Paul McCartney (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 14, McCartney has dreamed and dared to be different. He
lives in England.
Paul Muldoon (External Editor)
Paul Muldoon is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of fourteen
full-length collections of poetry, including Howdie-Skelp.
The Lyrics is a triumph. It is hugely readable, devoid of rock
cliché, and full of fresh stories and opinions that even devoted
fans won't have encountered before. The pictures of McCartney and
of handwritten lyrics, many of them never previously published, are
worth the entry ticket on their own and the quality of the boxed
product makes it a tactile pleasure and fun to possess. All that,
and its highly original organisation, means you never get bogged
down in a period of his life you don't find interesting ... The
Lyrics is McCartney at his best.
*The Times*
I know it all... or so I thought until I read Paul McCartney's
magical treasure trove of a book ... Touching... bountiful
*Mail on Sunday*
His composing methodology is revealed as a kind of innocent and
endless curiosity ... this mighty tome is billed as the closest
thing to an autobiography McCartney will ever write. It comprises
154 songs, with hundreds of fascinating photos and handwritten
lyrics from McCartney's collection, and an informal, thoughtful
text assembled from conversations conducted with acclaimed Irish
poet Paul Muldoon ... McCartney is a playful and brilliant
wordsmith ... His book of lyrics is charming
*Daily Telegraph*
Reading "The Lyrics" is like standing in a master chef's kitchen as
he prepares a dish, adding a dash of this and a spoonful of that
and talking to us so winningly ... there's nothing like listening
to Macca (as McCartney was known in his Liverpool days) talk about
the rise of a band composed largely of working-class teens who
changed the world forever ... charming
*Washington Post*
With a gravity, reverence and sense of occasion that hasn't been
seen since the Levites rolled out the Ark of the Covenant, the
complete lyrics of Paul McCartney are published at last ... This
vast, absorbing book is studded with McCartneyisms that make you
rub your eyes
*Sunday Times*
Describing it as a book doesn't quite capture the object. It is two
books, two separate volumes, in a gorgeous box. It weighs 8kg on my
bathroom scales. It's a big thing of great beauty, and going back
and forth through it is a hugely satisfying experience ... no
matter where you start, or continue, McCartney seems to be waiting,
ready to continue his warm, vivid, erudite stroll through his life
and lyrics ... the life - McCartney's - seems more believable when
examined in these glimpses. There is a modesty hiding in the book's
bulk, and raw, gentle honesty ... There are 154 sets of lyrics in
this book, and it's almost impossible to read most of them without
hearing the melodies and trumpet bits. But it is well worth trying.
Read, not heard, Lady Madonna is a different experience. I read it
and thought of Zola's best novels.
*Irish Times*
he provides a fascinating new insight into his life at the time
they were written, and the lives of his fellow Beatles ... This,
then, is a book for dipping into and sampling at leisure. It allows
us to see some of the most familiar songs ever written in new and
surprising ways ... [it] will not only thrill Beatles obsessives
but fascinate anyone who has ever sung along to a Lennon and
McCartney tune. Which must, surely, include half the world or
more.
*Daily Mail*
a feast for the eyes. Dyed-in-the-wool Beatles fans will be bowled
over by the sheer profundity of unpublished photographs, previously
unseen lyrics sheets, journal entries, paintings, and the like.
Indeed, The Lyrics easily represents the finest collection of
illustrations associated with McCartney's life and work. And it's
beautifully rendered, to boot. Drop-dead gorgeous as books go
*Salon*
the two things it reveals - an unrelenting work ethic and the
picture-painting imperative of the storyteller - are the twin
pillars of his life's work, as revealed here in random reflections
on 154 selected songs spanning 64 years ... it's this up-front
abdication of control, of responsibility and ultimately of
authorial meaning that makes McCartney's story, and his open-handed
attitude to a monumental body of work, so engaging.
*Sydney Morning Herald*
Nothing comes close to Paul McCartney's breezeblock of a title ...
Combine this monumental lyrics collection with Peter Jackson's Get
Back and many Beatles fans won't come out again until the clocks go
forward. Paul McCartney says this is as close as he will get to an
autobiography and no wonder - his life is in every line of these
songs. Each alphabetical entry (a smart arrangement that opens up a
trove of lesser known McCartney lore) is not only accompanied by a
wealth of wonderful photographs and memorabilia (the lyrics to
Carry That Weight on Apple notepaper!), but also McCartney's own
recollections and analysis. "Mostly, we were writing to the world,"
McCartney says about I Want to Hold Your Hand. The Lyrics makes it
a pure joy to reach out for these songs once again.
