Review: 'The Lyrics' by Paul McCartney (Updated Eidition)

From August 2015 to August 2020, Paul McCartney talked to poet Paul Muldoon about songs he'd written since 1956, and these talks became the basis of the 2021 book The Lyrics. In his foreword, McCartney explains that he'd been approached several times to write an autobiography, but the idea never interested him much, so this is the closest we'll probably get. In a non-linear way, it does get the job done, because the guy who wrote "Bip-Bop" and "Wild Honey Pie" often doesn't engage much with his lyrics and instead uses the various songs he discusses as pretexts to open up about The Ed Sullivan Show ("All My Loving"), Jane Asher ("And I Love Her"), the Beatles' decision to quit touring ("Honey Pie", of all things), the Rolling Stones ("I Wanna Be Your Man"), his bass playing ("She's a Woman"), his mum ("Let It Be"), his feelings about being on the receiving end of John Lennon's infamous nastiness ("Too Many People)", and quite a lot more. 

Because of the casual, conversational nature of the book, Paul allows himself to set aside his affable-at-all-costs persona to get disarmingly candid. More than once he says that John could be "an idiot" while also professing his love for his very complicated partner. However, he rarely expresses any regrets about the songs themselves, only saving a bit of embarrassment for the fun yet somewhat cheesy "Rock Show". This might be because he and Muldoon are fairly selective about the songs they discuss. Indeed, quite a lot are missing, and not just from his solo career, which does not get as much attention as the Beatles days. Fab tunes such as "Every Little Thing", "Getting Better", "I'm Looking Through", and "Oh! Darling" miss the cut, although a new edition makes room for several songs that weren't included in the 2021 one: "Bluebird","Day Tripper", "English Tea", "Every Night", "Hello, Goodbye", "Magical Mystery Tour", and "Step Inside Love". I'm not sure if the addition of these seven songs justifies a second-dip for any but the most dedicated fans, but fans should get at least one copy of The Lyrics, both to learn quite a few new things (I was particularly surprised to read a very different version of the story of how Lennon and McCartney delivered "I Wanna Be Your Man" to the Stones and amused by McCartney's discussion of how mercurial Stevie Wonder could be) and to read it all in Paul's own distinctive voice.