"At Last" ... Etta James takes on Beyonce, Eva Cassidy and ... Cyndi Lauper?!

Etta James - she OWNED the song

Did you know that Beyonce did a cover of Etta James's "At Last?"
Etta James "owns" that song -why would anyone do that?
She's not the only one - a relatively obscure singer, Eva Cassidy, did a cover of it as well.
I think we have a second challenge.
Ya think?

Etta James
Beyonce Knowles
Eva Cassidy

Audiophile Darling or serious
Cover-Girl?

Before we get too deep into this we have a few disclosures to make.  There are a ton of biases at play, and we will have some guest inputs as well from Anthony and Maria, Kathy's kids and my steps - who will weigh in as well the two of us.

And Anthony loves Beyonce.  In fact, I think Maria might as well.  Kathy already dismissed Eva Cassidy as an "Audiophile Darling" with a motion of her hands that would make an Italian proud (She's half Italian and Half Basque - trouble if I have ever heard it). Hey!

Yes, her rendition was
just like this.

Am I the only one with the bias for Etta James?  The person that put the song on the map?  Really?

Well, we have 4 CD's that none of us are that familiar with - but we have TWO Beyonce songs in contention.  One from the Cadillac Record soundtrack - where she tries to do an impression of Etta James, and another one where she is performing Live.  I have a mind to only allow one - and probably the Live one - because that's the one where she is trying to make it her own - but the other two are studio albums.  See how hard this is?  Especially with an audience who would rather listen to two renditions?

So after a quick negotiation,  we settled upon just the "Cadillac Records" version of Beyonce.

After a couple of weeks, we settled down to a listening session:

Eva Cassidy - very sweet, no heat
I think it is safe to say that Eva Cassidy did a competent job with the song - her arrangement was with a guitar and was very light and happy.  Kathy felt it was a happy Saturday afternoon kind of song where you ran into a crush at the carnival.  It was very sweet, but no heat.  Maria felt it was relaxing, flowing, steady with a strong flowing beat, and the song went on and on.  Anthony was the most critical with the insight that it sounded like someone doing a cover of someone else's song, but didn't manage to capture what the song was about.  Very Taylor-Swift-Like.  A little bland and "not my thing."  Brent felt it was more about joy and less about sex, a bit too scrubbed and light for the subject.  Everyone agreed that her voice was amazingly good and were eager to hear other songs - just she didn't manage a convincing version on this cover.

Beyonce - she met Mr. Right-Now
I think Ms. Knowles had a lot of expectations built up around her performance, and she did deliver.  The opening instrumentation was identical to the Etta James version in sonic quality.  Brent thought her rendition was rich sounding, and you felt the hunger, but it wasn't the self surrender the Etta James portrayed, it was a much more of a girl-in-charge version.  Analogous to someone who has eaten at a banquet and is returning for a favorite dessert, and it was not a life changing experience.  Maria liked it, and felt it was easy to tell it was Beyonce and not Etta, but that she was trying to be Etta.  Kathy felt it was more "experienced" - meeting at a dance club and meeting Mr. Right-Now.  She felt it sounded much more contemporary - and felt that she made it her own.  Anthony hated the sound of the violins - sounded etched and harsh, and given the voices were clean and crisp - it was jarring.  But felt Beyonce didn't go over the top trying to make the song her own with vocal gimmicks - but still managed to own the song.

Etta James - powerful and delicate at the same time
Kathy felt Etta hit the sweet spot between the heat and the sweet, yearning but still innocent to a degree, making it sound like this is the first person she met who she felt she was going to settle down with. She felt the instruments were too far forward, drowning out that wonderful voice.  Maria loved it - feeling her voice was made for that song.  To her, it was if the others were enjoying singing the song, but it was clear Etta James was experiencing what she was singing about.  Brent felt she was talking to the audience in complete joy, and wiped the floor with the other two.  Anthony felt that while Beyonce was good, the clear winner in emotion, with both a powerful but delicate voice was Etta.

But

Mind Blowing Performance, stole 2nd place
unofficially from Beyonce!

That's not all ... at the last minute we found Cyndi Lauper, who finished last in the previous competition, had an entry to play.  But the kids were off, having been released, and had already fled the scene at high speed to the safety and comfort of their laptops, so the adults listened to Cyndi's last minute entry.

Wow.

She really owned the song and made it her own.  It was a different perspective - it was as if she was singing this to her husband as a love song, like what Etta might have done a year later from her recording.  The vocalization was beautiful, too.  Cyndi redeemed herself and would have placed a close second if scored officially.

Conclusions

I think it was pretty clear who won and who did not.

4th place was Eva Cassidy - she was enjoyable but failed to make the song her own - still, her voice was so sweet everyone was hungry to hear what else she has done. 

3rd place was Beyonce - she had the right voice for it, but couldn't bring innocence to the table in the right measure. She had a great showing and proved she is a modern day Diva worthy of the likes of Etta.

2nd place was Cyndi Lauper - she had a perfect balance of sweet and heat - and was singing to her husband, the lucky guy!  The sense of love and comfort came through and she snatched back a respectable showing after a weak one on the Blues.  Her voice was amazing and suits the genre perfectly.

1st place was Etta James - It's clear she not only put the song on the map, her version is nearly perfect in all measures.  As Anthony noted, everyone else brings part of this performance to the table, but Etta brings it all.