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Obama Sings The Blues

February 23, 2012 by · Comments Off on Obama Sings The Blues 

Obama Sings The Blues, Barack Obama belts out a few bars of blues anthem ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ as he joins BB King and Mick Jagger to salute Black History Month

Even the President of the United States can’t say no to the king of the blues. Barack Obama found himself belting out a few bars of Sweet Home Chicago, the blues anthem of his hometown, after being cajoled by the legendary BB King — part of an ensemble of musical stars who came together at the White House yesterday to celebrate Black History Month.

The intimate gig in the East Room had almost wound down, when guitarist Buddy Guy reminded the president that he had burst into a cover of Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together at a recent rally. The musician quipped to Obama: ‘You gotta keep it up.’

With wife Michelle clapping her approval and cheers from the crowd, Obama shook his head in refusal — but then readily accepted a microphone offered by Mick Jagger before he launched into song. “Come on, baby don’t you want to go,” the US president sang twice, handing the microphone to BB King momentarily – then taking it back to tack on ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ before making a suave exit.

The President’s impromptu burst into song came as leading Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum dubbed Obama a ‘rock star’ who was acting like royalty running the country. At the star-studded White House event, Obama opened the celebration by telling the crowd there were ‘downsides’ to running the country — before adding that ‘things even out a little bit’ when music legends like King and Jagger, along with Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy and Grammy-winner Keb Mo, stopped by to jam.

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