Think

Aretha Franklin recorded “Think” in April 1968 at Atlantic Studios in New York City for the album Aretha Now. The session was overseen by Jerry Wexler, with Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin handling the arrangements and production work around Franklin’s vocal and piano performance. Released in 1968 on Atlantic Records, “Think” became one of Franklin’s major crossover hits, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the R&B chart. It arrived during a period when Franklin’s Atlantic recordings defined her artistic peak and gave the song immediate political and cultural force. “Think” endures as one of Aretha Franklin’s signature songs and a lasting anthem of self-assertion. Its continued visibility was reinforced by high-profile reuse such as The Blues Brothers, keeping the track central to popular memory of Franklin’s Atlantic era.