Paul McCartney book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present" (November 2, 2021)

In this extraordinary book, with unparalleled candour, Paul recounts his life and art through the prism of 154 songs from all stages of his career – from his earliest boyhood compositions through the legendary decade of The Beatles, to Wings and his solo albums to the present. Arranged alphabetically to provide a kaleidoscopic rather than chronological account, it establishes definitive texts of the songs’ lyrics for the first time and describes the circumstances in which they were written, the people and places that inspired them, and what he thinks of them now.

This is is a treasure trove of material from McCartney’s personal archive – drafts, letters, photographs – never seen before, which make this also a unique visual record of one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

We learn intimately about the man, the creative process, the working out of melodies, the moments of inspiration. The voice and personality of Paul McCartney sings off every page. There has never been a book about a great musician like it.

http://www.paulmccartney.com/news-blogs/news/the-lyrics-1956-to-the-present-to-be-published-in-november

 

I said to my wife “This isn’t quite the answer to the meaning of life but it’s close enough!” Just preordered – was gonna wait for it to be a Christmas gift but don’t wanna risk it.

 

Yesterday
Lovely Rita
Hey Jude
Let It Be
Mull of Kintyre
Maybe I'm Amazed
Band On The Run
Calico Skies
Golden Earth Girl

Now we're down to 145...

 

Bio Bop definitely needs some ‘splaining!

 

I am fascinated at how one tells a cohesive narrative through songs that are arranged in alphabetical (not chronological) order. I think we've all longed for something like this from Paul, and I for one always hoped it would be in a nontraditional format. I would have never guessed this.

I really hope that to promote it he releases a podcast series that presents an audio collection of a handful of these entries. That would be a joy to listen to this autumn.

There's a calm that comes over me knowing that he's managed to tell his story and that he didn't run out of time or do something slipshod. This looks to be a very nice thing to own.

 

Podcast? Is it too much to ask for the audiobook...? Yes? Well, I tried...

 

I am super psyched for this. It looks great and I am sure the content will be excellent. Yeah, there probably will be some old stories dragged out that we’ve heard a million times, but they are all part of his remembrances. Maybe after these old stories are formalized in this collection he won’t feel the need to tell them. In any event, really excited for this.

 

By the way, this will look great next to the Archive Editions in my library.

 

Sure, the old stories will be dragged out, but I expect there will also be some new ones.

I'm especially looking forward to Mumbo!

[Take it, Tony..!]

 

You know that 's true. The 'Yesterday ' story ( it was all a dream ) , the ' Hey Jude ' story ( played it for John who said...) , the ' And I Love Her ' story ( George wrote the intro ).....
I can't see this book being anymore than casual and possibly glib comments about the songs.
And I'm getting that 'McCartney III '-money-grabbing - vibe again.

 

Erm, from the songs that we know are on this, are there any where we know he shares a lyric-writing credit with Lennon? If he has chosen not to include those then which songs might we be missing out on? Or are we potentially heading for another "McCartney/Lennon" farrago?

 

MPL Guy I: -"We need something new in order to yield more McCartney threads on Steve Hoffman Music Forums. Give me ideas."

MPL Guy II: -"What about a book? We can put together a book with his lyrics"

MPL Guy I:-"Yes! That's it! Good job, Guy I. Now we're gonna conquer the forum!!!! Hahahahahaha".

Guy II laughs demonically. Lightning strikes and a loud thunder roars while a dramatic rain falls outside. The lives of non-obsessive beatles fans won't be easy.

 

Cool. I’d be down for it.

Might be some nice photos thrown into the mix.

 

Has anyone noticed the brief, obscenely modest About the Author section on Amazon?

About the Author
Born in Liverpool in 1942, Paul McCartney was raised in the city and educated at the Liverpool Institute. Since writing his first song at fourteen, McCartney has dreamed and dared to be different. He lives in England.

 

Yes.

I guess they don't want to over-sell him...

 

I mean... if this book does well, that McCartney kid could have a decent future in the poetry business!

 

As long as he talks about a good deal of his solo work, I’ll take the “and John said ‘it couldn’t get much worse’” stories and shell out my money gladly. This has the potential to be very rewarding

 

Sorry if this is a silly question, but the pre sale usually means you will end up getting the product at less price than the final price? I was wondering if preordering or waiting. Never pre ordered

 

I have just seen amazon.de still lists the ebook kindle for € 22,66.

 

In the US at least, Amazon will give you the lowest price of the item for the duration of the time you have it on pre-order. So if it drops at any time, that is the price you get even if it goes back up before it is released.

I don't know how they do it in Europe or South America.

 

At least for Germany it's the same. I guess it's their general policy. Before I switched to JPC I made some good catches this way.

 

Yes, I have noticed and I think it works rather well. I mean, any bio-blurb crammed into a few sentences is doomed to fail. So why not make the best of it and get rid of everything obvious? I like it.
And that we are talking about it shows how well it does work.

 

This is from 1961 when a still unknown Paul McCartney needed a job and wanted to be a paperback writer...

 

Well, then, I guess he failed.

This book is hardback...

 

I was just thinking about the title for a bit...

The Lyrics: 1956 - The Present

First I thought, "I hate that". The Present will be immediately outdated [as time marches on] and is he planning on not writing any more lyrics ever..?

But then I realized that if the title was "1956-2021" it would look too much like a tombstone and all the connotations that go with it. If he were to pass away within the next 10 months [and I certainly hope that does NOT happen] it would seem prescient, but otherwise there might be some out there thinking, "what, is he dead?" [IATW reference not unintended]

So I wss thinking, the title seems like a decent compromise, but then I realized... Why date it at all? I suppose they are trying to imply the grand scope of it, since it is encompassing 64 years..

But then again why not The Lyrics: Sixty-four Years Of My Life or some such...?

Or even: Songs We Were Singing: The Lyrics