Paul McCartney - 2010-06-02 - Washington DC (SBD)

Paul McCartney

with special guests

2010-06-02

Gershwin Award Presentation

The White House

Washington DC

PBS Broadcast Recording

320 kbps

Artwork Included

01. Introduction

02. Paul McCartney Interview

03. Got To Get You Into my Life (Paul McCartney)

04. We Can Work it Out (Stevie Wonder)

05. Drive My Car (The Jonas Brothers)

06. Comedy (Jerry Seinfeld)

07. Mother Nature's Son > That Would Be Something (Jack White)

08. The Long & Winding Road (Faith Hill)

09. Blackbird (Herbie Hancock & Corrine Bailey Rae)

10. Penny Lane (Elvis Costello)

11. For No One (Emmylou Harris)

12. Celebrations instrumental (Lang Lang)

13. Band on the Run (Dave Grohl)

14. Ebony & Ivory (Stevie Wonder With Paul McCartney)

15. Presentation of Gershwin Award

16. Michelle (dedicated to Michelle Obama) (Paul McCartney)

17. Eleanor Rigby (Paul McCartney)

18. Let it Be (Paul McCartney)

19. Hey Jude (Paul McCartney with all guests)

20. Yesterday (Bonus Track - Recorded Earlier)

Paul McCartney - 2010-06-02 - Washington DC (SBD)

While the Summer of Love eventually became synonymous with the counter culture and San Francisco, the musical event that launched it emerged from Abbey Roads Studios in London. When the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on June 1, 1967, they once again changed rock music forever.  The album's concept - the Beatles taking on the role of the mythical band in the album's title - was Paul McCartney's brain child.  As producer George Martin recalls, Paul said "Why don't we make the album as though the Pepper band really existed, as though Sergeant Pepper was making the record?' For McCartney, the faux personas were a means for The Beatles to detach themselves from their mop-top image and demonstrate their new musical maturity. Paul explained that "We were not boys we were men ... and [we] thought of ourselves as artists rather than just performers." McCartney was also heavily involved in the musical scene in London and worldwide, being among the first to hear Jimi Hendrix and serving as a musical advisor to the Monterey Pop Festival.  A day after Monterey Pop ended, and he celebrated his 25th birthday, Paul confirmed in a television interview that he had taken LSD, which of course, was the drug of choice of the psychedelic, counter culture generation. The interview was also symbolic of McCartney's more pronounced role as the face of The Beatles. He took on even more of a leadership role in the band after manager Brian Epstein died in August, and was the driving force behind the Magical Mystery Tour film, which flopped, and album, which soared. That leadership also extended to the band's musical output. In many ways, 1967 was the last burst of John Lennon's creativity with The Beatles. That year he produced some of his finest works: Strawberry Fields Forever, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, I Am The Walrus, All You Need Is love and the main verses of A Day In The Life. From that point on, though, McCartney dominates the band's output, especially in terms of singles. After All You Need is Love, the next 5 Beatle releases featured McCartney A sides - Hello Goodbye, Lady Madonna, Hey Jude, Ob la Di, Ob la Da, and Get Back. John's band was now Paul's band, and that had to have contributed to the dissolution of The Beatles by the end of the decade.

Today's post vaults ahead 43 years from the pyschadelia of 1967.  In 2007, the Library of Congress created the Gershwin Prize For Popular Song, named after composers George and Ira, to recognize performers for their lifetime contributions to popular music. The first 2 winners, in 2007 and 2008, were Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder. For the 3rd recipient of the prize, the Library of Congress reached across the pond to Liverpool, England to recognize Sir Paul McCartney. President Barack Obama presented McCartney with the award on June 2, 2010, a dozen years ago today, at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. A host of guests, including Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello and David Grohl, just to name 3, performed a litany of Beatle and McCartney classics, before Sir Paul brought the ceremony to a close with Eleanor Rigby, Let It Be and Hey Jude. Download this soundboard recording to capture the entire show, including Sir Paul dedicating Michelle to the First Lady!