New book with Paul’s song lyrics and stories
The full title is “The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present” hardbound in a slipcase holding the two volume set.
In November, a slipcase containing two books with the lyrics of Paul McCartney will be published, each is 480 pages long. Paul is also going to talk about each song, under which circumstances it was conceived, and what he thinks of it in hindsight. He will also be supplying memorabilia to illustrate the book, including never before seen letters, papers and photos. The 154 songs are arranged alphabetically and span over his whole career – from 1956 to the present.
Published in the UK by Allen Lane with ISBN: 0241519330 and ISBN-13 : 978-0241519332.
Paul: “More often than I can count, I’ve been asked if I would write an autobiography, but the time has never been right. The one thing I’ve always managed to do, whether at home or on the road, is to write new songs. I know that some people, when they get to a certain age, like to go to a diary to recall day-to-day events from the past, but I have no such notebooks. What I do have are my songs, hundreds of them, which I’ve learned serve much the same purpose. And these songs span my entire life.”
The Allen Lane imprint of Penguin Random House publish one of these editions and the other edition, the one available in the USA, is published by Liveright which is an imprint of W.W. Norton. This edition will also be available for sale in Europe and Scandinavia as well as the USA.
In this extraordinary book, with unparalleled candour, Paul McCartney 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. Presented with this 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.
British edition by Penguin. Release date is November 2, 2021
So what we are saying is that it’s a thousand pages (give or take a few), and Paul’s commentaries reveal how the songs came to be and the people who inspired them: his devoted parents, Mary and Jim; his songwriting partner, John Lennon; his «Golden Earth Girl,» Linda Eastman; his wife, Nancy McCartney; and even Queen Elizabeth, among many others. Here are the origins of «Let It Be,» «Lovely Rita,l lYesterday,» and «Mull of Kintyre,» as well as McCartney’s literary influences, including Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, and Alan Durband, his high-school English teacher. 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.
Each volume is 480 pages, not available separately. By Paul McCartney (Author) and Paul Muldoon (Editor).
USA edition by Liveright
Pre-order links:
total cost of book’s?
$131 Canadian, so I am assuming around $99 US.
The US cover is nowhere as nice as the UK’s though… too bad I can’t get the UK one here.
$100 is way too much money. Especially in these times. And Surely Paul doesn’t need the money
Allowing for inflation it is several times cheaper than the first edition of George Harrison’s autobiography from that prosperous year 1980. No doubt there will be subsequent cheaper editions, as there are for most books.
You are so correct… especially in these times.. it should be free
It’s all in how you look at it. When I saw it was $100 for two hardback books totaling almost 1000 pages, packaged in a slipcase, I was surprised it was that inexpensive.
And there will be only ONE edition? Not multiple colour / extra-photos-songs edition????
Well, there is the green U.S. edition and the Chaos & Creation U.K. slipcase! 😉
I’m going to wait for the year following to buy the updated version with additional songs and photos. Or should I wait two years for the updated, updated version? Tough decision as Paul needs a new sheep.
Yeah, I’ll wait, too, for the price to
go down a little. It is a wonderful idea and project, just very costly.
I am looking forward to it. Although it’s silly expensive, a Kindle edition is available cheaper, and it’s in the run-up to Xmas, so an excuse for someone to splash out. However I wil be disappointed if all we get is Let It Be: had a dream about my mother… Yesterday: I woke up one morning with a tune in my head… and so on. It had better have some new stuff in!
I ordered the UK version from Rough Trade. No problem with International orders.
can we know the list of songs discussed on the books ?