Doing It Their Way

Some artists sing the song, and some let the song sing them. For Aretha Franklin, the song has always been incidental — a cheap vehicle for her amazing voice. Sinéad O'Connor, who possesses a completely different but equally distinctive talent, reveals herself in the lyrics she performs. Now both have terrific new CDs that showcase their strengths.

With just one song, Respect , Franklin introduced feminism to popular music, but she has also sung about lesser things convincingly — like riding on a freeway of love in a pink Cadillac and being drawn through destiny to duet...