New version available this fall
On November 7th, a one-volume edition of The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present will be published in paperback, featuring additional commentaries on iconic songs spanning Paul McCartney’s unparalleled musical career.
The No. 1 New York Times bestselling book to be released in paperback with seven new song commentaries from our greatest living songwriter, including “Bluebird,” “Day Tripper,” “English Tea,” “Every Night,” “Hello Goodbye,” “Magical Mystery Tour,” and “Step Inside Love.”
When The Lyrics published in 2021 to worldwide acclaim, it was heralded as a one-of-a-kind self-portrait of McCartney, earning Book of the Year by Barnes & Noble and Waterstones, and winning a British Book Award.
Finally in paperback, it further celebrates the breadth of that creative life and musical genius, covering sixty-six years through 161 songs—from early days in Liverpool, the global pop cultural domination of The Beatles, the ‘70s radio gold of Wings, and McCartney’s prolific and still peaking solo career.
Arranged alphabetically to provide a kaleidoscopic rather than chronological account, The Lyrics establishes definitive texts of these songs for the first time and describes the circumstances in which they were written, the people and places that inspired them, and what Paul thinks of them now. Presented with this is a treasure trove of material from McCartney’s personal archive – drafts, letters, photographs – never seen before the 2021 publication, making this also a unique visual record of one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
The seven new song commentaries elaborate more on these themes, whether mulling over the romantic yearning in Vera Lynn’s “We’ll Meet Again” (“Bluebird”), the playful double entendres meant to trip up BBC censors (“Day Tripper”), the call and response power of a song (“Every Night”), the challenge and pleasure of writing for other performers (“Step Inside Love”), and the unlikely experience of serenading astronauts (“English Tea”). These first-person accounts give special context to lyrics beloved by generations of fans, and show how McCartney (and his contemporaries) were influenced as much by the musical Gigi as Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, the carnival atmosphere of Blackpool as the polyrhythms of a Lagos recording studio.
With a personal foreword by McCartney and edited and introduced by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon, The Lyrics is the definitive literary chronicle of one of musical history’s most enduring treasures.
Born in Liverpool in 1942, Paul McCartney was raised in the city and educated at the Liverpool Institute. In June 2023 he published a collection of his photography, 1964: Eyes of the Storm, in conjunction with an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Since writing his first song at 14, McCartney has dreamed and dared to be different.
