At Last - first song at the Inaugural Balls

On January 20, 2009, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle danced to various renditions of this song at each of the 10 official balls honoring his inauguration. Beyoncé Knowles, who portrayed Etta James in the film Cadillac Records, sang the song live for the Obama's first dance during the Neighborhood Ball, the first they attended on the night of his inauguration.

I found a dream that I can speak to,
A dream that I can call my own.
I found a thrill to press my cheek to,
A thrill I've never known.



“At Last” (1941) was written by lyricist Mack Gordon and composer Harry Warren and debuted in the film musical Orchestra Wives, performed on screen by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. The song was a major hit for Miller, reaching number 14 on the Billboard pop charts in 1942. It soon became a standard, recorded by Nat King Cole (1957) and Etta James (1960), who was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 for her recording of this song. Aside from the lyric, there was another facet of appropriateness in using this song at the inauguration of our nation's first black president, since Nat King Cole was the first black person to have a weekly radio and TV program (1956-57).

In this video clip from Orchestra Wives, the Glenn Miller Orchestra introduces the song to the public in its original form, as a swing tune (1942), far removed from the R&B version popularized by Etta James. Trivia: Note that Jackie Gleason (string bass) and Cesar Romero (piano) are in the orchestra! Gleason had a successful side career as a musician (composer, arranger and conductor), and Romero was an accomplished ballroom dancer. The film is of interest in that it depicts the lives of working big band musicians.

Lush Life

Lush Life is a jazz standard with both lyrics and music written by Billy Strayhorn in the 1930s. However, the song was only performed privately by Strayhorn until he and vocalist Kay Davis performed it on November 13, 1948 with the Duke Ellington Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. The song's lyrics describe the author's weariness of the night life after a failed romance, wasting time with "jazz and cocktails" at "come-what-may places" and in the company of girls with "sad and sullen gray faces/with distingué traces". Strayhorn was only 16 years old when he wrote the majority of the song, which was to become his signature composition, along with Take the A Train.

Performance by Queen Latifah (from the 1998 film Living Out Loud).

This Marvyn Warren arrangement was subsequently included on The Dana Owens Album in 2004 (Dana Owens is the real name of artist Queen Latifah). This is an interesting title sequence, in that it begins with Queen Latifah and at the end switches to Holly Hunter finishing the song dressed in only a bra (I would not lie to you).



If you have any recollection of that movie at all, it’s likely the scene in which Eddie Cibrian massages Holly Hunter (and introduces a whole new generation to “At Last” as sung by Etta James – at the 3 minute mark). Warning – it’s erotic as all get out, so you might not want to watch this with your grandmother.