Inauguration day was coming to an end, another dozen balls and the first couple could finally call it a night.  Throughout the day, a nation buzzed with happiness over the end of the rein of Bush the Younger and the beginning of America's 12-step program back to fiscal and national health.

But before the day gave way to celebration and eventually arguments about a stimulus package and appointees with tax issues, Aretha Franklin had to get her singin' on.  Unlike the performance of Yo-yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero and Anthony McGill, Aretha, 65, sang a difficult song with no leading melody while wearing a large gray hat complete with embedded Swarovski crystals.

Though not the song of choice at the time, how do you spell R-E-S-P-E-C-T?  For artists who labored on the chitlin circuit, endured the worst racism our country has to offer and literally achieved the American dream by changing popular culture, Obama's ascent to Ruler of the Free World was the culmination of everything they had endured.  It was the realized dream of Dr. Martin Luther King.  It was the final nail in the coffin of the Civil War South.

It's hard to overstate the importance of the moment or the people that worked so hard over the years to realize it.

For an entire race (if not an entire class) of people, r-e-s-p-e-c-t was the real reason for the joyous inauguration atmosphere.  That's why Aretha Franklin's voice was so powerful.  The respect was a long time coming.

If there's another song that summarizes the feelings of that day it was Etta James' "At Last".  So powerful the message, it was chosen to be the song that Barack and Michelle Obama first danced to.  Etta even got a 45 second tribute right before the couple took the stage.

Then the misstep: Beyoncé sang Etta's song.

I have nothing against Beyoncé.  But the first dance shouldn't be sung to karaoke.  Even if that karaoke singer is one of the best in the world.  No one - and I mean no one - can do Etta better than Etta.

The day after the performance, no one seemed to notice that Etta sat in the audience while Beyoncé performed the song.  I, however, was pissed.

Barack Obama has done wonderful things in the days since his inauguration.  He's revamped the Freedom of Information Act, closed Gitmo, stopped US torture and to a large extent, rendition.  All of these are larger decisions than which performer sang a song at a celebration.  But Etta James should not be overlooked.

To me, it will be a footnote in history: the first mistake by our new President.

For the longest time after that evening, it seemed like Etta had no opinion on the subject.  She never expressed a desire to switch places with Beyoncé on stage.  That is, until a concert in early February in Seattle when she finally cleared the air.  Sarcastically calling the singer "The great Beyoncé" Etta said:

"I tell you that woman he had singing for him, singing my song, she gonna get her ass whupped."

She went on.

"I can't stand Beyoncé... [she] had no business ... singing my song that I been singing forever."

She even slammed the President himself. "You know your President, right? You know the one with the big ears? He ain't my President."

Now, those who know Etta personally can tell you that there's a mixture of righteous anger and tongue-in-cheek showmanship in her words.  Days later, she clarified herself:

"I didn't really mean anything," James said. "Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude. ... That's probably what went into it."

And then the kicker: she went on to say that she was "feeling left out of something that was basically mine, that I had done every time you look around."

For Etta, the short tribute by Beyoncé was not an adequate substitute for being on stage and singing her song herself for the Obamas and for us..

Doing so would have capped an amazing career and would have allowed her to feel as so much of the rest of us did that day.  At Last!

02/17/2009