The point I want to make in this post is not about the funeral of anyone in particular and it is certainly written without a scrap of disrespect to the late, wonderful Aretha Franklin…
…but there's something I don't get. I caught a little of the memorial for her yesterday and it seemed like a wonderful show full of brilliant performers and speakers. Some people said some very complimentary and true things about a great artist. Okay, fine. But then I saw Ariana Grande get up and perform Ms. Franklin's mega-hit, "Natural Woman"…and I'm just wondering why this is a tribute to the deceased.
Aretha's recording of that song was about as good as R-'n'-B music gets…but she didn't write it. According to Wikipedia, the song was co-written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, with input from Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler. If someone goes out and sings that song and isn't doing an imitation, there isn't a speck of Aretha Franklin in that performance. If anything, you're almost suggesting the song can get along just fine without her. And if you were going to have someone do an Aretha Franklin impression — which Ms. Grande, of course, did not attempt — you could have just played Aretha's version of it.
This is not about Aretha or Ariana or anyone in particular. It's just Mark being bewildered why it's tribute to an entertainer to remove them from their own act.
I've been thinking about this for years. Some time ago, there was an episode of the Boston Pops TV show which featured Nathan Lane performing "A Tribute to Danny Kaye." The so-called tribute consisted of Lane singing his versions of the most popular tunes associated with the late Danny Kaye. Danny didn't write any of the songs. Nathan did not do them in his style. Truth to tell, I thought Mr. Lane sang some of them better than Mr. Kaye did but that doesn't matter. What matters, I think, is there was nothing of Danny Kaye or his work on that stage except a few kind words as lead-in to tunes.
Let's try this in another context. Let's say it's the funeral of a great actor. Let's say it's Walter Matthau. Imagine we're there and his good friend and colleague Jack Lemmon steps up to the podium to speak and he says, "Walter was a brilliant performer. To honor his memory, I'm now going to do my interpretations of some of the best speeches he gave on screen."
Wouldn't that have been kind of tacky? Wouldn't the message of such a presentation have been all about Jack Lemmon without a whole lot about Walter Matthau? It would have been a bigger tribute to Matthau if Lemmon had said, "Of course, I would never try to do some of the great scenes Walter did because nobody could have done them as well as he did."
Obviously with her sheer presence and willingness to perform, Ms. Grande honored Ms. Franklin. Many others did, performing songs Aretha didn't write and I think some she did. I just don't quite understand why it's a nod to a performer to sing the same song they did. I go to a lot of Broadway-theme cabaret shows and there's always some lady getting up and saying something like, "I want to pay tribute to my idol, Liza Minnelli" and then they sing "Cabaret" or "Ring Them Bells." That's not a tribute to Liza. If it's a tribute to anyone, it's a tribute to John Kander and Fred Ebb, who wrote those songs…and I'm not even sure it's a tribute to them. Not unless you think you're paying tribute to Francis Scott Key every time you sing the National Anthem.