Epress.am News from Armenia
That Al Green tune was just the beginning.
Weeks after US President Barack Obama sang a snippet of the soul hit “Let’s Stay Together” during a fundraiser at the Apollo Theater in Harlem (see first video), he ventured into the blues Tuesday night.
Maybe he was emboldened by the man who offered him the microphone: Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones. Maybe it was because Buddy Guy brought up Al Green, telling the president, “You done started something and you gotta keep it up now.”
Next thing you know, Los Angeles Times reports, Obama took the mic in hand and crooned, “Come on, baby, don’t you want to go” – twice. He handed off to BB King briefly, then tacked on “Sweet Home Chicago” for the finale (see video below).
The rollicking blues concert was part of the “In Performance at the White House” series airing on PBS. Previous concerts have featured Motown, Broadway, jazz, country, classical and Latin, the Washington Post reported.
The latest episode with Obama’s star turn was intended to recognize Black History Month. It will be broadcast Monday, the Associated Press reported. This music speaks to something universal,” Obama told the crowd as the evening began. “No one goes through life without both joy and pain, triumph and sorrow. The blues gets all of that, sometimes with just one lyric or one note.”