When Mick Jagger hands you a microphone, you've got to sing. Even if you're the American president.
During a celebration of blues music Tuesday night in the East Room of the White House, President Obama joined Jagger, B.B. King, Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy and others to sing a few lines of this city's unofficial anthem, "Sweet Home Chicago."
Fellow Chicago icon Guy referenced the president's recent (and credible!) Al Green impression at the Apollo Theater and prodded him, saying, "You gotta keep it up."
Jagger held out the microphone as the musicians started the song, and Obama sang, "Come on, baby, don't you want to go." He let King sing the next line before capping the verse himself, "Sweet home Chicago!"
Watch his latest musical moment ...
The event, coordinated with Black History Month, was part of the "In Performance at the White House" series that airs on PBS. This performance is scheduled to air Monday.
"This music speaks to something universal," Obama said earlier in the evening. "No one goes through life without both joy and pain, triumph and sorrow. The blues gets all of that, sometimes with just one lyric or one note."
Near the end of the show's 15-song set, the president rose at the end to introduce the ensemble as the White House Blues All-Stars for the final song of the night, "Sweet Home Chicago." "For Michelle and me," Obama said, "there's no blues like the song our artists have chosen to close with -- the blues from our hometown."
That's when Jagger handed off the mike.
Obama is turning out to be the most musical president ever.
Forget Clinton's cheesy sax. In addition to these brief vocal performances, Obama's hitting the campaign trail with a soulful playlist of songs.
King, 86, arrived in a wheelchair but rose tall to kick off the night with a raucous "Let the Good Times Roll," quickly joined by other members of the ensemble. And he followed with "The Thrill is Gone." King will be in sweet Chicago for two shows March 22-23 at the House of Blues.
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