SOCK IT TO ME!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Find out what it means to me

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Take care...TCB

I don't know if you know this or not (or if you care anything about the whole Motown thing), but the song Respect, from which the chorus lyrics above were taken, was a galactic hit for Aretha Franklin, but was written by Otis Redding, as a man's plea for respect and recognition from a woman.  Aretha respected him so much, she recorded the song and it earned her a number one on the Billboard Pop singles chart and made her an international celebrity.  Otis Redding was quoted as describing Respect as, "the song that little girl done stole from me". Jokingly, presumably.

I knew that part of the story, because years ago, I OWNED that song - Otis Redding style, when I fronted a Motown-bent top-40 band.  I listened to that recording dozens and dozens of times to learn the song for performance. Remember, it's 1981 and we're poor starving musicians and personal computers and Internet is still science fiction to us.  (Many of us are still holding out hope for flying cars by 2000).  So there is NOWHERE to get the lyrics for this song outside of just listening and writing them down.  Oh...and we were all white, raised in the white 'burbs.  So that made it somewhat more difficult.  No cross-cultural understanding whatsoever.

And there is this line at the end of the chorus, "take care...TCP, TCT, PCP, BCB, BCP"?!?!?! What!?  Over and over, and OVER I listened to the cassette on my Walkman (anyone, anyone?), and I could not IMAGINE what she was saying.  So, for several years, I sang three unintelligible letters that sounded like T's, or B's, or C's and I never knew why.

Several years ago I was watching a special on Elvis.  (Not my motorcycle, the actual king.  You know, after Jesus, but before Michael Jackson.  That Elvis).  And the narrator was talking about those three initials he had on his necklace.  Can you guess what they were?  T-C-B.  Wow!  Apparently - all this time - it was a real common phrase in african-american culture.  But it was a watershed moment for me.  I FINALLY found out what it meant.  And I felt really stupid, because I'm sure everyone else already knew.  

Sometimes (many times) that happens when I get in a hurry.  I plug away or power through a task to get the desired result. (Like learning the song Respect, and not knowing what the most important part of the song meant.  I sang it anyway, because I had it to do).  Sometimes, I grab the big pieces and miss the whole point.    

You guys already know all about this TCB thing, right?  Well, for the three people who don't:   

TCB = Taking Care (of) Business

Dudes, that is my mantra for 2009. TCB, baby. Just take care of business and everything else will take care of itself.  If want to give God the R-E-S-P-E-C-T He deserves, I gotta take care...TCB!  If I want to give people the R-E-S-P-E-C-T they deserve, I gotta take care...TCB! For me, maybe that means leaving some of the big pieces laying there, until I understand why I'm picking it up.  What does it mean for you to TCB?  In your life, your family, your work, your relationship with God, and with others?  Lemme hear you.   

Peace.