*The Sunday Times Book of the Year*
a rich, enjoyable and beautifully presented treat
*i Newspaper*
To read over the words to these 154 songs is to be impressed not
merely with McCartney's productivity but with the fertility of his
imagination and the potency of his offhand, unfussy style ... giddy
playfulness and unguarded experimentation. They're a joy to read
because they exude the joy their maker took in their making.
*The New York Times*
The text is accompanied by beautifully reproduced illustrations,
including personal snapshots, formal portraits and memorabilia. The
result is a hybrid of collected lyrics, memoir and picture book, a
composite form resembling the all-round character of McCartney's
musicality ... The Lyrics is a rewarding portrait of an exceptional
songwriter.
*Financial Times*
From All My Loving to Your Mother Should Know, the former Beatle
illuminates a life spent puzzling how to get from the beginning of
a song to its end
*Observer*
Paul McCartney's storied career has been a long and winding road
paved with songwriting gold. Thankfully, these fab volumes do it
justice
*The Sun*
engrossing ... reading it is like watching genius - which McCartney
undoubtedly was and fitfully remains - in the process of creation,
summoning something out of nothing
*Spectator*
The Lyrics is stunningly beautiful and a masterpiece of book
design, a true joy for bibliophiles. Paul McCartney has fashioned,
through the explorations of his songs with the poet Paul Muldoon, a
fascinating insight into his life and creative genius. The
booksellers of Waterstones are proud to celebrate this magnificent
and deeply original book.
*James Daunt, Waterstones*
This lavishly produced two-volume boxed-set, which took five years
to compile, is destined to be under many Christmas trees.
*Daily Mail*
The Beatles used to chuck lyric sheets in the wastebasket after
recording a song: Linda McCartney fished them out and saved them.
The Lyrics is the deluxe version of her scrapbook, a ... handsome,
two-volume compendium of Paul McCartney's work as a lyricist,
accompanied by photos and Macca's engaging reminiscences.
*Financial Times, Best books of 2021*
Paul McCartney never wrote an autobiography. He argued that his
remarkable life story is "all in the songs" - the hundreds upon
hundreds of timeless, instantly engrossing classics that have
become the soundtrack to Western culture. One hundred and
fifty-four of these musical gems are gathered in The Lyrics - a
gripping commentary on the inspiration for the tunes, their making
and the characters they portray. ... McCartney's commentary
throughout feels candid, enlightening and at times philosophical.
His insight into the makeup and meaning of the lyrics is
illuminating and entertaining, adding layers of depth to the
already rich texture.
*The Critic*
Sir Paul has arranged 154 favourite compositions alphabetically,
with lots of glossy photos. But in the essays that accompany each
song, his underlying purpose is to affirm his status as a writer
... what fan will not enjoy a meander that feels like a long
private audience with one of the Fab Four?
*Economist*
Paul McCartney's delicious The Lyrics is a treasure trove.
Gloriously illustrated with old snaps, posters with the Beatles'
bottom-of-the-bill, handwritten set lists, lyrics on scraps and
exhausting tour lists criss-crossing Britain.
*Waitrose Weekend*
The Lyrics is sumptuously made to a standard associated with
high-end art publishers. It is lovely to hold and to touch and to
look at. There are countless beautifully reproduced photographs, of
McCartney - who in his younger years ravished the lens - his
mother, father, brother and aunties, his wives, his children, his
friends and notable collaborators. Many of the pictures are
published for the first time. There are also handwritten lyric
sheets festooned with doodles, scribbled diary entries, gig
posters, newspaper reports, pictures of first pressings ... This
book is ... more like an autobiography, done McCartney's way.
Rather than publish a conventional life story, he has opted to tell
this life through songs and pictures ... His eloquence is found in
his art: next to the splendour of the songs ... The book showcases
McCartney's lyrics ... the songs make up a larger canvas, or
mosaic, that the artist himself is only now stepping back to
contemplate.
*New Statesman*
Stating in the introduction to this two-volume gift edition that he
has no intention of writing a memoir, Paul McCartney presents his
songs as the next best thing, leaving us to mine their words as a
guide to his life and world view.
*The Times*
These two beautifully produced hardbacks give a lot of bang for
your buck. Macca recalls the inspiration behind 154 of his songs
and the collaborative process of writing them, his stories taking
in Lennon, Linda and fame, and there's a trove of photographs and
memorabilia from his personal archive. He says the time has never
been right to write a full memoir, but this collection is brimming
with insights into the man and the music.
*Daily Express*
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