and then aretha franklin happens to be my longest living friend.wn aretha since i was 8 years old. it was just a wonderful night. and i was very happy to be a part of that. >> yeah. barry gordy, aretha, you were talking about a time when there was so much civil up heaval. was it it like making music in that turbulent time of the civil rights era? >> i think it was just something so beautiful to see what music could do. during that time we were trying to pass legislation. we were marching, sitting in, doing all the things we needed to do to bring about equality. and to bring about integration. and the music was just doing it on its own. it was just bringing people together. we would go places where we used to go. the crowds would be separated. like black people on one side, white people on the other side. black people upstairs and white people downstairs or vice versa. eventually they were e all dancing and singing together and having a good time together and the music was promoting integration. >> you talk about the music integrating. there was not

the one and only aretha franklin. that's next.he future is a pretty difficult thing to do. but, manufacturing in the united states means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done. ♪ my country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty ♪ ♪ of thee i sing >> the legendary aretha franklin, singing at president obama's first inauguration in 2009. she's been one of my musical heroes for decades. a trail blazer who merged soul, gospel, the blues, and rock 'n roll into a sound all her own. and it was my great honor to present her award at this year's b.e.t. honors show. a tribute to some living legends for black history month. other honorees included smokey robinson, ice cube, and motown founder berry gordy. the show aired tonight on b.e.t. black history month is a time to remember those who have gone be

muscle shoals alabama it's legendary record to reduce or recall we did the first hit record on aretha franklin we did the first hit record on energy names first hit record on otis redding there is a muslim show sound is heavy on the vase heavy on the cake dump and it's got a lot of lot of balls plus the music today as far as i'm concerned in ten years from now we'll have known won't be easy on the something changes all next on larry king now. welcome to larry king our special guest recall one of the most prolific record producers music publishers songwriters and musicians of the past century this man built of music making empire out of his legendary fame studios in the tiny town muscle shoals alabama his resume includes work with some of the industry's biggest artists and acts like a wreath of franklin wilson pickett the osmonds tom jones the allman brothers and paul i guess that's just to name a few ricks one of a kind stores the subject bill a major documentary appropriately titled muscle shoals he's also author of a book called hell bent off for fame he received the highest honor you can ge

named muscle shoals alabama it's legendary record to reduce recall we did the first hit record on aretha franklin we did it first hit record on energy against first hit record on otis redding and there is a muslim show sound it's heavy on the bass heavy on the cape and it's got a lot of lot of balls plus the music today as far as i'm concerned in ten years from now we'll have no more easy unless something changes all next on larry. being now. welcome to larry king our special yes recall one.

aretha franklin sang my country. and i remember being swept up in that moment. i remember saying we were thinking about everything to arrive at this particular moment. and i looked out on the mall and i looked at the capital. and i thought about what happened in 1963 which is one martin luther king gave his i have a dream speech and that includes the song my country. they were saying that someone like barack obama could be elected president. then i remember standing there in a cold moment thinking about a song that i had heard many years before and there is an alternative version two "my country tis of thee", the stronghold of slavery, they wrote a song criticizing the slave system. and it has attention. and there is a benefit to own their group and we do not dare let the people who operate on the basis of fear or scarcity and me and mine and us, we dare not do that and we have to always be pulling "my country tis of thee" in the direction with the sweet land of liberty. and this includes the struggle to make this a more perfect union. and we have this pass law

and aretha franklin sang my country and i remember being swept up in the moment and feeling like wow, think about everything this county has gone through to arrive that this particular mall. i looked out on the mall and they used to sell slaves on the mall. and i looked at the capital and save labor built that capital. and i thought about what happened at the other end ov of the bar in 1963 and that was when king envoked those words. and at that time it wasn't even a possibility that someone like obama would be president. and i remember standing there in that cold moment thinking about a song i had heard many years before. there is an alternative version to this song that abolishnist wrote about it. they wrote a song with the same music but criticizing the slave system. and i looked and thought that is america. it is tension between martin lurther king and bill conner. it is people who want to expand democracy and then the people who only want to keep them in their group. and the country goes into the direction in which the most active people are pulling it. and we dare not let the pe

