Obama, the First Dance, and the blues

BlueNotes is kind of short on words today, because he spent so much time yesterday helping President Obama take office.

 There are lots of reasons to be happy about Obama's election, but there's one that's gone a little under the radar -- strangely enough, Obama seems to really enjoy black music. Coincidence? Perhaps. He could well be the first real blues prez. (Bill Clinton gets a few props, but he wasn't really black, you know).

I really enjoyed Aretha Franklin's rendtion of "My Country Tis of Thee" at the ceremonies yesterday morning (I wish I could say that about her hat -- sorry, Aretha). She still has the pipes that made her the First Lady of Soul many years ago.

I always loved Ray Charles' poignant version of "America the Beautiful," and I have no doubt that if he were alive, he would've been there.

But Aretha was classic. Here's what is what it sounded like, courtesy of YouTube (did you ever wonder how people get this stuff up there so fast?):

And then last night, at the first ball's first dance, Obama and his squeeze (Michelle) did a cool slow turn to Beyonce singing that great old Etta James song, "At Last." (She plays Etta in the current flick, "Cadillac Records.") It's pretty surprising, since that's almost the way BlueNotes learned to slow dance very way back in the day. But enough about me. Here's another YouTuber of the First Dance.

What does all this mean? I'm not sure, but if the blues can help us have world peace, save the planet and keep us dancing at the same time, it must be a good thing. Even BeerNotes will drink to that.