MASTERARBEIT / MASTER’S THESIS Titel der Masterarbeit / Title of the Master‘s Thesis „Respect for a Natural Woman“ „Representations of Femininities in Two Songs by Aretha Franklin“ verfasst von / submitted by Josefine Ramm Skaaning, BA angestrebter akademischer Grad / in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (MA) Wien, 2019 / Vienna 2019 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt / UA 066 836 degree programme code as it appears on the student record sheet: Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt / Masterstudium Musikwissenschaft degree programme as it appears on the student record sheet: Betreut von / Supervisor: Dr. Gregor Herzfeld, M.A. 2 Acknowledgement Thanks in the first place to my parents, Ulla Ramm Mikkelsen and Brian Skaaning, for their support during the whole process of writing this thesis. Thanks to Clemens Kössler and Mirjana Plath for helping me out when I had questions of all sorts and for general support during my study in Vienna. Thanks to my supervisor Dr. Gregor Herzfeld, M.A., and further to Nina Þórný Stefánsdóttir, Rikke Ramm Eberlein, Karen Louise Clausen, and Louise Lund Labadie for the editing of the thesis. I appreciate all the help and support I have received. 3 4 List of Tables Table 1. The form of "Respect".................................................................................................................................... 51 Table 2. The lyrical content of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"................................................ 68 Table 3. The form of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"................................................................. 77 List of Music Examples Example 1. Guitar lick in the intro. ............................................................................................................................. 52 Example 2. Phrase a and a' in the verse. ..................................................................................................................... 57 Example 3. Phrase b and c in the refrain. ................................................................................................................... 57 Example 4. Hypothetical substitution of motif x. .................................................................................................... 58 Example 5. Phrase d and d' in the break. .................................................................................................................... 59 Example 6. Phrase a and a’ in the verse. ..................................................................................................................... 83 Example 7. Motif k, k’ and k’’ in the pre-chorus. ...................................................................................................... 84 Example 8. Motif l and the tail in the chorus. ............................................................................................................ 85 Example 9. The motifs in the bridge. .......................................................................................................................... 86 5 Contents Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................................................................... 3 List of Tables ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5 List of Music Examples.................................................................................................................................................... 5 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................. 9 2. Methodology ..............................................................................................................................................................16 2.1. David Machin’s Discourse Analysis ................................................................................................................16 2.2. Allan F. Moore: Analysing Meaning...............................................................................................................20 3. Sex, Gender, and Sexuality – Exemplified by Butler’s Gender Theory ............................................................24 3.1. Repetitive Performance of Acts .......................................................................................................................25 3.2. Biological Sex as a Social Construction .........................................................................................................28 3.3. Heterosexuality and Subversive Gender Performativity ............................................................................29 3.4. Primary Vulnerability to the Other.................................................................................................................32 4. Musical Persona .........................................................................................................................................................33 4.1. Philip Auslander’s Concept ..............................................................................................................................34 4.2. Moore and the Protagonist ..............................................................................................................................38 5. Aretha Franklin (1942–2018) .................................................................................................................................41 6. Analysis of “Respect” .................................................................................................................................................44 6.1. Lyrics ....................................................................................................................................................................45 6.2. Form, Harmony, and Instruments ..................................................................................................................50 6.2.1. Intro ..............................................................................................................................................................52 6.2.2. Verse and Refrain .......................................................................................................................................53 6.2.3. Instrumental Bridge, Break, and Outro .................................................................................................55 6.3. Melody .................................................................................................................................................................57 6.4. Aretha Franklin’s Vocal Delivery ....................................................................................................................59 6.5. Backing Vocals as Supportive Unity ...............................................................................................................64 7. Analysis of “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” ..............................................................................67 6 7.1. Lyrics .................................................................................................................................................................... 68 7.1.2. The Word ‘Natural’ ................................................................................................................................... 74 7.2. Form, Harmony, and Instruments.................................................................................................................. 76 7.2.1. Verse............................................................................................................................................................. 78 7.2.2. Pre-Corus and Chorus .............................................................................................................................. 79 7.2.3. Bridge and Repetitions of the Chorus ................................................................................................... 81 7.3. Melody ................................................................................................................................................................. 82 7.4. Aretha Franklin’s Vocal Delivery .................................................................................................................... 87 7.5. Backing Vocals as Extension of the Protagonist........................................................................................... 91 8. Discussion ................................................................................................................................................................... 93 8.1. The Female Characters .................................................................................................................................... 93 8.2. The Construction of Gender ........................................................................................................................... 97 8.3. Aretha Franklin’s Musical Persona ................................................................................................................. 95 8.4. Intersectionality and African American Women ...................................................................................... 102 8.5.