Son of a Preacher Man

John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins, who had recently had a hit with Love of the Common People, wrote it with Aretha Franklin in mind, according to a 2009 interview with Wilkins. Jerry Wexler, who was making Springfield's first Atlantic album in Memphis, liked it and suggested it to her. She recorded it in September 1968 with Wexler, Dowd and Mardin producing. It was released as a single in late 1968 as Son-of-a Preacher Man and went to number nine in Britain and number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1969. The album was mixed in stereo, but the singles were remixed in mono.

Franklin recorded her own version in 1969 for This Girl's in Love with You, and her sister Erma Franklin put it on her 1969 album Soul Sister. The Guardian's obituary called it the defining performance of Springfield's career. Rolling Stone placed the record 77th among the 100 best singles of the previous 25 years in 1987 and gave it 240th place among the 500 greatest songs of 2004. NME critics ranked it 43rd among the greatest singles of all time in 2002.

It found a new audience in 1994 when Quentin Tarantino put it in Pulp Fiction. He said on the DVD that he probably would not have shot the scene had he not been able to use it. A re-release of the single reached number one in Iceland in 1995. Cypress Hill sampled it in Hits from the Bong.