Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
BOOK REVIEW
PAUL McCARTNEY THE LYRICS:1956 To the Present
Two Volumes
Edited with an Introduction by Paul Muldoon
ISBN 978 0 24151 933 2
ALLEN LANE
An imprint of Penguin Books
penguinrandomhouse.com
BRILLIANT, MODERN “FREE POETRY” FOR 21st CENTURY FROM OUR GREATEST CREATIVE MUSICIAN AND LYRICIST: IN 2 VOLUMES WITH PHOTOS, TOO!
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator
This two-volume work by Paul McCartney is a dream come true for the generations who first met The Beatles, and those new to their music and lyrics. These are Paul’s memories and reasons seen from his lyrics when breaking the poetic rule that poems should stand by themselves: and he breaks a lot of conventional rules here.
Poems and lyrics do not, and should not, merely stand on their own (in my view) because we want explanations sometimes to go with the words, offering up the real influences behind the Muse. We welcome this timely collection which explains so much - we will all have our favourite lyrics spread over the decades, so I am highlighting no favourite piece.
The one thing about McCartney is that he has always been an original and he remains ground-breaking without fuss. To us, the words in the songs stay as fresh as they were when we first heard them with their stories, themes, and imagery now linked.
Only very occasionally does a leading creative person continue to set trends over the years, and Paul is that special writer, a one-off mixing the popular with the emotional in his down to earth way which has related across classes and generations.
Do read the Foreword first for the insights before you seek out your favourite set of lyrics. The songs are listed alphabetically with much Beatle and Wings memorabilia throughout as a history lesson to newer fans. The personal asides throughout illustrate Paul as the man he is to his fans and will be to those fresh to what we consider to be a new aspect of literature: free poetry rather than mere lyrics. It is probably because this collection raises the level of the lyric to that of a form of a poem.
From this point of view, a word of thanks must go to Paul Muldoon who has broken down the barriers here crossing the poetic with the lyrical, and rightly, too. Fifty years ago, I would be faced with utter pseudo-literary rubbish and be forced to write appreciations of unseen “poems” for GCE English Literature when they were such low-quality trendy works. And yet, that blend over the years with McCartney’s high quality and popular output is terrifyingly brilliant even today.
One can compare the exaggeration of imagery and over complex wordsmiths of some modern “books of bad poets” (no names) with the simplicity we have here for the first time in these volumes of the songs we know. Paul reflects everyday events and the sheer ordinariness of some of his lyrics (often with John it should be said) which sometimes hide their direct relatability with the reader as he and the others because more famous and controversial as it is with trend-setters who are the genuine article. Thank you, Paul, for the marvellous explanations here- we often wondered!
The date of publication of this new two volume edition is cited as 2nd November 2021.
BOOK REVIEW
PAUL McCARTNEY THE LYRICS:1956 To the Present
Two Volumes
Edited with an Introduction by Paul Muldoon
ISBN 978 0 24151 933 2
ALLEN LANE
An imprint of Penguin Books
penguinrandomhouse.com
BRILLIANT, MODERN “FREE POETRY” FOR 21st CENTURY FROM OUR GREATEST CREATIVE MUSICIAN AND LYRICIST: IN 2 VOLUMES WITH PHOTOS, TOO!
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator
This two-volume work by Paul McCartney is a dream come true for the generations who first met The Beatles, and those new to their music and lyrics. These are Paul’s memories and reasons seen from his lyrics when breaking the poetic rule that poems should stand by themselves: and he breaks a lot of conventional rules here.
Poems and lyrics do not, and should not, merely stand on their own (in my view) because we want explanations sometimes to go with the words, offering up the real influences behind the Muse. We welcome this timely collection which explains so much - we will all have our favourite lyrics spread over the decades, so I am highlighting no favourite piece.
The one thing about McCartney is that he has always been an original and he remains ground-breaking without fuss. To us, the words in the songs stay as fresh as they were when we first heard them with their stories, themes, and imagery now linked.
Only very occasionally does a leading creative person continue to set trends over the years, and Paul is that special writer, a one-off mixing the popular with the emotional in his down to earth way which has related across classes and generations.
Do read the Foreword first for the insights before you seek out your favourite set of lyrics. The songs are listed alphabetically with much Beatle and Wings memorabilia throughout as a history lesson to newer fans. The personal asides throughout illustrate Paul as the man he is to his fans and will be to those fresh to what we consider to be a new aspect of literature: free poetry rather than mere lyrics. It is probably because this collection raises the level of the lyric to that of a form of a poem.
From this point of view, a word of thanks must go to Paul Muldoon who has broken down the barriers here crossing the poetic with the lyrical, and rightly, too. Fifty years ago, I would be faced with utter pseudo-literary rubbish and be forced to write appreciations of unseen “poems” for GCE English Literature when they were such low-quality trendy works. And yet, that blend over the years with McCartney’s high quality and popular output is terrifyingly brilliant even today.
One can compare the exaggeration of imagery and over complex wordsmiths of some modern “books of bad poets” (no names) with the simplicity we have here for the first time in these volumes of the songs we know. Paul reflects everyday events and the sheer ordinariness of some of his lyrics (often with John it should be said) which sometimes hide their direct relatability with the reader as he and the others because more famous and controversial as it is with trend-setters who are the genuine article. Thank you, Paul, for the marvellous explanations here- we often wondered!
The date of publication of this new two volume edition is cited as 2nd November 2021.
