McCartney, who has been knighted by the queen of England, is being honored with Washington's highest award for pop music this week by the Library of Congress. The Gershwin Prize for Popular Song is named for the US songwriting brothers George and Ira Gershwin, whose collections are housed at the library. "Some of the songs you write, you don't know where they come from," McCartney said on stage Tuesday night. "So I have to believe in the magic." The tune for "Yesterday" came to him in a dream, he said. Nobody could place it, so he claimed it as his own. McCartney joked the original lyrics were "Scrambled egg. Oh my baby how I love your legs." Then he took his guitar and said "Here goes nothin," before he sang the familiar tune for a Washington crowd at a private concert at the library. The audience included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Stevie Wonder and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. He also sang an encore of "Blackbird." The 67-year-old McCartney said he's "slightly nervous" about performing about 3 feet in front of President Barack Obama in the East Room at the White House on Wednesday, when he will be presented the award.
