Hmm! Etta James doesn't like Beyonce?!?!?

[Shell Beau]

If you were wondering why Beyoncé and not Etta James was asked to serenade the president and first lady with "At Last" during their first dance at an inauguration ball on Jan. 20, you're not alone.

Etta, 71, whom Beyoncé went blonde to portray in last year's "Cadillac Records," is wondering the same thing, and she candidly expressed her displeasure during a concert stop in Seattle last week.

"You guys know your president, right?" she asked the crowd amid cheers (listen to it here. "You know the one with the big ears? Wait a minute, he ain't my president, he might be yours, he ain't my president. You know that woman he had singing for him, singing my song -- she's gonna get her a-- whipped. The great Beyoncé ... But I can't stand Beyoncé. She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol' president day ... singing my song that I've been singing forever."



http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=350866>1=28102

[kwassa]

1. Etta is right, too. That song is her signature.

I saw Etta open for the Rolling Stones way back in 1979, and she sang it then, too.

[Shell Beau]

2. It is her signature song. It is THE song.

Beyonce did it well, but no one sings it like Etta.

[Bake]

13. I wonder if she actually owns the rights to the song.

If not, it may be her "signature" but it's not "her song."

Legally speaking.

Bake, Esq.

[Shell Beau]

14. I don't know. But when I say it is her song, I don't mean legally.

[SoxFan]

19. She doesn't

For all of her bluster, Etta is forgetting some important facts.

She didn't write the damn song. It was written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren in 1941.

She wasn't the first performer to chart with the song. It was a hit for the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1942.

Nat King Cole recorded a version in 1957.

Strangely enough, Etta Jame's version never made the Top 40, peaking at #47. It did reach #2 on the R&B chart.

She also wasn't the most recent performer to cart with the song. Celine Dion (yeah, I know) went to #16 on the Hot AC chart in 2002.

[Shell Beau]

20. That is a shame because Etta's version is the best IMO.

[SoxFan]

21. Why is it a shame?

She didn't write the song, so why should she hold the rights and be entitled to residuals? I suspect she gets a residual from sales and airplay of her version, but this notion that it's "her song" is off the mark.

[Shell Beau]

22. It is a shame that it never made the top 40.

[Bake]

23. Yep. Nat King Cole's version is a keeper, too.

Etta should STFU.

Bake

[Shakespeare]

3. I don't get the whole "he ain't MY president" part.

I'll chalk it up to old age.

[Shell Beau]

5. I didn't get that either. Maybe she is being a diva or something.

I would think she would be as happy as the rest of us are.

I do understand her thinking she should have sang that song. But I guess Beyonce is more current! The younger people can relate to her more or at least know who she is. Plus she is playing Etta James in a movie. :shrug:

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

4. Its not her song

and she is not the first person to record it. It might be her signature song but I really think it was the alcohol talking.

[Shell Beau]

6. Maybe, but she may not have recorded it first or wrote it, but it is her

song. At least to me it is.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

8. Signature song maybe

but I didn't hear he causing a fuss about other people that have covered the song (just like she covered it) throughout the years. She might be the one person's whose version we hear majority of the time I still think that this was very "unclassy". The copyright holder is the true owner of the song.

[Shell Beau]

9. I don't think this is classy either. I am not sure why she did it, unless

she was just being a diva. I still call it her song. Technically no, but no one sings it like Etta.

And like I said, Beyonce is playing her in the movie. Not sure why she got in such a tiff about it.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

10. I know right lol.

When I was listening to the audio of Etta going off yesterday, she reminded me of the drunk aunt that comes to the cook out that scares everybody back into the house :hide:

[Shell Beau]

11. Haha! We all have one of those relatives!

[PeaceNikki]

7. Fuck you, Ettah James! Fuck you in the HAID!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

12. I'd have asked Etta myself...

...or had Beyonce sing one of her signature tunes (if she has any).
But that's me.

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. Anyone with taste and discerning ears doesn't like Beyonce.

Fucking fake hack.

Especially compared to Etta James.

It's like Thomas Jefferson versus George W.

[Bake]

16. This is true. Quite true.

Coke vs. Sam's Cola. Only one is the Real Thing.

Bake

[tigereye]

17. although Beyonce was quite good in the film, I think Etta would have been

a better pick overall.



I can see Etta kicking some ass! :rofl:

[Shell Beau]

18. Etta has now said she was joking the whole time and that is her

type of sense of humor. Hmmm, not so sure I buy that.