Folk legend Joan Baez refused U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama's request to sing IF I HAD A HAMMER with John Mellencamp at the White House - because she hates the song.
Baez joined Mellencamp, Smokey Robinson and Bob Dylan for a tribute to the U.S. civil rights movement in Washington, D.C. on 9 February (10) and was stunned when concert organisers suggested she perform the Pete Seeger classic.
She tells Rolling Stone magazine, "They said it was a special request from Michelle Obama. I said, 'You tell her I will do it privately for her anytime, but we just can't do it."
Instead, Baez and Mellencamp duetted on protest anthem We Shall Overcome.