucking does so yeah it's a it's a pub chain um as kate said it's got one in every town but it's super cheap um you can get like well in the place we were in before, like a round was costing us 45 quid. And then when we went there, the round was 17 quid. So it was like, damn. That's why the youths were there.

Yeah, exactly. And that's why we weren't there when we were younger because you'd get pissed right up really cheap. But yeah, in this particular one's it's in an opera house and it's like still like yeah the most incredible theater with like all the um yeah you know gold trim and architecture and it's still got the stage and all the rigging and it's the most incredible building it's just like i can't believe this is being used as a fucking teenage pub that's my heart that's why i believe i haven't been there because i feel like i would remember that but yeah that's not the only weather spoons or i've been in another weather spoons i think it was in eastbourne and it used to be like the

historic train station or something like it was and and not – doesn't sound as cool as the one you described, but like a cool building, and it's just like this big-ass, you know, bar now. Yeah, that's it. It's a real shame, but I mean, yeah. I guess maybe they have the money to keep these buildings alive, which is maybe a good thing. But also, if you go to the actual theatre in Tunbridge Wells, it's absolute dog shit. It's like the most driest, just horrible fucking building in the world.

And I'm like, literally around the corner, you have the most incredible theatre that could be used. Just swap them. Yeah, they should have swapped them yeah yeah rant over well i thought it'd be a little funny to just uh do make fun of your hangover a little bit uh okay this meme says I don't need another drink. Said not me last night. Was that you? Yep.

We even got home and everyone went to bed and I was like, no, I want to party. Everybody, we got to party. This is my new drunk alter ego. I'm like, I like to party. Everybody, let's get down. I don't know why I'm like an Eastern European lady. I was just going to say, you're clearly Russian, Belarus, Ukraine, something. I don't know what happened'm like an Eastern European lady. I was just going to say you're clearly Russian, Belarus, Ukraine, something. I don't know what happened, but she came out.

Also, hangover. Noun. A painful reminder that you are not, in fact, as young as you used to be. True, yeah. And one last one. I'm not saying I have a a hangover but i can hear light right now that was this morning yeah for sure i was like why is the sun doing things well hopefully it you know gets over swiftly and that you can have like some semblance of a sunday an easter sunday i think if anything jesus died for our sins so that you could have a hangover today i'm pretty

sure that's the purpose of easter exactly and over here we we also have bank holidays on the friday and the monday so i've got an extra day to recover. Lucky. Sorry, you haven't got that. I'm surprised. I mean. I thought you really liked Jesus over there. You know, it's interesting. Clearly not.

We do. And it's interesting because where I used to practice, where we used to live in Iowa, the county did observe at least one of the days. I don't know if it was the Friday or the Monday. And I remember coming here and working for the county because the state didn't. And least one of the days. I don't know if it was the Friday or the Monday. And I remember coming here and working for the county because the state didn't and I worked for the state. And then coming here, I was like, oh yeah, I get that. Sweet, sweet Easter holiday. No, sure don't. Yeah. Nope. You don't get that. Nope. You're not allowed. No. And it's weird because it's like we're supposed to hate Jesus if we're government officials, but like not all of them do.

But then we also really love Jesus and like acknowledge it. And I don't, you know. That's very confusing. Pretty much. Yeah. Okay. We're a country of contradictions and we contain multitudes of contradictions. Yeah, I'd agree with that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. Well, you know, at least Jesus has risen again today. Have you eaten any chocolates? Any Easter eggs? No, we didn't. Like I bought the biggest bag of mini eggs,

Cadbury mini eggs, you could ever imagine from the bulk store that we have here. And that was like two months ago and we finished them. Well, you had an early Easter. It's fine. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, don't worry about it. Did you celebrate Easter as a kid or like observe it in any way?

No, not really. Not, I did at school. I think we spoke about this before. Went to like a church of England primary school. Yeah. So you'd have, yeah, like you get a church and do some sort of service. Yeah. get a church and do some sort of service yeah um and obviously do like easter egg hunts and things like that used to do that in the garden at home actually when we were younger

um but other than that no not really just eat a lot of chocolate yeah i mean easter candy in my opinion is of like the better candy. I don't know why. I guess I'm drawn to bunny and Easter egg shaped things. I really do like Cadbury's mini eggs. They taste different, I think, Easter eggs. You mean just like when it's shaped like one? Yeah.

