The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present

The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present is a book released in November 2021 by the English musician Paul McCartney and the Irish poet Paul Muldoon. It is published by Penguin Books Ltd in the United Kingdom, W.W. Norton/Liveright in the United States of America and C.H. 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. The songs are arranged alphabetically over two volumes. The book also includes many previously unseen photographs, paintings and handwritten texts. Muldoon spoke with McCartney over five years in two- to three-hour sessions during 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". Muldoon felt that their conversations mimicked McCartney's writing sessions with John Lennon as they were both "determined never to leave the room without something interesting".
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".
Two years after the book's release in 2021, McCartney released a paperback version of the book in November 2023, with seven songs added for this edition.
Category:Books