Sir Paul McCartney has praised US President Barack Obama, saying he's "a fan" and that the gig he played at the White House -- picking up the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song -- on Jun. 2 was "very emotional."

In an interview with Billboard, the former Beatle spoke about his first ever visit to the White House, admitting "I'm a fan of the president. I believe that he's been dealt a bad hand. He came into that job with a lot of difficulties on his plate that weren't of his creation."

"The idea of playing in the White House was very interesting. We wondered what the acoustics would be like, but they turned out to be great. So we had a great time, just the event of it all. We were all very excited. From me, myself, to the lowliest crew member, we were all buzzing," he added.

McCartney's emotional highlight, he said, was performing 'Ebony and Ivory' with soul legend Stevie Wonder in front of the first family.



"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, " he explained.

"Sometimes you write a song in a certain era and it's got a certain kind of significance. I don't think I would have imagined then that it would be quite so soon that America would elect a black president. It wasn't that soon, but it was a relatively short period of time. To sing it with Stevie in front of President Obama was very emotional. The lyrics to the song suddenly seemed to have more significance to me in that setting."

The gig also featured appearances by Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, White Stripes' Jack White and Elvis Costello, amongst the star-studded line-up.

PBS will broadcast the concert as part of its "In Performance at the White House" series on Wednesday, July 28 at 8 pm EDT.

Paul McCartney, 'Hey Jude (Live at the White House)'