21 February 2012

The ultimate supergroup: B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Buddy Guy, Barack Obama

Event: White House Music Series saluting Blues Music in recognition of Black History Month
Date: 21 February 2012
Place: East Room of the White House, Washington, which was transformed into an intimate blues club

The concert featured music legends and contemporary major artists. At the end of the evening, the president stood up to introduce the ensemble as the "White House Blues All-Stars" for the final song of the night, "Sweet Home Chicago," for which he remarked, "for Michelle and me, there's no blues like the song our artists have chosen to close with — the blues from our hometown."

Buddy Guy then prodded the president, saying he'd heard that the president sang part of an Al Green tune recently, and adding, "You gotta keep it up." Mick Jagger then offered the microphone, which was almost like an order, and Obama obliged.

"Come on, baby don't you want to go," the president sang out twice, handing off the mic to B.B. King momentarily, and then taking it back to sing "Sweet Home Chicago" at the end.



"Sweet Home Chicago" was written and first recorded by Robert Johnson in 1937.



The performance referenced by Buddy Guy happened on 19th January 2012 in New York, during which Obama sang part of Al Green's Let's Stay Together:



Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" was released as a single in 1971 and became a number 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It was ranked the 60th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

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