standing out there raising his hand to swear in his oath of office to be the 44th president and aretha franklin sang my country 'tis of thee. i just remember being sort of like swept up in that moment and feeling like wow think about everything this country has caused us to arrive at this particular moment. i looked out on the mall and i looked at the capital and slave labor to the capital. i thought about what happened at the other end of the ball in 1963 which is when martin luther king in his famous "i have a dream" speech invoked those same words to that song, my country 'tis of thee. and how it that time it wasn't foreseeable that you could be at a moment where somebody like barack hussein obama would be elected president. then i just remember standing there in that cold moment thinking about a song i have heard many years before. there is an alternative version to my country 'tis of thee that abolitionist wrote in the 1830s in which they wrote my country 'tis of thee stronghold of slavery and they wrote a song with the same music but criticizing the slave system -- system and i thought th

there was a an aretha franklin slot, diana cross and a couple of others and there wasn't enough roome up but a lot of white male back up singers moved up. >> and you faced that ghetto early on as you were researching the movie you ended up finding that it was heart to get footage on background singers because they hadn't cat bogge cataloged. >> by their definition they were invisible. when i bents to find anything about back up singers they all said they had nothing had wasn't true they just didn't notate them because they are the back ground. that's the who theme. the film for me and hopefully for the audience is about a paradigm shift where you change ohow you listen to music and change how you look at music and suddenly the background becomes the foreground and you realize that there are new things and songs that you had heard a thousand times before suddenly new voices come out and that you realize that you are singing along with the back up singers and not the lead singers. >> that's what you are often doing. many struggle to make a living. you profile darlene love and her move

. >> aretha franklin. come on!ce speech. carrie maeweems, the esteemed photographer and artist. it was such an amazing group of people, and some of them were the usual suspects, like barry gordie, who has a musical legacy, and like aretha. but kenneth shenault, who happens to be the ceo of american express, this says, thank you for being with you, raises them up, and says you guys are paragons, and something to shoot for, and be at the helm of the show, that's ridiculous. >> talk about ice cube. obviously, he came out of nowhere with "friday" and another -- >> yeah, going way back to nwa. >> yeah, nwa. and talk about, though, what was so moving about his speech. >> because, i think that ice cube -- i love the fact that it says renaissance man there on the clip, because when some people think of ice cube, i think they would immediately in their minds jump to "america's most wanted" jump to "nwa," and his music, and depending who you are, the negative aspects of the music, gangsta rap, and when i think of cube, becau

i remembered aretha franklin sang that song. swept up in the moment to feel like but i looked out on the mall. i looked at the capitol. i thought about what happened endeth the other end 1963 u.n. might -- martin luther king invoked the same words. and hal at that time for the foreseeable future but then barack obama would be elected president i was standing there thinking about a song from many years before the alternative version of "my country, 'tis of thee" the abolitionist approach in the 1830's 1830's, stronghold of slavery. they wrote a song with the same music but criticizing the slave system. i thought feted as between britain this year king is people who tried to expand democracy or keep the benefits of democracy to only their group? the country will go in the direction that the most people pulled it. we dare not let the people flew operate on the basis of fear operate on the basis of scarcity or me or mind or a us. i do not stop we have to always be pulling "my country, 'tis of thee" in the direction of sweet land of

they have voices like aretha franklin, darlene love, listen to this. ♪ ♪ if you really want me home theat it is really like. >> they do. >> they have the anonymity but the excitement of being part of it, you know? >> we have the -- where is our jimmy fallon sign? here it is. okay. so we don't -- we begged him. we just sent him one e-mail, but anyway, he was busy. anyway, so, but we do have the jimmy fallon sign, we're so excited he's starting tonight. he's going to be on at midnight. oh, my god, george washington -- >> come on in, george. >> anyway -- >> you know what, george? we don't want to -- >> we're happy you made it, george. ♪ >> how is 48th street? not great? got stuck. >> i would love to know what kept him on 48th street. >> traffic. okay. >> george, thank you. >> thank you for your service to our nation, sir. you are prominently involved in "the traitor's wife." you remember that? did you know that -- you knew that part of peggy, didn't you? peggy arnold, benedict arnold's wife was a tramp. oh, yes. >> nice talking to you. >> thank you, george. >> by the way, good luck to jimm