I don't know why. I would agree with that. Yeah. It must be how they temper the chocolate. I don't know, but it tastes different. I like it. Yeah. It must be how they temper the chocolate. I don't know, but it tastes different. I like it. Yeah. So much like I think I talked to you about how we didn't celebrate Halloween and like

kind of the other things that are traditional for kids, we didn't really do. My parents like told us there was no Easter bunny and stuff, but they still did give us Easter baskets, which was kind of cool. And we had, I think I did like an Easter egg hunter too when I was younger but church was like the primary thing if we did anything and then we'd probably have like Easter dinner which always was ham and I don't know why um but I did learn today yeah I I don't know but I did learn because I am now suddenly very into this, like, what is today, you know? And since it is Easter and, you know, Easter is a rotating or a shifting holiday, right? Yeah. But it also is National Baked Ham with Pineapple Day.

Oh, interesting. So that seems fitting. Yeah. So maybe your mom knew that. that yeah but it would only be march 31st for the ham day so it's like the once every however many years history aligns with this day is like a really special day i think double special big time and easter day did you know that it's also national crayons day double special. Big time and Easter day. Did you know that it's also National Crayons Day? National Crayons Day?

Like crayons. Oh, crayons. Cool. Have you drawn any pictures to celebrate? No. I actually do have crayons though. Do you? Maybe we'll do that later yeah i'd like you to draw me a nice easter bunny uh with your crayons okay so we can

god a pigeon nearly blew and flew into the window then um i wonder what you're looking at. I was like, what the fuck? Okay, well. I'll make you a shrinky dink with a rabbit. That would be fun, yeah. And a crayon. I've got to make you another thing, too, for our podcast cover. I'll have Nigel bring it over when he goes to visit. Oh, yes, please.

That would be lovely. I'll try to make several and you can give them to our adoring fans. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will. I'll try to make several and you can give them to our adoring fans yeah yeah some people were interested to see you on our little clips what do you mean?

just like people from over here that don't know you and they're like that's her I don't know how you know her because she's vile. Who let her out? Yeah, it's funny because obviously people must build up an image in their head, what they think you're going to look like.

Not what they were expecting then. I can't remember who it was. They were like, I thought she was going to look like you. I was like, no, we're not twins. Doesn't work like that. We are. Lindsay Lohan, Parent Trap. That was based on our life, actually, guys.

Separated at birth, actually, yeah. Yep. That's funny. I mean, there is a picture of us as our like cover yeah for our podcast no it's okay well i'm sorry if i disappointed many if they thought i was going to be like gorgeous supermodel nope i look like nosferatu and gollum had a baby and what was the woman the other week? Joan.

Oh, and Joan Cusack, yeah. You don't look like any of those things. Okay. You're gorgeous. Just accept it. Thanks, man. Aw. Did you guys also have your daylight savings?

Yeah, that happened last night. How'd that impact your evening? Well, I was very shocked when we got home and it was three o'clock in the morning. I was like, what's happened here? Did we lose a whole hour? Yeah. What's going on? That's why I was like, let's keep partying.

It's not actually 3 o'clock in the morning guys no I'm loving it time is fake it's all a concept that we have made up oh my gosh I thought it was funny when I was looking at my like what is today list

instead of just saying it's like British daylight savings time they said it was British summer time begins yeah that's what they call it was British Summer Time Begins. Yeah, that's what they call it here as well. Weird, isn't it? March 31st, British Summer Time Begins. Okay. Not quite there yet.

You know, things are sprouting. We have had like two days of nice weather, which has been quite a shock to the system, let me tell you. weather which has been quite a shock to the system let me tell you um and it the air does smell like spring you know when you get that change and it smells different so that's nice i find the sun hits different too when it starts to get closer and the days start to get longer i'm just like the sun feels different yeah so good um i love it well i'm happy that we're back on our normal time difference because like it was just getting too much for me to try to like figure out the time change hour shorten i couldn't do it my brain didn't work because i'm just a stupid woman. Yeah, duh. Google doesn't give you those answers, so. No, I don't know what that is. I'm failing almost everything. Just got a case of the hysterias, you know? And the troubles.

The troubles we have. Oh, oh, you'll like this. this okay it is also my high school sweetheart ewan mcgregor's birthday today oh happy birthday ewan did you get him a present you know after he sent me the cease and desist letter from years past i i haven't't i don't want to get sued oh that's really sad yeah well didn't he like the hair and toenails that you sent him then he did up until point but i think like I dumped him and he never got over it. So pathetic. It's really actually just, I know it's all a show, but whatever.

He'll come around, you know? Yeah. One day. But yeah, I used to, I think I've told you about this, that like my junior high and early high school years were pretty dedicated to him and his craft. How much dedication are you talking here? Like I had a little notebook that had like pictures printed off and pasted into it and like on my wall. So like kind of normal stuff. I tried to watch every single movie that I could get my hands on at the blockbuster that I had no business watching.

