Paul McCartney couldn’t resist poking fun at his longtime friend Bruce Springsteen while presenting him with a prestigious songwriting honor at the 2024 Ivor Novello Awards in London on May 23.
The 81-year-old Beatles legend first humorously jabbed at Springsteen’s, 74, working-class image.
Per a video uploaded to X (previously Twitter), McCartney said, "He's known as being the American working man, but he admits he’s never worked a day in his life. It's true."
While praising Springsteen, McCartney couldn’t help but add a touch of humor, calling him a "lovely, lovely boy" but also jokingly suggesting other musicians who could have been just as deserving of the honor, including Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Beyoncé, and Taylor Swift.
Taking the stage to accept the award, Springsteen referenced his rainy performance in Sunderland the night before, saying, "I'm going to sound really weird up here because I sang in the rain all night last night."
He praised the dedication of his fans, acknowledging, "Standing in front of me, in the rain, I realised: These are my people."
Springsteen reminisced about his first visit to London in 1975, humorously noting his initial shock at the lack of cheeseburgers, replaced instead by fish and chips.
"The airplane food was not so great, and my first thought when we landed at Heathrow was, 'Where's all the cheeseburgers?'" he joked.