Los Angeles  - Soul legend Etta James has blasted superstar Beyonce for daring to sing a song James made famous at an inauguration ball for US President Barack Obama last month.

Beyonce performed At Last as the first dance for Obama and his wife, Michelle, at the official inauguration ball. The song was first recorded by the Glen Miller Band in
1942, but it was James who made it famous 20 years later and who took umbrage at Beyonce offering a new version.

Celebrity website TMZ. com reported Thursday that at a concert last week in Seattle, James let her feelings be known. "You guys know your president, right?" she was quoted as saying. "You know the one with the big ears? Yeah, wait a minute, he ain't my president. He might be yours."

"But I tell you that woman he had singing for him, singing my song, she gonna get her ass whipped. The great Beyonce! ... I can't stand Beyonce! She had no business up there singing, ... singing my song that I've been singing forever." (dpa)