I Say a Little Prayer
Aretha Franklin | Artist Essentials
First released: 1968 (year verified)
Original Aretha Now studio recording
MusicAtlas editorial note: Hear how the lead and backing voices trade the melodic focus while the rhythm keeps gently shifting.
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Release evidence and recording details
First released: 1968 (year verified)
The original studio recording appeared on Aretha Now in June 1968 before the July single coupling with The House That Jack Built. The later television duet is not the selected recording.
Recording: Original Aretha Now studio recording
Credit: Aretha Franklin
Role in this collection: Primary artist; the Sweet Inspirations provide backing vocals
Original album: Aretha Now
Aretha Now - Rhino original-album history
Documents the 1968 Aretha Now album, including its opening Think and I Say a Little Prayer recordings; identifies the Sweet Inspirations as the backing vocal group. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Aretha Now - Rhino track list
Original album track membership for Think and I Say a Little Prayer; the modern CD release date is excluded. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Record World, 29 May 1976 - Aretha singles and album discographies
Contemporary release-date tables in the Aretha supplement, PDF pages 44 and 46: 1967 singles and debut LP; Think single before Aretha Now in 1968; Rock Steady single in 1971 before Young, Gifted and Black in 1972; Day Dreaming in 1972; Until You Come Back to Me in 1973 before its 1974 album. Month differences against later Rhino histories are not resolved into exact dates. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
Aretha boxed set - Rhino recording-version inventory
Explicitly identifies the later Blues Brothers Think, alternate Chain of Fools and Rock Steady, television duet I Say a Little Prayer, and a work tape of Until You Come Back to Me as different versions; none is silently substituted here. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
In the yearly lists
These are listening-list appearances, separate from the first-release date.
About Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin developed as a singer and pianist in the gospel life of her father's Detroit church. Her early recordings for Columbia drew on pop, blues and jazz before her Atlantic work brought gospel phrasing and rhythm into a defining run of soul records. Respect and the albums Lady Soul and Aretha Now belong to that late-1960s period. She also continued recording gospel, including Amazing Grace, and later explored dance-oriented pop during her Arista years.
Artist background sources
Aretha Franklin - Rhino artist history
Detroit gospel upbringing, singing and piano, Columbia and Atlantic eras, late-1960s albums, Amazing Grace and later Arista recordings. | Retrieved 2026-10-17
Profile reviewed: 2026-10-17. Artist background does not establish a song's creative origin or release date.
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