And, you know, I wrote a little fan fiction where he and I became mates. We didn't like there's a big age difference. So I think even at that age, I wasn't like, obviously, I'm not going to like date Ewan McGregor in my fan fiction, but we became friends. That's really nice. I like that you kept it realistic even in your fucking fan fiction. I couldn't even, I was like, this would never happen,

even if I was older and younger. So we're just going to be friends. Oh, God god did you see uh I had a similar thing with Justin Timberlake obviously he was my my go-to um and his little shows recently where NSYNC reunited for a few songs very. A lot of people are hating on Justin Timberlake at the moment because of the Britney stuff. Yeah. I don't really care. I still love him.

I mean, he's like the only one out of that whole group really that continued to like do well. Yeah. Well, can you blame them? No. Can you blame them? No. Really, you know No He's a talented guy I liked JC I feel really bad that he didn't Go any further

Because his voice is Superb Yeah no He tried I'm sure Didn't work for him Yeah I think he did release A couple of songs. I remember having them on my compilation CDs.

Yeah, your burned CDs. Yeah, my mixed in apes. Music. Funny that we're talking about that because I have a story for you about music. Is it a story of a woman of glory? It is a story of a woman of glory. Yes. You up for it?

Yes, queen. All right. All right. So sit back, just get your beverages and take your little hangover and just relax. Okay. I'm chilling. We are going to roll on down to Memphis, Tennessee. It is 1942.

It is March. Can I just say Justin Timberlake comes from Memphis, Tennessee? Oh, see, we planned this, this whole segue into Woman of Glory story. But yeah, so March 1942, around this time, you know, we're seeing Jackie Robinson and Nate Moreland, two black men trying out for baseball. They are trying to get on the White Sox and they're like the first two. And you've probably heard of Jackie Robinson. I haven't heard of the other guy, but anyway, that timeframe. It's also when President Roosevelt racially signs an executive order that effectively creates the internment

camps that incarcerated over 100,000 Japanese Americans and likely other different Asian nationalities because people don't try to even bother learning more about Asian culture or try to tell the difference between people. No. Why should we? Great. And a lot of other shit happened regarding World War II because the reason Roosevelt did that was following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Yeah.

Okay. With you. So you got it in your mind's eye, kind of the period we're in? Yeah, I mean, it's all black and white or sepia. Kind of a bummer a little bit. Gravy. Yeah, a bit of a bummer. Everyone's hungry and malnourished from the war.

And what they need is a shining star to, you know, lift their spirits. Yeah, yeah. I think that's very needed, actually, at this time. So, something good happened then. A little girl was born on March 25th, 1942. Do you know who it was? Any guesses? No.

Princess Diana. Not even going to try. No. Would you say? Princess Diana. Oh, yeah. She was famously from Memphis, wasn't she? Let me...

Beyonce. No, that was too early. Aretha Franklin. Did I guess? Good job. Yay! I'm clever. Yes, you are. You know stuff.

Yay! Oh, I'm interested in this. Louise Franklin was born amazing now i have heard like a a podcast about that briefly went over her life and i believe it was pretty insane if memory serves me right well you will have to fill in some of any gaps that i've left because i did talk a little bit about some of the like interesting tidbits but i didn't go into a lot of detail um so yeah you you drop in any little nuggets you want to about that i can't remember much but yes i will uh my next question was after i wrote you, a little girl was born named Aretha, Louise Franklin was, are you familiar with her?

Yeah, I vaguely know her. I think I've heard a song or two of hers. So, you know, she was born in Memphis, like I said, and at a really early age, her family moved to New York before settling in Detroit. I'm sure you've heard of Detroit. It's in Michigan, right? Yeah. Detroit. Okay.

And that's where she spent a lot of her formative years. She lost her mother at the age of 10, which is a bummer because imagine that happening. But her father was a Baptist minister and an influential civil rights activist. And he was actually known as the man with the million dollar voice because of his like charm and charisma and speaking voice. So sounds like maybe some of that talent runs in the family. Yeah. He was also very encouraging of her singing career and like kind of supported her in that in that venture. And so she would sing at his church. She would have to stand on a little chair so people could see her.

She was self-taught piano, which is kind of cool. She just like naturally gifted in that regard. And by the time she lost her mother at the age of 10, she was aspiring to be a gospel singer. Like that was kind of what she was thinking she was going to do with her life. So she joined the choir that traveled around with her father who went on his speaking engagements for ministry or civil rights um which is kind of cool if you think about it he's just like they're talking about something and then he has a little background choir i don't know like the

muses from hercules just kind of yeah singing along I'm so young as well for her. It's just like, I'm a touring choir girl now. Yeah. And I bet, like, of course, like, her father was the minister or the person who kind of led this thing. But, like, she also was probably really, really good. And so, you know, you can't even be mad at her, right? Like, people are going to be like, nepotism, it's her dad. But also, she's really, she's, like, really good.

