The Divas of song are drawn to this particular song like cable news to to a salacious scandal.

The song At Last has a long history. It made its debut in a frolicking, extremely corny, but now enjoyably campy musical film -- Sun Valley Serenade. The full film is up on YouTube in remarkably high quality. It's an interesting look at popular culture just before America entered into WWII. It also captures the state of alpine skiing and the town of Sun Valley, Idaho in 1940. The song At Last is performed by the Glen Miller Orchestra in a big band style that bears little resemblance to the song we've come to know.

Nineteen years later, the founder of Chess Records resurrected the song for Etta James' debut album that was released in 1960. Etta James' version has been used in several films: Rain Man, Pleasantville, American Pie, and Inland Empire.

This version, with a beautiful string arrangement by Riley Hampton, is the undisputed standard. It captures Etta James at the height of her singing prowess with soulful intimacy, authentic emotion, delicacy and power. It's the kind of performance that should engender careful reflection by any singer thinking of covering it.

The top priority in becoming a musical artist is to find your own true "voice," that which sets you apart from your peers. Once you have that, you need to be in touch with your own spiritual/emotional core and express that. Recently I spoke with one of my favorite guitarists, Jimmy Herring, and he related what his mentor taught him, and this advice applies to singers as well as other musicians.

"He'd say, you need to stop listening to guitar players... I'd been so influenced by the guitar players... he turned me on to horn players who were playing from the other side of the brain."

"He wanted you to get out of your own way, where it's not 'you' doing it...his thing was helping you to find your true essence."

"Music is so infinite, and there is always something to work on. And for some of us, it's simply learning how to just serve the song, get your ego in check, and not feel you've got to show everything you know in one solo. Or you can work on playing lyrical things instead of chops."

Over the years lots of singers have covered At Last and I'll include some of the clips below for your own evaluation. When you listen, keep this bit of advice in mind "get your ego in check, and not feel you've got to show everything you know in one solo." There is a lot of vocal gymnastics going on, that, crassly said, is essentially someone trying to put all her chops on display without serving the song or coming from a real place.

Truthfully, I had come to the conclusion that it was a mistake for singers to cover this song. Then, Joni Mitchell, the most unlikely singer I could imagine, covered At Last. I am a Joni Mitchell fan as a singer/songwriter, but honestly I had never thought of her as a singer for anything other than her own music. Come on, Joni Mitchell covering an Etta James song! Really?

Yet she did everything I described above, and she made this song her own -- what a remarkable achievement. She asked herself the question, what can I bring to this song that hasn't been done before, how can I serve the song? Her answer is stunningly beautiful.

Joni Mitchell

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Beyoncé

She played the role of Etta James in the film Cadillac Records (2008). In such a case we have to assume that a good copy of the original was the desired result.

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Here are some of the many covers

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I admit I've never listened to a Celine Dion album, but this surprised me.

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The thing about music is that there are no right answers. If something works for you, then it works for you, end of story.

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Photo collage of wiki commons photos & effects by @roused

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