Paul McCartney declared himself a fan of President Barack Obama and admitted performing at the White House was 'very exciting'.

The former Beatle performed in the East Room of the Presidential residence last month when he collected the Gershwin Prize in front of a star-studded audience including the first family and the likes of Stevie Wonder, the Jonas Brothers and Elvis Costello.

Asked why he had enjoyed the gig so much, McCartney said: "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.

"So I was eager to meet him, being a fan of his and his wife. I had never actually been to the White House, so that was great. And 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."

McCartney performed Beatles track Michelle for the first lady but said the President was not angry at his wife being serenaded in public.

McCartney told the Associated Press: "It was such a nice, friendly atmosphere.

"We found his whole family very relaxing to be with, and I think he found us, hopefully, the same way. So it was nice on that level. And he didn't punch me out, thank goodness."

On playing Ebony and Ivory with Stevie Wonder, McCartney said: "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.

"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."