Yeah. Her mom was a singer as well, I think. Oh. So just fully, fully, like, from both sides of the spectrum, getting those genes of talent. All the skills. Yeah. Bills. Yeah. So one time while they were in California for something with her father, they met a young Sam Cooke.

Are you familiar with him? Yes, I am indeed. I am asking this because it's a really dumb question for listeners at home. Gemma is very musically inclined and knows a lot about music. What I didn't know was that he also started off in the gospel music world. And he had a group called the Soulsters. Ooh. Soulie. I didn't know that.

But he ultimately left to pursue a career in secular pop music. One of my favorite songs by him is You Send Me. And another popular one is Good Times and Bring It On Home To Me and Chain Gang. He's got some crackers. What a Wonderful World. Yeah, he's a really good singer. I was listening to some of his music as I was writing this and I was like, yeah. Damn.

Yeah, he's good. So they followed his career pretty closely after meeting. And this is my own spin on this. I believe he kind of became an inspiration for her because she ultimately started considering pursuing a music career outside of the gospel, you know, genre. Yeah. Which is great because that benefits us and the world. If she had just exclusively been like, I'll just be a gospel singer,

who knows what we would know about Aretha. Yeah. Would we have even heard her amazing voice? Right. Right. I mean, I think there probably are some, I couldn't name any like somewhat famous or notable exclusively gospel singers, but fuck if I know.

I don't either really. Not my son. Yeah, me neither though. So we think of Aretha as the queen of soul. She's been given that title and rightly so. So, because she, I mean, she's been given that title and rightly so so because she i mean she's earned it right um

but this is where her kind of crazy life or at least some of her childhood kind of comes in is that you know i think it'd be kind of hard to become the queen of soul and have such a like powerful emotional voice that you can kind of really project maybe whatever your life experiences are into because, you know, just boring people don't make really interesting things, I suppose, is what I'm trying to say. At the age of 12, she had her first kid. Yeah. 12. Yeah. I wondered if you were going say that what was i doing at the age of 12 other than probably

putting on my jelly sandals and running around outside getting fucking dirty you know like yeah man fucking 12 that is at the age of 15 she had her second so she's fully a mom before she even at the age of graduating she's got two kids yeah it's fucked up really and i didn't find a lot of detail on this but she for many years said that this person that she went to school with um named clarence burke was the father of at least one of her children right uh but after her death like some in some of her belongings uh some of her writings were found and one was considered a handwritten will where she identified someone named edward jordan as the father of definitely i think her second oldest but also both kids, really. This is where it wasn't entirely clear, but what I gathered was he was actually the father of both kids.

And not a lot is known about him, but she, in a biography written in 2014, it said, Franklin was decidedly unimpressed by Edward Jordan and described him as a player. And in the document that was found, it said that he should never underlined twice receive or handle any money belonging to her children because he was never involved fair yeah yeah yeah it's crazy though such a fucking young age like it does make me wonder whether it was consensual well yeah i couldn't find how old he was but my guess is probably not it's got to be sort of coerced in some some kind of way well i mean if she was actually aware at that age do you know what i mean i fucking wasn't no yeah my guess is he probably wasn't another 12 year old

i'm guessing he was probably an adult so but, but I don't know. People know about this. Write us in, write in and let us know. So like I had said, you know, 12 and 15, having two kids, that could not have been easy. No. I don't think her dad was super thrilled with it either. But her grandmother, her sisters, I mean, no, I don't think most parents would be, right? Okay. But her grandmother and her sisters helped take care of the kids, and they were all still very supportive of her pursuing her career in music.

And so she began, you know, at some point recording gospel songs at the local record label, and her father was our manager, and he was pushing her, her like we could probably do better on a bigger scale they turned down an offer with Motown Records and pursued Columbia Records I know fucking Motown Records you turned that down but I mean they wanted to see if they could get the big time so they went to Columbia and they gave her an audition and John Hammond was like, I guess, the guy. And he was blown away by her and signed a contract with her when she was 18. Yeah. Good. So she went to New York. She did, you know, her family's like, we got your kids. You know, come visit.

We'll take care of them. We'll bring them to you. Go pursue your dreams. And so she did. You know, come visit. We'll take care of him. We'll bring him to you. Go pursue your dreams.

And so she did. This led to her first single, which came out in 1960. Today I Sing the Blues is the song, which I'm not familiar with. I went and listened to a couple of them, but I hadn't heard that one. And then her first album, which featured the single, it was called Won't Be Long. It hit the Billboard Top 100 and peaked at number seven on the R&B charts. She started performing across the country, putting out new music. And she first earned her title of Queen of Soul by radio personality Purvis Spann during a performance in Chicago.

