Staple Singers Release New Lyric Video for 1971 Protest Anthem ‘Respect Yourself’

Stax Records have paired the Staple Singers’ 1971 protest anthem “Respect Yourself” with a new lyric video that features footage from both the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter protests.

“Now as then, this song’s message of self-respect, tolerance, and empowerment provides a compass for navigating times of political tumult and upheaval,” Stax said of the new visual by animator Sandra Ginjol.

On the now-eerily prescient (thanks to Covid-19), Grammy Hall of Fame-inducted track, Mavis Staples sings, “Keep talkin’ bout the president, won’t stop air pollution/Put your hand on your mouth when you cough, that’ll help the solution.”

“Respect Yourself” also appeared on the Staple Singers’ 1972 LP Be Altitude: Respect Yourself, one of seven albums recently reissued as part of Craft Recordings’ Come Go With Me: The Stax Collection. Following that anthology’s digital and vinyl release earlier this year, the release will arrive as a seven-CD box set on November 13th.