Book of the week: The Lyrics by Paul McCartney
McCartney’s charming delve into his back catalogue is the ‘closest to an autobiography we’ll get’

“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,” said John Walsh in The Sunday Times.
There are “nearly 900 shiny pages of the songs, from All My Loving to Your Mother Should Know, alongside their creator’s explanatory notes”, along with photos galore – most previously unpublished – “plus scribbled first drafts, pencilled music scores and adoring fan letters”. And the “whole gallimaufry” is “squeezed into two breezeblock-sized hardbacks, sheathed in a monochrome slipcase”.
Is this epic production worth the hefty cover price? Certainly not for the lyrics alone, which when “shorn of music can seem very flat” (“Beep beep beep beep yeah”, from Drive My Car, “is nothing until it’s transformed into ‘beepbeep, m’beepbeep YEAH!’”). However, as McCartney admits, his commentaries are the “closest to an autobiography we’ll get” – and many of them are “genuinely revealing”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Written in conjunction with the Irish poet and academic Paul Muldoon, the commentaries are indeed “hugely readable”, said Daniel Finkelstein in The Times. In them, McCartney offers his frankest portrait yet of his turbulent relationship with John Lennon, and provides moving snapshots of his childhood. Mary, his mother – who died when he was 14 – is pictured whistling while cooking in the kitchen, and later comes to her son in a dream, saying: “Everything will be all right. Let it be.”
Jim, his father, a music-loving cotton salesman, is glimpsed masterminding family singalongs. It’s true that the book’s “highly original organisation” makes it easy for McCartney to avoid uncomfortable topics – such as his ex-wife Heather Mills. But no matter. “Devoid of rock cliché”, and sumptuously produced, “The Lyrics is a triumph”.
There’s a “slightly pretentious tone” to this venture, said Neil McCormick in The Daily Telegraph: Muldoon argues that McCartney is “one of the greatest literary figures of our time”. Not all of his lyrics corroborate this assessment: some, indeed, “don’t really bear careful scrutiny”.
What you ultimately read this book for is the pleasure of hearing McCartney “talk about the rise of a band composed largely of working-class teens who changed the world forever”, said David Kirby in The Washington Post. “Nearly 60 years later, it’s still an amazing story” – and it’s one that McCartney recounts with generosity and charm.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Allen Lane 874pp £75; The Week Bookshop £60
The Week Bookshop
To order this title or any other book in print, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk, or speak to a bookseller on 020-3176 3835. Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
-
October 5 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include half-truth hucksters, Capitol lockdown, and more
-
Jaguar Land Rover’s cyber bailout
Talking Point Should the government do more to protect business from the ‘cyber shockwave’?
-
Russia: already at war with Europe?
Talking Point As Kremlin begins ‘cranking up attacks’ on Ukraine’s European allies, questions about future action remain unanswered
-
Mustardy beans and hazelnuts recipe
The Week Recommends Nod to French classic offers zingy, fresh taste
-
Susie Dent picks her favourite books
The Week Recommends The lexicographer and etymologist shares works by Jane Goodall, Noel Streatfeild and Madeleine Pelling
-
6 incredible homes under $1 million
Feature Featuring a home in the National Historic Landmark District of Virginia and a renovated mid-century modern house in Washington
-
The Harder They Come: ‘triumphant’ adaptation of cinema classic
The Week Recommends ‘Uniformly excellent’ cast follow an aspiring musician facing the ‘corruption’ of Kingston, Jamaica
-
House of Guinness: ‘rip-roaring’ Dublin brewing dynasty period drama
The Week Recommends The Irish series mixes the family tangles of ‘Downton’ and ‘Succession’ for a ‘dark’ and ‘quaffable’ watch
-
Dead of Winter: a ‘kick-ass’ hostage thriller
The Week Recommends Emma Thompson plays against type in suspenseful Minnesota-set hair-raiser ‘ringing with gunshots’
-
A Booker shortlist for grown-ups?
Talking Point Dominated by middle-aged authors, this year’s list is a return to ‘good old-fashioned literary fiction’
-
Fractured France: an ‘informative and funny’ enquiry
The Week Recommends Andrew Hussey's work is a blend of ‘memoir, travelogue and personal confession’