Nice. So got that pretty young. Yeah. She appeared on some rock and roll shows. I put that pretty young. Yeah. She appeared on some rock and roll shows. I put that in quotes because I hadn't heard of these. Hollywood a go-go and shindig. Whatever those are. Hollywood a go-go.

I feel like there's like those music variety shows way back in the day, right? Yeah. My guess is maybe that's what they were. It was said, though, that she'd never really quite achieved commercial success with columbia and john hammond later said that he like the label didn't really get like her gospel background and maybe missed an opportunity to really kind of like develop and explore that further and incorporate it into her music um and so she you know her contract expired she ended up signing with atlantic but she left columbia owing them money because her records didn't sell as well as they expected, which is shitty. It's like, whoa, not my fault, bro.

Yeah, that's your job, actually. Yeah, exactly. So then, you know, she was with Atlantic. They understood the assignment, wanted to take advantage of her gospel background and incorporate that. And they were said to have created many of her peak recordings, which eventually led to like a lot of the achievements she received or like accolades she received. But, you know, that kind of plateaued, I'll say. And Wikipedia said that her later productions were less impressive. And so she left to start working with other studios after a period of time with Atlantic. Right.

Is this tracking with what you knew or have heard about her? From what I can recall, yes. It certainly does. I also want to watch the film, Jennifer Hudson one. Oh, yeah. I haven't seen it either but I bet it's pretty good I mean a good person to I think portray her because Jennifer Hudson's

pretty incredible singer too and apparently Aretha picked her and she was still alive oh really what an honour yeah I was just going to say that would make someone feel pretty good yeah this is a funny little aside Yeah, I was just going to say that would make someone feel pretty good. Yeah.

This is a funny little aside that I didn't have a ton of information about, but it was interesting. When she was with Fame Studios in Alabama in 67, she recorded I Never Loved Demand the way that I love you, which hit number one on R&B and nine on the hot 100 but they only spent one day in the studio because a fight broke out between her husband her manager the owner of the studio and a horn player fuck you know so maybe they're all just arguing about who she's singing about maybe um but even with that they still released that single and put out an album. She recorded a lot of songs during that time, I think, with different, maybe back with Atlantic, maybe some other like one-offs with different studios. But it was around this time that she modified Otis Redding's Respect. Ah.

Which you might have heard, I think. Yeah, I've heard that one. And this is what took her straight to the top. Straight to number one, baby. Yeah. I mean, it's considered her signature song. It hit number one. And I thought this was kind of cute.

Otis Redding admiringly reportedly said, that little girl done took my song away from me. Yes, she did. Sorry, Otis. She did. Sorry. Sorry, man. We still know who you are, me. Yes, you did. Sorry, Otis. She did. Sorry. Sorry, man. We still know who you are, though.

Yeah, you're good, too. So at this point, it's 67. She's crushing it. She was named the most successful singer in the nation in 1968. She issued more albums. She had won two Grammys and an Académie du Jazz's R&B award. It's French. I wasn't going to bother. You know me. I wonder if this was on your podcast. I thought it was really interesting and kind of crazy. So in 1969, she became the subject of a criminal

impersonation scheme. Oh, really oh really yeah more like kind of an innocent victim of it though right so a woman in florida was performing in venues impersonating maritha franklin and the only reason they became aware of her was because of her rates being a fraction of what aretha would charge and So apparently she was very similar in voice and appearance to Aretha and, like, fooled a lot of people. But her lawyers, Aretha's lawyers, eventually became, like, aware of this and contacted the authorities who uncovered Vicky Jones had been performing as Aretha Franklin.

Crazy. Damn, she must have been good to have people fall for it. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. So here's what happened. She was obviously criminally charged. And at the trial, it came out that a man named Lavelle Hardy, who was also a musician, apparently performed with her at one point and was really impressed. That was when she was performing under her own name. And impressed by her, hatched a scheme for profit where he convinced her to come to Melbourne, Melbourne, Melbourne, whatever, it's in Florida, with him to perform as an opener for Aretha. That's what he told her, she said. But when she arrived, he said, you're actually going to be

impersonating Aretha Franklin. So I got you down here under this ruse right and she's like yeah I'm not I'm not doing that bro and he said I'll throw you in the bay if you don't yeah so it's kind of like under the threat of violence she was coursed into doing this um and so at trial she pleaded to the prosecutor and the judge that she was like kind of an innocent victim here. And the judge was like, go ahead and sing a little bit for us. And so she did in the trial. And the judge said that she sounded so much like Franklin that the audience had not been defrauded. Crazy.

