The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present
The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present is a book due to be released in November 2021 by the English musician Paul McCartney and the Northern Irish poet Paul Muldoon. It will be published by Allen Lane in the United Kingdom, W.W. Norton/Liveright in the United States of America and CH Beck in Germany.
The book consists of McCartney's discussions with Muldoon of the lyrics of 154 of his songs written during his time as a member of the rock bands The Beatles and Wings and as a solo artist.[1][2] The lyrics will be arranged alphabetically over two volumes. The book will also include many previously unseen photographs, paintings and handwritten texts.[1] Muldoon spoke with McCartney over five years in the creation of the book and felt that McCartney's "... insights into his own artistic process confirm a notion at which we had but guessed — that Paul McCartney is a major literary figure who draws upon, and extends, the long tradition of poetry in English".[2]
McCartney had always previously declined to write an autobiography recalling that he had been asked "More often than I can count" as "the time has never been right". McCartney has said that he has never kept a diary to recall the past but does have "... my songs, hundreds of them, which I've learned serve much the same purpose. And these songs span my entire life".[3]
References
- ^ a b "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present". W.W. Norton/Liveright. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
- ^ a b Mark Chandler (24 February 2021). "Paul McCartney tells life story through lyrics for Allen Lane". The Bookseller. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
- ^ "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present". Waterstones. Retrieved 27 September 2021.