The passing of Etta James last week came with the inevitable plethora of clips of her most-famous hit, “At Last”. That song would top out at #47 on Billboard’s Hot 100 list in 1960, despite going to #2 on the R&B charts, which is emblematic of her entire career: hugely popular in the circumscribed world of R&B music in the ’60s and ’70s, receiving only occasional attention from mainstream music. But the song itself has a much different origin.
“At Last” was written to be used in a Hollywood musical called “Sun Valley Serenade” starring Olympic figure skater turned actress Sonja Henie and featuring big band leader Glenn Miller and his orchestra. Miller’s band recorded the song, only to have it cut out of the final film. It was recycled in 1942 for another film called “Orchestra Wives”, this time starring Ann Rutherford and George Montgomery. Here is the song as it appeared in that movie, played again by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and sung by Ray Eberle and Pat Friday:
The dreamy, romantic quality of the song is very different than the triumphant wail of Etta James, especially as it is sung by a duet. But the tune also really flows well with the big band arrangement of sax and trombones, leading up to a trumpet solo. In fact, the vocal doesn’t even begin until about 2 minutes into the number and takes a back seat to the trumpet.
I think I still like the iconic version as performed by Etta on the 1960 version better, but knowing the provenance of the tune is worthwhile. Here’s the one we’ve all heard a lot of lately. It’s still a great tune, and it’s good that Etta James got the recognition she genuinely deserved, even if it came late.