Yeah. Fucking hell. I wonder if she had a career I could sing any career after that Yeah she did Actually according to what I read She even performed with Duke Ellington Somewhere But then it said she eventually decided to quit music

And just focus on her family and raising her children Oh what a shame Yeah I'm gonna look her up afterwards Vicky Jones Vicky Jones So shame yeah i'm gonna look her up afterwards vicky jones vicky jones so that's just like a fun little aside during this time also aretha's just continuing to make music she's working with arista records by now um she even performed in front of queen elizabeth at one point and had a cameo in the Blues Brothers.

Sorry, what was that? I just said, damn. Yeah. I mean, what do you think? What do you think she thought? Do you think she was just like, oh, yes, that's very nice. Oh, lovely. Yes.

You've got a wonderful voice. Thank you. Thank you for coming to sing in front of me. Hello. She achieved a gold record for the first time in seven years with her album jump to it and in 1985 went platinum with her album who's zooming who so catchy that was yeah when i saw that i was like zooming was she like predicting zoom but she just wanted a younger sound to her music by then right yeah yeah um i don't know these tracks either but that album apparently had freeway of love and another night you know those

no i don't know there's so many songs that i should listen to as a singer, but I just haven't. I also think you probably could go through and listen to a lot of them and be like, oh, yeah, I know this one and this one. Yeah, probably. But people think of respect when they think of her, right? Maybe a few others, but. You make me feel like a natural woman that one and the morning i wake up yep uh so she also provided vocals for tv shows a different world and together and then she ultimately recorded her third gospel gospel out of let me take a drink me too

okay she recorded her third gospel album at her late father's church and he had a little bit of a crazy end of life situation. You want to hear about it? Yep. Yes, I do. So basically he was shot twice at point blank range in 1970. It was believed to be an attempted robbery situation in Detroit. But he didn't die. He was in a coma for five years.

For five years? Yeah. Oh, my God. Which, if it was in 1970 and he was in a coma for five years and he died in 1984, that means he came out of the coma, right? But he was basically in home hospice care. He had 24-hour around-the-clock care. Bloody hell. After that.

Yeah. Christ. And ultimately died in 1984. hospice care he had 24 hour around the clock care after that yeah christ um and ultimately died in 1984 i think he said he was like 69 years old so when she um recorded her third record at the church it was i think maybe a year or so after he died um he also had a weird legacy right uh or like despite his legacy as a minister and civil rights activist it was also said that he knowingly prayed on his pre-teen congregants oh god and actually fathered a a child aretha's half-sister with a 12 year old member of the church where he was a minister in 1940, so just before she was born. Nice. Yeah, I know. Brilliant. So I think she was very close to her family, though,

and I think she spent like the last couple decades of her life back in Detroit. That's where she primarily resided because, you know, I think that's she considered that her home and that's where a lot of her family resided. but she continued to perform and in addition to her music she was also considered a beloved entertainer and a treasured living symbol of the american spirit oh okay whatever that means yeah whatever that means not saying Yeah. You know, fine. But I've just never heard that before. Me neither. Yeah. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 by W, George W. Bush. Nice.

Well done, Bushy. Yeah. She performed at Bill Clinton's 1993 inaugural gala and she also performed at Obama's. Yes, I remember the Obama one. Yeah. Yeah. She sang, my country, tis of thee just like that i'm basically aretha i was gonna say you could be if you want it yeah yeah obviously

she also made a cover album called aretha franklin sings the great diva classics oh catchy title yeah and she did rolling in the deep by adele did she yeah i'm gonna have to check that out yep uh by this time this was in like 2014 and it's it was said that by this time she received every conceivable honor from her peers in the music world in addition to 18 fucking Grammys. Wow. Remember when Beyonce couldn't even get one? Yeah. I'm not laughing because it's funny.

It's just like, holy shit. She has so many Grammys for a black woman. Yeah. Not that they aren't earned, i think it was oscars yeah there was the hashtag oscars so white i think there was probably some some things to be said about the other award shows being pretty uh whitewashed white as well yeah yeah um blah blah okay she began experiencing health issues later later in life excuse me and she gave her last performance in 2017 at 2017 at the 15th annual elton john's aids foundation and she

ultimately died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76 in 2018 oh man yeah she got so skinny near the end too like i saw a picture of her i think she actually like intentionally lost some weight but just like i didn't i was startled when i saw that picture because it didn't even look like her wow i didn't know that i don't think i knew what she died from actually i didn't either until i was looking into her um in 2021 rolling stone magazine released its list of 500 greatest songs of all time and respect was number one nice well it is i think isn't it early yeah absolutely um i'll just wrap on this quote they basically said that the 1967 hit catalyzed rock and roll gospel and blues to create the model of soul music that artists still look to today just as important the song's unapologetic demands resonated powerfully with civil rights movement

and emergent feminist revolution fitting for an artist who donated to the black panther party and sang at the funeral of martin luther king jr legend and that's aretha yeah truly legend yeah What a legend, yeah. She is the best soul singer there ever has been, I think, and ever will. Yeah. And yeah, as you said, I think it's having that troubled start to life, isn't it, that I think contributes to that inner soul voice. You can have a great voice, but if you've not got the passion behind it, it's just not as good.

