Paul McCartney roasts Bruce Springsteen as The Boss becomes a Fellow of The Ivors Academy

24 May 2024, 19:01

The Born To Run legend became the first international Fellow of The Ivors Academy and was inducted in a ceremony this week.

Bruce Springsteen has officially become a Fellow of The Ivors Academy.

The iconic New Jersey rocker is the latest songwriter set to become an Academy Fellow, which is the highest honour the bestowed by the organisation.

The news also made the Born in the U.S.A icon the first international songwriter the Academy has inducted into Fellowship in its 80-year history.

Beatles legend Paul McCartney presented him with the award in a ceremony, which took place at Grosvenor House in London on Thursday 23rd May and chose to roast his fellow singer-songwriter with a series of jokes.

“Like Bruce’s concerts, I’m going to keep this brief,” Macca began, making a comment on Springsteen's epic sets.

The Let It Be singer continued: “He’s known as the American working man, but he admits he’s never worked a day in his life.”

McCartney, who is a Fellow of the Ivors Academy himself also noted that Springsteen was the first American to receive the honour, joking that he couldn't think of anyone more fitting, "except maybe Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Beyonce or Taylor Swift".

Watch a clip of McCartney's cheeky speech and Springsteen's own acceptance speech below, courtesy of Svana Gisla.

• A Bruce Springsteen concert documentary is coming to Disney+: Everything we know
• Bruce Springsteen pays tribute to Shane MacGowan in Kilkenny's Nowlan Park

In Springsteen's own Ivors acceptance speech, he admitted: "while I was stone-cold born in the USA, at 16 I desperately yearned to be British. I had a pretty good fake British accent – that’s what the checkout girls at the local supermarket thought."

He added: "To be the first international artist to be granted this Fellowship – especially as an American, who I always suspect the British to be suspicious of our strange ways – it makes today a meaningful experience to me"

Springsteen joins McCartney and a list of esteemed artist to become a Fellow, including Elton John, Kate Bush and Paul McCartney.

The Boss has been on the UK & Irish leg of his 2024 world tour and returns back to the capital for two mammoth dates at Wembley Stadium in July.

Earlier this month, in a special tribute to the late Shane MacGowan, Springsteen chose to open his main set at Nowlan Park in Kilkenny, Ireland with a rendition of The Pogues' A Rainy Night In Soho.

Bruce Springsteen pays tribute to Shane MacGowan in Ireland

See Bruce Springsteen's remaining UK tour dates below...

• 25th July: Wembley Stadium - London, UK
• 27th July: Wembley Stadium - London, UK