# Aretha singing for Carole King at Kennedy Center Honors - why didn't I know about this?!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 27, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410 "2016-01-27T20:46:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/1 "2016-01-27T20:46:25Z")
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bSlPlHwP7k)
Aretha Franklin comes out in a fur coat, plays piano (something she doesn’t do in public much) and sings _ **You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman** _, which of course Carole King wrote. At the middle 8 of the song, she stands up from the piano (someone else takes over), and _delivers._ Throws off the coat, and nails a soaring vocal finale.
She’s 73 years old and just kills. In fine voice. Understands _exactly_ when to add melisma, when to back off and come in Ray-Charles-late to the lyric, etc. Carole King is _kvelling_ aggressively the entire time, looking stunned as Aretha sits at the piano, and amazed at how fine Aretha’s voice is, smiling and singing back to Aretha and encouraging her - so fun to see. President Obama and the First Lady are fully engaged.
Just an amazing performance. Don’t know how I missed this.
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### Author:  [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2016, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/2 "2016-01-27T20:52:14Z")
Just watched this the other night…what a GREAT performance! You gotta love OnDemand TV.
tsfr
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### Author:  [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/3 "2016-01-28T00:20:17Z")
Wow. Did Obama wipe away a tear at the beginning? Not that I blame him.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/4 "2016-01-28T00:23:25Z")
Someone on my facebook page linked to the performance. Some friend of hers responded with something like “Wow, that was so cool! The camera kept showing that blond woman near President Obama. She was really annoying, but I guess she was having fun.”
:smack:
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/5 "2016-01-28T00:38:15Z")
Oh, wow. That was just breathtaking. Fantastic!
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/6 "2016-01-28T00:59:03Z")
Thank you so much for this!
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2016, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/7 "2016-01-28T09:42:25Z")
Wonderful, just wonderful. My favorite singer honoring my favorite songwriter with one of my favorite songs. Perfect. Thank you so very much for posting this, **WordMan**.
P.S.: what does Georg Lucas do next to Carole? What’s the connection?
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2016, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/8 "2016-01-28T10:00:51Z")
The people being honored that night were Carole King, George Lucas, Rita Moreno, Seiji Ozawa, and Cicely Tyson.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2016, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/9 "2016-01-28T10:20:50Z")
Ah, I see. Thanks.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2016, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/10 "2016-01-28T11:26:09Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#):
>
> Wonderful, just wonderful. My favorite singer honoring my favorite songwriter with one of my favorite songs. Perfect.
I know, right?! So glad you all enjoyed it as much as I did. She’s a national treasure.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2016, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/11 "2016-01-28T13:14:53Z")
> [@WordMan](#):
>
> I know, right?! So glad you all enjoyed it as much as I did. She’s a national treasure.
Yeah, she surely is, and you can be proud of her, but her appeal is universal, she’s beloved all around the world. I would give my right arm to just once see her perform, but sadly I know that she doesn’t perform much anymore , and unfortunately she certainly won’t tour Germany. That’s a pity, but there are her recordings as a consolation.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2016, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/12 "2016-01-28T13:35:57Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#):
>
> Yeah, she surely is, and you can be proud of her, but her appeal is universal, she’s beloved all around the world. I would give my right arm to just once see her perform, but sadly I know that she doesn’t perform much anymore , and unfortunately she certainly won’t tour Germany. That’s a pity, but there are her recordings as a consolation.
Oh, it was just a figure of speech. To be clear, I have no issues with declaring her a Global Treasure! 😉 Yes, her music may blend American influences, but she knows world music. I remember when she stepped in to sing _ **Nessun Dorma** _ when Pavarotti took ill.
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### Author:  [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2016, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/13 "2016-01-29T08:36:19Z")
Reminds me a little of the Led Zep / Stairway to Heaven thing they did at KC. Not sure what that was but it sure as hell wasn’t rock and roll.
Way too bombastic for a song that is more powerful the simpler its performed.
I’m an old school Brit, so feel free to ignore 🙂
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2016, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/14 "2016-01-29T09:32:54Z")
You’re presumably talking about this:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFxOaDeJmXk)
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2016, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/15 "2016-01-29T12:24:06Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#):
>
> Reminds me a little of the Led Zep / Stairway to Heaven thing they did at KC. Not sure what that was but it sure as hell wasn’t rock and roll.
>
> Way too bombastic for a song that is more powerful the simpler its performed.
>
> I’m an old school Brit, so feel free to ignore 🙂
You are welcome to tell that to Carole King - she seemed to find Aretha’s performance more than okay.
This is a thread lauding a, yes, bombastic performance. If you want to start a different thread, decrying that type of performance, knock yourself out.
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### Author:  [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2016, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/16 "2016-01-30T14:15:06Z")
Aretha brought the house down. I know it was rehearsed and calculated, but damn, the vocal chops were there and the calculations were on the money.
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### Author:  [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2016, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/17 "2016-01-31T10:29:07Z")
> [@WordMan](#):
>
> You are welcome to tell that to Carole King - she seemed to find Aretha’s performance more than okay.
>
> This is a thread lauding a, yes, bombastic performance. If you want to start a different thread, decrying that type of performance, knock yourself out.
She basically carpet bombs a sweet, pure, intimate declaration between lovers - it was CKs evening.
**Wendell Wagner** , yes.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2016, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/18 "2016-01-31T12:04:04Z")
Wait…“Natural Woman”? “Sweet, little, intimate”?
Pardon me, good sirandormadam, but have you entirely gone off your rocker? That song is in fact an anthem of glorious sexual freedom, a barbaric yawp, larger than society’s collective fist of female oppression.
If the Brits see it as “little,” then, no, I’m sorry, you cannot have it. Aretha may be a worldwide treasure, but that song will have to remain in our custody until your women are lusty enough to properly embrace it.
More seriously, I’ve seen Carole King perform it in concert, and there’s nothing “Sweet, little, intimate” about it. It’s big. It’s raw. It tears forth from her throat like the primal scream of a good orgasm while her hair flies in a deranged halo around her and the piano begs for one more good pounding.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2016, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/19 "2016-01-31T12:19:24Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#):
>
> She basically carpet bombs a sweet, pure, intimate declaration between lovers - it was CKs evening.
I started this thread to praise this performance. You are not doing that. I am not sure what else to say.
**WhyNot** - exactly. If the writer of the song loves a performance as much as Carole King loved that performance, that says everything.
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### Author:  [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2016, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aretha-singing-for-carole-king-at-kennedy-center-honors-why-didnt-i-know-about-this/744410/20 "2016-01-31T13:23:18Z")
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> Wait…“Natural Woman”? “Sweet, little, intimate”?
>
> Pardon me, good sirandormadam, but have you entirely gone off your rocker? That song is in fact an anthem of glorious sexual freedom, a barbaric yawp, larger than society’s collective fist of female oppression.
>
> If the Brits see it as “little,” then, no, I’m sorry, you cannot have it. Aretha may be a worldwide treasure, but that song will have to remain in our custody until your women are lusty enough to properly embrace it.
>
> More seriously, I’ve seen Carole King perform it in concert, and there’s nothing “Sweet, little, intimate” about it. It’s big. It’s raw. It tears forth from her throat like the primal scream of a good orgasm while her hair flies in a deranged halo around her and the piano begs for one more good pounding.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOyvYnkdEcc)
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