I think she also had quite an abusive marriage as well with one of her husbands. Maybe the one who's starting fights while she's trying to record yeah so she

she got married twice her first husband was Ted White who she married at the age of 18 oh damn um so she had like

probably like four kids married by the age of 18 I think she did have four kids, yeah. That was a contentious marriage that was marred by domestic abuse. And yeah, separated from him and married another guy and ended up being stepmother to his three children as well. So big old family, big old responsibility, big old voice.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Amazing. Did you hear my stomach just now? No. Okay. It was really loud. I know we're having a moment of silence for Aretha and my stomach's like.

Singing for Aretha. Yeah, there we go. Anyway, I, yeah, I just was considering who I wanted to tell you about today. And she was born on the 25th, which was only a few days ago. And, you know, you're a really great singer. And I thought it would just be good to talk about her. Nice. Great choice.

Love it. Thanks. Well done. Thank you. She certainly is a woman of glory. And thanks for your story. Shall we do a juicy asshole? Yep.

Am I the juicy asshole? You know it is, baby. Disgusting. Sorry, everyone, if you're eating and now thinking of juicy bumholes. Okay. Would I be the arsehole if I texted my husband's female best friend to see her reaction? Okay. A little bit of catfishing.

Yeah. Okay. My husband has this best friend from college time i never had any issues with her until my wedding a month ago when my maid of honor overheard her snapping at another friend of theirs saying saying that she has him when she wants him when the friend teased her that she had lost him and that he was the one who got away. I told my husband about it a few days ago because I didn't want to ruin our honeymoon, but it was still in my head. But he denied anything happened between them. He was very calm when he said it, almost too calm. Anyway, I have no proof and I trust him. Until I used his

phone when mine died. He was driving and I was making a playlist on his phone. And then I looked through his iMessages and he had no thread with her. And I mean, I know for a fact that they text, but there was nothing. I didn't say anything about, I didn't say anything, but last night I literally saw her name pop up amongst the texts. And when he went to bed i looked and there were no texts he is deleting them now my question is if i ask he will deny it and i need to know and i need proof will i be the arsehole if i initiated a conversation with her acting like i'm my husband to see what's up i need proof and peace of mind you know i think there's something to be said about the fact that

she said i'll ask him and he will deny it and the way it was written it's like she she wouldn't believe it or she wouldn't be convinced and i'm like if you if that's how you feel why are you marrying this dude man yeah it kind of tells you what you need to know um that being said i don't think i don't know if asshole's the right word but like like it's not it would it's not great that you're kind of engaging in some subterfuge to figure out if your husband's like having this kind of illicit relationship with this woman. But it's something that people do. Like it's I think people do it all the time or read text messages, check phones, and it's kind of like you don't trust them. it's kind of like you don't you don't trust them and if confronting him about it and just communicating about it isn't going to be good enough for you then like i think that again like

you do you need to message this woman and pretend to be him i think you already kind of have your answer so yeah i don't know asshole feels like a weird thing to say but i also very much want her to do it and i want to know what the update is okay Okay, well, I've got an update for you. Yay. So she's updated. She said, hi, this is my update. He is cheating. I went through his deleted messages, but it was empty. So he had been deleting the deleted messages as well.

I don't know if there's any further steps to find them. I don't know. I sent her a WID, what you're doing, because this is how he texts when he's bored. She said that she was in bed and I said that I, he, was in bed watching Succession. She asked if I was sleeping and then it didn't take long before she started sexting in a way that made it really obvious that they've done it multiple times i ended it quickly because honestly i felt nauseous and i didn't want to sext her um so i sent myself all the evidence tomorrow i will be moving back to my't sitting right with you and i do think there's something yeah there's something to be said about instincts but i guess if she really

needed that proof she got it oh baby she got it nice i don't know what do you think um it's a shit situation for her to be in for sure um i don't think she's an arsehole because she no one got hurt well i mean people got hurt but like she didn't hurt anyone by doing this woman no yeah to like get nudes to post on the internet or something no but it's just you know it's if you have to go through your partner's phone to read text messages then there's no trust there anyway and it's not really a good basis for a relationship um and you probably shouldn't got got married but you know it's really fucking sad that they got married a month ago it's already over but at least she knows the truth and isn't going to go into a marriage with him any longer i guess remind me she said she overheard

