CL Franklin

Clarence LaVaughn Franklin (often billed as Bishop C. L. Franklin, Reverend C. L. Franklin) (January 22, 1915 – July 27, 1984), was an African-American Baptist preacher, a civil rights activist, and father of the legendary soul and gospel singer Aretha Franklin. Known as the man with The Million-Dollar Voice, he served as the pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, from 1946 until 1979. (Read more at Wikipedia.)

Links to Peel
Peel frequently expressed his admiration for the sermons of CL Franklin, as well as his desire to play a recording of full one on air. On 16 February 1981, he claimed to have a particular favourite in mind:

"'I've always meant to play it on the radio but it's about 18 minutes long. I think if I did play it people would think that I've gone quite mad... one of these days I'll crack completely and play it for you, you wait and see.'"



Almost three decades later, on 15 February 2000, Peel was still claiming he would play a full Franklin sermon at some point, “because they are fairly awe-inspiring.”

Further details became clear on his 18 April 2001 show, when Peel said that when he eventually got the elbow from Radio One, the last thing he would broadcast was the full 18-minute version of Franklin’s sermon on the text Dry Bones In The Valley.

In fact, Peel never seems to have had the opportunity to fulfill his long-standing wish to play this particular recording in full and restricted himself to airing relatively short extracts of the preacher’s sermons. On 28 October 2003, he noted:

"“I was telling Adam out of Themselves that he ought to get into this gospel stuff, and he’s going to go back to the States – well, to Canada, actually, tomorrow – but he’s going to go back and try and find some of the LPs that the Reverend CL Franklin made. You should have at least one in your collection.”"

Peel also played tracks by the reverend’s daughters Aretha Franklin and Erma Franklin on his show.

Festive Fifty Entries

 * None

Sessions

 * None

Other Shows Played

 * 16 February 1981: excerpt from sermon


 * 15 February 2000: The Foolish And The Wise Builder (short section of sermon, to follow DJ Food track 'Cookin', which contains a sample of Franklin.)
 * 06 November 2001: (Intermittent wheezing and coughing through the second half of the show – Peel claims the former makes him sound like the Rev CL Franklin.)
 * 22 November 2001: no title (LP – Except I Shall See In His Hands The Print Of The Nails And Thrust My Hand Into His Side) Chess