Etta James Kicks Some Ass

It's easy to see how feisty Etta James is for an old broad in the video above, and why she would take exception to the impression she had that she was treated disrespectfully during the Obama inauguration party at which Beyonce Knowles sung her signature song "At Last", while newly sworn-in President Obama and wife Michele shared the dance floor.

I'm not taking sides here, but I will point out in Beyonce's defense that, as she was an early and vocal supporter of Obama, it makes sense that she might receive an invitation to sing the song that she covered in the movie Cadillac Records, in which she played the role of a young Etta James.

Nor has her life been as particularly or relatively easy as some might assume. Her success came after years of training, practice, and generally hard work, through which her father quit his job to act as the manager of the girl's group that would go on to become Destiny's Child. Because of this, the family income was halved and the strain resulted in the break-up of the marriage of the budding young stars parents.

Etta James, on the other hand, was born into hard circumstances in Los Angeles, as the illegitimate child of a single mom who claimed (and probably wrongly believed) that Jamesetta was the daughter of legendary pool great Minnesota Fats, who happened to have lived and worked as a pool hall manager in Washington DC during the time in question.

The future Etta James, however, took her own destiny into her own hands, and with her own girl group of friends, ran off to San Francisco and auditioned, where they quickly were taken under the wing of various session men and record producers. Their first hit, "Roll With Me Henry", was an answer song to an earlier R&B hit by a male artist. Due to the suggestive nature of the title and lyrics and the resultant protests by some radio stations, the title was changed to "The Wallflower (Dance With Me Henry). Etta James was fourteen years old at the time.

She found regular work as a back-up vocalist and scored several other hits, some of which did well on the R&B and blues charts, but it wasn't until 1961 and "At Last" that she scored her first crossover hit. Even then, it might surprise many to know that this now standard classic hit (which was actually a cover of an earlier version by the Glenn Miller Orchestra released twenty years earlier) never got above number 41 on the pop charts.

Over the years, James became an addict and alcoholic, but remained a prodigious performer and recording artist, eventually garnering a slew of awards and separate Hall of Fame inductions.

They seem to be complete opposites in many regards. Beyonce worked hard to achieve success, and now has it relatively easy. James achieved success with amazing ease, but her life since then seems to have been a constant struggle. Why wouldn't she want to kick Beyonce's ass? She says now of course she was joking, and in a sense she probably was. However, the best jokes are based on some degree of real sentiment.

Etta James probably has seen her share of abuse from the time she was a beginning young girl star, and never really saw any choice but to go with the flow if she wanted to achieve her dream, which she probably still in her mind has never quite grasped to the level to which she still aspires, now from the confines of the motorized wheelchair upon which she rides out on the stage for her limited sets, which yet draw respectable, and respectful, crowds.

Nor is she particularly impressed at Obama, who she probably sees as someone who would be hard-pressed to survive in the rough-and-tumble world that was the era in which she grew up, let alone rocket to the position of power to which he has soared, also with seeming relative ease.

Her statements regarding Obama and Beyonce at the Seattle concert were in keeping with her own rough-edged stage persona, crafted over years of concert appearances with the likes of B B King, Doctor John, and other such luminaries whom she would probably view as real, honest, tough, legitimate artists and performers like herself. That she would be willing to express such disdainful views is actually in keeping with her character, which can be crude to the point of obscene.

To her own way of thinking, she didn't really threaten to just kick Beyonce's ass-she actually did kick Beyonce's ass, right there and right then, and gave Obama a good knee to the groin for good measure. Beyonce declined comment, while Obama's response came through a spokesperson.

In the parlance of Etta James world, they punked out.