Born, not busy dying. [ applause ] hey, mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me sounds familiar. Im not sleepy and theres no place im going to hey mister, sing that song for me a Jingle Jangle morning ill come following you i know that evenings empire has returned into sand vanished from my hand left me blindly here to stand, but still not sleeping my weariness amazes me i am branded on my feet i have no one to meet my ancient empty streets too dead for dreaming i used to know all of bob dylans records before i was governor. I think everything that Willie Nelson wrote. Allman brothers helped put me in the white house by raising money when i didnt have any money. Gregg and i were good friends. The allman brothers had been here and bob dylan has not been here. But Willie Nelson has been here and johnny cash has been here. We got married in a fever, hotter than he brought judy cash down here. We always claimed that she was my cousin. When Willie Nelson wrote his autobiography, he confessed
Country in this two days, these next two days. Americas big. America is bold. And nobody had a bigger voice or a bolder soul than our aretha. When i flew a United States flag over the capitol the day after her passing and when my partisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation to award aretha the congressional gold medal, which we intend to do, we werent only honoring her legacy as a musician, as you know. Instead, we were honoring her remarkable voice. A voice that stood up for justice, that stood up for equality, that stood up for civil rights, for doing the right thing for people. When you see it and when you dont see it, quietly and loudly doing the right thing. While touching the hearts of the world. I treasure each and every opportunity ive had over the years to witness and to be with aretha, watching what she did best. My last opportunity to be with her was when i had the opportunity to take part in introducing her at her final detroit concert. She was sitting in the car befo
Underway within the next hour. We will take you there live momentarily. Were also monitoring another great in america, the life and legacy of Aretha Franklin and her ceremony. A fivehour long ceremony is getting under way in chicago. Thats where we have fredricka whitfield. You can hear the activity overhead and see the sea of people filing into the Greater Grace Temple church where the Funeral Service for Aretha Franklin, the worlds beloved queen of soul, will begin in just moments from now. What we have been able to see is besides the motorcade of pink cadillacs who have pulled up, a number of dignitaries and celebrities from the world of music, from sports, from the church, they have all been lining up to go inside the sanctuary there. 4,000 seat sanctuary. You can see it filling up. It will be a day of amazing speeches, eulogies and, of course, song. A former president , bill clinton, Ariana Grande to take to the podium there and deliver their eulogies in celebration of this amazin
Khan. Shirley caesar had the spirit within her from that first word. Listening to the former president , bill clinton, saying he was first a groupie and making note, she has sung for america. Indeed she has. Reporter oh, yeah, she is an american sweetheart, a national treasure. There is a lot of love in this house, as they say. You can feel it. You can feel just how Aretha Franklin touched so many people, let alone detroit. They claim her as their, you know, native daughter. She was born in memphis, but she and the family eventually moved here to detroit. This would be home. What we have seen today is a real tribute, a serious home going for the queen of soul. As you mention, faith hill was among those right out of the gate who brought the house down. It was faith hill who was invited by Aretha Franklin to join her on her album that she coproduced. She spoke so kindly of faith hill after the fact saying she is fabulous, simply fabulous and really nice. So, it was a beautiful tribute th
You. I have been watching you on and off all morning long. When i looked up, the clark sisters were performing, everyone on their feet. This is a total celebration where you are in detroit. Reporter it is. Its a celebration. It is a happy moment. You know, i think the former attorney general put it so simply where he talked about, you know, there is happiness in this celebration. Yes, there is sadness because the queen of soul is gone. She lives forever through her music. He did a beautiful job of putting you on the journey of how she touched lives in so many ways through music and how she imbodied her music, felt her music and you heard from her grandchildren and her niece as well. Her grandchildren spoke so eloquently of not knowing how great she was. Yeah, she was great, she was my grandmother. Then, following her death and how she touched people and what her music meant. Hearing from little victoria talking about i knew how special she was but didnt know how great. Her voice made y