In Performance at the White House

SHOWTIME! We continue our series of ‘In Performance at the White House’ – a series of concerts created to showcase the rich fabric of American culture in the exclusive setting of the nation’s most famous home. To see last weeks post, Motown Sound, click here.

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Paul McCartney – The Gerswhin Prize for Popular Song 2010

“In Performance at the White House: Paul McCartney” is a PBS music special taped in the East Room of the White House. President and Mrs. Obama hosted the concert in honor of musician Sir Paul McCartney’s receipt of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The evening included performances by McCartney himself and Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello, Jonas Brothers, Herbie Hancock, Corinne Bailey Rae, Dave Grohl, Faith Hill, Emmylou Harris, Lang Lang and Jack White, with remarks by Jerry Seinfeld. President Obama presented the Gershwin Prize to Paul McCartney during the event.

Paul McCartney wrote his first song at the age of 14 and since then he has always dreamed and dared to be different. As the writer of the Beatles’ greatest songs, he basically changed the world of music. Since The Beatles he has continued to push the boundaries of music, first as a solo artist, then with the band Wings and now as a solo artist again. Paul has spent most of the last few years performing to sold out concerts all over the world.

President Obama said: “It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly half a century since four lads from Liverpool landed on our shores and changed everything overnight.”

McCartney commented in an interview with the AP: “One of the highs was singing ‘Ebony and Ivory’ with Stevie because we’d never done it live together, so that was great. To sing it live together for the very first time with the first black president there, it suddenly gave a great significance to the song….To sing it with Stevie in front of President Obama was very emotional.”

When accepting the award, McCartney said: “This is such a fantastic evening for me. I mean, getting this prize would just be good enough, but getting it from this President…” which resulted in cheers and applause from the audience.

Download these shows and add them to your music library

This is part of a 10-week series that we will be running on our blog, with the music videos conveniently separated into individual performances so that you can save and download your favourite artists, or the whole show if your prefer. Creation 5’s YouTube feature lets you download videos so you can watch offline when you’re travelling and enjoy great music on-the-go. Don’t forget that you can download Creation 5’s YouTube In-app purchase absolutely FREE, which normally costs €4.49 ($4.99), as we currently have a promotion running in celebration of hitting 450,000 downloads on the App Store!

In Performance at the White House: Paul McCartney

01 Paul McCartney – Got to Get You Into My Life
02 Stevie Wonder – We Can Work It Out
03 Jonas Brothers – Drive My Car
04 Jerry Seinfeld comedy routine
05 Jack White – Mother Nature’s Son
06 Faith Hill – The Long and Winding Road
07 Corinne Bailey Rae & Herbie Hancock – Blackbird
08 Elvis Costello – Penny Lane
09 Emmylou Harris – For No One
10 Lang Lang – Celebration (instrumental from Standing Stone)
11 Dave Grohl – Band on the Run
12 Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder – Ebony and Ivory
13 President Obama’s dedication speech
14 Paul McCartney – Michelle
15 Paul McCartney – Eleanor Rigby
16 Paul McCartney – Let It Be
17 Paul McCartney – Hey Jude