Obama sings again, this time blues with B.B. King, Mick Jagger
President Barack Obama gave what appeared to be an impromptu performance of “Sweet Home Chicago” during a blues concert Tuesday night at the White House in celebration of Black History Month.
At the end of an evening of performances from the likes of B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck, Derek Trucks, Shemekia Copeland and others, Obama grabbed a mic from the stage and crooned, “Come on, baby don’t you wanna go,” part of the popular blues standard.
A month ago, Obama sang a little Al Green — a moment captured on video and viewed thousands of times over. It was seen as having added cool points to the president. Afterwards First Lady Michelle said Obama sings to her all the time.
Whether Tuesday’s performance was really impromptu, or staged as another way to help the president’s image during an election year, we may never know. One thing we do know is that Republican candidates like Mitt Romney have not had the same success in musical performance.
Obama called the blues “music with humble beginnings,” with roots in slavery and segregation in the United States.
Obama said, “Because their music teaches us that when we find ourselves at a crossroads, we don’t shy away from our problems. We own them. We face up to them. We deal with them. We sing about them. We turn them into art.”
See the video here from PBS. Obama sings at about 47 seconds.
Dylan at the White House: how much have the times changed?
The announcement that music icon Bob Dylan was coming to the White House next month for “A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement” sent us scrambling to listen to his famous song “The Times They Are A-Changin’.”
The lyrics from 45 years ago, eerily echo today.
Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall For he that gets hurt, will be he who has stalled The battle outside is ragin’ It’ll soon shake your windows, and rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin’
It was a year ago that President Barack Obama entered the White House on a platform of change – “Yes, we can.”
But his early intentions became bogged down by a sour economy and partisan politics, not to mention two wars. Now all eyes are on his State of the Union address to see whether he can make another fresh start.
Obama has said that it was the civil rights movement that made it possible for him to be elected the first African American president of the United States.
The concert on Feb. 10 will mark Black History month.
ABSOLUTELY LOVE MY PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!