at the wedding this comment it was her maid of honor who overheard this girl okay saying she has him when she wants him which is a really arrogant thing to say, isn't it? Yeah, I guess that means they were, like, probably hooking up while they're engaged and dating, too. But, I mean, so she didn't have any idea until that. Doesn't seem to, no. And then she waited throughout the honeymoon because she didn't want to start a fight reasonably. And maybe she just wanted to sit on it for a bit. And then he denied it really calmly, which I was kind of like, I deny anything is going on between us.

I guess she expected him to get upset. I don't know. But everything that happened after that moment, just like, kind of confirmed her suspicions, you know? And I think I would have just, if I were in her shoes, I would have been like, you know, I'm looking at his phone in the car or whatever. And it would have been like, why do you delete your messages from your best friend yeah and he would have been like why are you looking at my phone and i'll be like well i'm on your phone but i just so happen to see that the person you were texting last night you delete them why do you do that and now i'm concerned because of what i heard that she said and your reaction you know and then depending on how he responds, I guess she needed the proof before she made a drastic decision, which I can respect.

Yeah. And maybe it's, you know, there's a possibility that he could have reacted would just go on for weeks, months, years thinking that she's crazy. Yeah. What do the comments say? Everyone was just like, before I found the update, was just like, oh my God, remind me to look back at this. This is so juicy. I really want to know what happens.

No one's really commenting on who's the arsehole. Everyone's just enjoying the drama. Fair enough. Yeah, basically. I mean, there's nearly 10 000 comments so i haven't gone through all of them yeah maybe like asshole probably isn't the right word but even if we had to decide i would say probably not the asshole like she didn't she's not gonna tell him why which is i suppose we could probably debate about that but like she's also not gonna

like be like i looked at your phone you're a cheat like she's just gonna be like we're done and you know so i don't know i don't know if that's out of self-preservation she doesn't want him to know what she did or her to know what she did or if it's just like it doesn't matter you know i'm not looking to like air anybody's dirty laundry here which i would say is if that's the case if that's the modification motivation then that is respectful and not the asshole then yeah someone said you don't have to say anything he'll know why and she's replied saying exactly i'll tell my family and friends though because um i don't want them to think i'm totally mental getting divorced after five weeks fair enough i just wasn't feeling it so i'm done yeah i'm just already vibing it so yeah i try my mind and that is juicy a juicy asshole

that is a juicy asshole well I'm sorry you found out your partner's gene at least you found out now and not 10 years down the line when you had kids or something yeah

actually might be soon enough for it to be it depends on the state and I don't know yeah I don't know what all the rules are but could be that so and then she could sue him for breach of contract yeah and for all the money they spent

on the wedding yeah anyway should we call it a day yeah on the wedding. Yeah. Anyway. Anyway. Thanks for... Shall we call it a day? Yeah. Let's. It says we've been recording

for two hours. That's not right. It's only an hour and three minutes for me. Oh, it says two hours and three minutes for me. Just getting very confused. Hmm.

I'll be curious to see what it has for that first hour for you. Yeah. It's just me sitting here going, I'm very hungover. You just sat in there for a whole hour before we started. I've been in here for a whole hour before we started. We could have started much earlier. Shit.

Why didn't we communicate? I don't know. We're bad at that. Yeah, we are. We're terrible. We only sit here for an hour every week and talk. And then we have our daily to every other day WhatsApp messages.

Chit chat. Chit chat. Before the shit chat. The Chit chat. Chit chat. Chit chat. Before the shit chat. Yeah, yeah. The chit chat before the shit chat. Chit chat. Well. Killing it.

Killing it. Well, it's been lovely conversing with you today. You too. I hope you feel better and enjoy your day off tomorrow and the rest of your day today. And I'll see you next time. See you next time. On the line. You're very fine.

Thank you. You're welcome. Write to us at TalkShit2Us at gmail.com. Find us on YouTube. Yeah. Instagram. Yeah. Twitter. Yeah. You're the best hype woman. I appreciate that. I'm contributing. Yes, you are. TSYB pod, right? Yeah, that's correct yeah great cool yeah yes yeah let's go party it's only 3 a.m yes you like the party i could just do my wife my wife or a whole time i think that's kazakhstan isn't it, you know, I went to public school, so. Don't blame me.

All right, well, until next time, you ho-bag. Bye, you slut. Okay, we'll go with that. I tried to think of something better. Your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elderberries. Oh, what a burn. Thank you. All right. I'll see you next time.

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