Some of you might remember that four years ago, Aretha Franklin sang at Barack Obama‘s first Inauguration, and did a pretty damn fine job of it. Also, she wore a super funky hat and that hat was just so awesome on so many levels. I kinda wish I had a hat like that … anyway, after yesterday’s escandalo about how Beyoncé allegedly lipsynced her performance of the National Anthem, ABC asked Aretha to comment, and she took the opportunity to ever so subtly shade Beyoncé over mouthing the words.
“But, when I heard the news this evening that she was pre-recorded I really laughed. I thought it was funny because the weather down there was about 46 or 44 degrees and for most singers that is just not good singing weather,” Franklin told ABC News in an interview. In fact, the weather was even colder than that Monday, around 40 degrees. “When I heard that I just really cracked up. I thought it was really funny, but she did a beautiful job with the pre-record … next time I’ll probably do the same.” Of course, in her inauguration performance in 2009, she sang it live because, she says, “I wanted to give people the real thing and pre-recording never crossed my mind.”
Oh Aretha, truly you are our national treasure. Anyway, I think the whole Beyoncé thing has probably been blown out of proportion at this point, but still, you’re at the Inauguration, you’re performing the National Anthem, which isn’t exactly a difficult song to do … why wouldn’t you just sing it? It’ll take you all of, like, a minute.
About Jeremy Feist
