Soul legend Etta James has defended her controversial rant against President Obama and singer Beyonce Knowles, insisting she was merely sharing a joke with her fans.
The singer was recorded at a show in Seattle, Wash., last month telling the crowd Obama has "big ears," adding: "He ain't my president."
She also slammed Beyonce for singing a version of "At Last" for Obama...
Under The Hood is More Drama and History of The Song
following his inauguration, and said: "I can't stand Beyonce! She had no business up there singing. ... Singing my song that I've been singing forever."
But James has reacted to the controversy by insisting the remarks were meant in jest, and nobody at the show was offended by her comments.
She tells the New York Daily News, "I didn't really mean anything. Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude. ... That's probably what went into it."
The singer admitted she was put out by Beyonce's performance because it made her feel "left out of something that was basically mine, that I had done every time you look around."
But she added: "Nobody was getting mad at me in Seattle. They were all laughing, and it was funny."
James is also adamant her comments about Obama's appearance were for a laugh: "(I) always thought he was handsome and he was cool. I still had my joke about him. That might be horrible. The President might not ever like me in life. (But) he's got other stuff (to worry about) besides Etta James."
"At Last" is a 1941 song written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the musical film Orchestra Wives, starring George Montgomery and Ann Rutherford. It was first performed in the film and on record by Glenn Miller and his orchestra, vocal by Ray Eberle and Pat Friday. The song was a major hit for Miller, reaching number 14 on the Billboard pop charts in 1942, and it soon became a standard. Nat King Cole recorded it in 1957 on his number one album Love Is the Thing. In 1960, it was covered by blues singer Etta James in a performance that improvised on Warren's melody.
In the decades since its release it has been covered by a number of artists, including Ella Fitzgerald, Jason Mraz, Phoebe Snow, Miles Davis, Martina McBride, Céline Dion, Lou Rawls, Eva Cassidy, Christina Aguilera, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, Norah Jones, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Scott, The Manhattan Rhythm Kings, Cyndi Lauper, Aubrey O'Day, Beyonce Knowles, and Nikki Yanofsky. The Etta James version is perhaps the most famous, and is known to be performed at weddings and wedding receptions because of its romantic lyrics and sweeping orchestration. It was used in the trailer for Wall-E movie.