"Think" is a song written by American singer

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

and Ted White, and first recorded by Franklin. It was released as a single in 1968, from her '' Aretha Now'' album. The song reached No. 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming Franklin's seventh top 10 hit in the United States. The song also reached number 1 on the magazine's Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles, becoming her sixth single to top the chart. Franklin re-recorded the song in the Atlantic Records New York studio for the soundtrack of the 1980 film ''

The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers (formally, The Fabulous Blues Brothers’ Show Band and Revue) are an American blues and soul music, soul revue band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, who met and began collaborating as original cast ...

'' and in 1989 for the album '' Through the Storm''. ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' placed it at number 15 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s". ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' described the single as a "pulsating swinger with another wild performance" that had a similar feel to "

Respect Respect, also called esteem, is a positive feeling or deferential action shown towards someone or something considered important or held in high esteem or regard. It conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. It is also th ...

" and which it expected would quickly reach a million sales. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said it has "wailing lyrics of a hard-luck love affair" and "tremendous rhythmic drive."

Chart performance

Certifications

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of '' Aretha Now''. Musicians *

– lead vocals, piano *Willie Bridges,

Floyd Newman Floyd Newman (August 17, 1931 – May 23, 2023) was an American saxophonist, session musician and bandleader. As a baritone sax player, he was long associated with Stax Records, and as a member of The Mar-Keys’ horn section and the Memphis Ho ...

– baritone saxophone *

Charles Chalmers Charles Chalmers is an American saxophonist, backup vocalist, songwriter and producer. He has written several hit songs for many recording artists, and has also arranged and performed on many Grammy winning recordings. Seven of those recordings a ...

, Andrew Love – tenor saxophone * Tommy Cogbill, Jimmy Johnson – guitar * Roger Hawkins – drums * Wayne Jackson – trumpet * Jerry Jemmott – bass guitar * Spooner Oldham –

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

The Sweet Inspirations The Sweet Inspirations are an American R&B girl group from Newark, New Jersey, founded by Cissy Houston who are mostly known for their work as backup singers on studio recordings for other R&B and rock artists but who are also a Grammy-nominat ...

– background vocals Production *

Jerry Wexler Gerald Wexler (January 10, 1917 – August 15, 2008) was a music journalist turned music producer, and was a major influence on American popular music from the 1950s through the 1980s. He coined the term "rhythm and blues", and was integra ...

– producer *

Tom Dowd Thomas John Dowd (October 20, 1925 – October 27, 2002) was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multitrack recording method. Dowd worked on a veritable "who's who" of recordings ...

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...

– arrangements *Tom Dowd – engineer

Versions

Franklin performed a new version of the song in a musical sequence of ''

'' (1980). Because Franklin was not used to lip-syncing, this scene required a number of takes and considerable editing.''Stories Behind the Making of The Blues Brothers'', documentary feature on 1998 DVD and 25th Anniversary DVD (2005). A 3:15 version of the song appears on the film's soundtrack album. In addition to Franklin, the recording features the Blues Brothers band and backup vocals from Franklin's sister

Carolyn Carolyn is a female given name, a variant of Caroline. Other spellings include Carolin, Karolyn, Carolyne, Carolynn or Carolynne. Caroline itself is one of the feminine forms of Charles. List of notable people * Carolyn Bennett (born 1950 ...

and cousin Brenda Corbett. Franklin recorded an updated 3:38 version titled "Think (1989)" for her 1989 album '' Through the Storm''. It was produced and arranged by

with his son Joe Mardin. She re-recorded the song for

Mothers Against Drunk Driving Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a non-profit organization in the United States, Canada ( MADD Canada) and Brazil that seeks to stop driving with any amount of alcohol in the bloodstream, support those affected by drunk driving, prevent un ...

as a public service announcement during the late 1980s.

Cover versions

Katharine McPhee Katharine Hope McPhee (born March 25, 1984) is an American actress and singer. In May 2006, she was the runner-up on the fifth season of ''American Idol.'' Her eponymous debut album was released on RCA Records in January 2007, and debuted at n ...

's version of the song was released as a limited single from the '' American Idol 5: Encores'' (2006) album. The song became a minor Internet hit for McPhee—it was her first song to chart in the

Pop 100 The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009. It ranked songs based on airplay on Mainstream Top 40 radio stations, singles ...

, where it peaked at No. 90 due to download sales.

Adam Lambert Adam Mitchel Lambert (born January 29, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his dynamic vocal performances that combine his theatrical training with modern and classic genres. Lambert rose to fame in 2009 after ...

made a cover version of "

Think In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, and delibe ...

" for the soundtrack of

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

’s '' Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie'', released on June 2, 2017.

References

External links

Song Review
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{Authority control 1968 singles 1968 songs 2006 singles Aretha Franklin songs Atlantic Records singles Katharine McPhee songs Songs with feminist themes Song recordings produced by Jerry Wexler Songs written by Aretha Franklin Presidential campaign songs