Obama cries as Aretha Franklin proves why she's the queen of soul

[umbertino]

Singing (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Franklin brought a tear to the president’s eye and sent Carole King, the song’s composer, into meltdown

 

 

Simon Hattenstone

 

Wednesday 30 December 2015 15.50 GMT

 

 

You want to know why Aretha is the indisputable Queen of Soul? Watch this. You want to know why hacks like me send her fan-mail by the week pleading for an interview, knowing there is sod-all hope, but not resenting her one smidge? Watch this.

 

 

 

 

Aretha is performing at the 38th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, held on 6 December in Washington and broadcast on CBS on Tuesday night. It wasn’t even Aretha’s night. Oh no. This ceremony was to award, among others, Rita Moreno, George Lucas and Carole King. Then up steps Aretha to sing the King/Goffin/Wexler 1967 classic (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.

 

Look at King, open-mouthed in shock and awe (the right kind of shock and awe) – and this is before Aretha’s even opened hers. Everything about Aretha is astonishing – the range, depth, control in her voice, the phrasing, the passion, the playing, the floor-length fur, the sparkling clutch purse. The more Aretha sings, the harder it is to believe that King is not going to die and go to heaven. President Obama is wiping away tears before Aretha’s even done with the first verse. Aretha is 73, looks wonderful, and might just be singing better than ever.

 

To top everything, she throws the mink to the ground with supreme elan. Nobody chucks a fur like Aretha. This is not the performance of the year, it’s the performance of the millennium. Long live the Queen.

 

 

 

 

Regal: Aretha Franklin at the opening of the Mica and Ahmet Ertegun Atrium at Lincoln Center, New York.

Photograph: Mike Coppola/(Credit too long, see caption)

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/dec/30/president-barack-obama-cries-aretha-franklin-kennedy-center

 

 

 

[Shabibilicious]

Very powerful, indeed.  Thanks Umbertino....sorry buddy, spent all my plusses.    

 

GO RV, then BV

[umbertino]

Very powerful, indeed.  Thanks Umbertino....sorry buddy, spent all my plusses.    

 

GO RV, then BV

Glad you enjoyed it, Friend...A happy New Year to you and Family ( and everybody else here on DV)

[nannab]

I  have always loved Aretha and that song. Thank you Umbertino and

Shabs I + for the both of us.

[umbertino]

I  have always loved Aretha and that song. Thank you Umbertino and

Shabs I + for the both of us.

 Grazie nannab...Much appreciated

 

Ran out of pluses myself

Edited December 30, 2015 by umbertino

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

***///

 

it's ho'bummer who's the natural woman.... and moochelle ho'bummer who is the real man !

Just ask his pot-head boyfriends back home in the bath-house.... 

 

he thought she was singin' about him and his boyfriend caitlyn jenner ! 

[Shabibilicious]

 I'm sensing you're harboring some animosity towards the current POTUS.     You couldn't get tickets to the show, huh?  

 

GO RV, then BV

Edited December 30, 2015 by Shabibilicious

[boosterbglee]

Shabs...me thinks your going to fell the wrath of some Ol'Gals shortly!  

[Shabibilicious]

Shabs...me thinks your going to fell the wrath of some Ol'Gals shortly!  

 

 It'd be about time.....been poking them all day and they won't engage.     They just left for shuffleboard hour, so it'll be a bit.  

 

GO RV, then BV

[George Hayduke]

Just a little bit more...

 

[dog53]

AHH LOVES ME SOME ARETHA 

[RV ME]

+1 from me Umber.  She was in town a couple years back to open the new Performing Arts Center.  Tried unsuccessfully to get ticket and did not want to pay $500+ to the after market ticket brokers.  Now wishing I splurged, as I may not have another chance to catch her act live.

[Sage449]

Omgoodness she still rocks it and her voice is fabulous in power, style and key; she's lost nothing. Respect is another one I really like.