WEBVTT - Introducing: McCartney A Life in Lyrics

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<v Speaker 1>I wanted to become a person who wrote songs, and

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<v Speaker 1>I wanted to be someone who's life was in music.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm Paul muldoon and you're listening to McCartney a life

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<v Speaker 2>in lyrics. I'm a poet, a lover of the lyric,

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<v Speaker 2>poem and the song lyric. And over the past several

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<v Speaker 2>years I've been fortunate to spend time with one of

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<v Speaker 2>the greatest songwriters of our era.

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<v Speaker 1>And will you look at me? It's happened. I'm going

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<v Speaker 1>on to I'm actually a performer? Am I actually a songwriter?

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<v Speaker 3>My god?

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<v Speaker 1>Well have that cryptor hoy?

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<v Speaker 2>That is Sir Paul McCartney. Together we worked on the

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<v Speaker 2>Lyrics nineteen fifty six to the Present, which looked at

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<v Speaker 2>more than one hundred and fifty tracks from McCartney's songbook.

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<v Speaker 1>Letter.

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<v Speaker 4>You can't really talk about music because it's music. It's

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<v Speaker 4>purposely not talking. It's playing it sounds, you know, So

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<v Speaker 4>it's quite nice, it's quite liberating.

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<v Speaker 1>Things slip out like they would in a session with

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<v Speaker 1>a psychiatrist.

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<v Speaker 2>It took us a long time to get through the

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<v Speaker 2>songs we included in the book, and we recorded many

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<v Speaker 2>hours of conversations, drawing our details from McCartney's memory and

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<v Speaker 2>hidden meanings from the music.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, the book on me, this smart my head was

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<v Speaker 1>in the world. It was like going back to an

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<v Speaker 1>old snapshot album looking back on work I hadn't thought

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<v Speaker 1>much about for quite a few years.

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<v Speaker 2>For most of the conversations, we were sitting across from

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<v Speaker 2>each other, looking at print outs of.

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<v Speaker 4>The lyrics behind the shelter in the middle of around

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<v Speaker 4>in the selling poppies from.

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<v Speaker 1>Funnily enough, a lot of Americans thought she was selling puppies.

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<v Speaker 1>I say, puppies. There's another interesting image, a tray full

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<v Speaker 1>of puppies, and now she's selling poppies. I now she

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<v Speaker 1>feels as interesting to play she is. Anyway, that's very

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<v Speaker 1>sort of sixties did.

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<v Speaker 3>GEZW.

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<v Speaker 2>We never thought anyone would hear these tapes, most of

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<v Speaker 2>which were captured on small recording devices placed on the

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<v Speaker 2>table in front of us, or occasionally we recorded over

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<v Speaker 2>video chat. You might hear the clinking of teacups, doorbell chimes,

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<v Speaker 2>or us chatting over lunch. We were just logging the stories,

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<v Speaker 2>preparing for the book and getting to know one another.

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<v Speaker 1>And at the top of the page, I've written another

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<v Speaker 1>Leonard McCartney original.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, so you already had a sense even though you

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<v Speaker 3>were what sixteen, you had a sense of your being

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<v Speaker 3>a teen and that you will have a future.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. I think it was more a sort of wish

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<v Speaker 1>than a sense. It's more in this thing, if you

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<v Speaker 1>visualize it, it might come true.

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<v Speaker 2>When we listened back to the tips, we realized there

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<v Speaker 2>was something very special happening in these conversations. They were,

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<v Speaker 2>in a sense, an oral history of popular music.

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<v Speaker 1>And sometimes when I'm singing, I'll be for to get

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<v Speaker 1>that little voice.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh it was McCartney unfiltered.

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<v Speaker 1>It helps me reach a place that that's just yes.

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<v Speaker 2>Many times over the years, Paul McCartney has been asked

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<v Speaker 2>to write his autobiography. It's a request he's always denied,

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<v Speaker 2>never feeling it to be the right time. But as

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<v Speaker 2>we ventured out on this journey, line by line, it

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<v Speaker 2>became clear how much of McCartney's biography is indeed embedded

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<v Speaker 2>in the lyrics.

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<v Speaker 1>Has this Liverpool sprung from its people? I have the

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<v Speaker 1>people sprung from.

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<v Speaker 2>Liverpool, going all the way back to his childhood in Liverpool.

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<v Speaker 1>He is so sorry unc Cloudbush work with my dad in.

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<v Speaker 5>Cotton firm and they would get pissed.

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<v Speaker 1>A lot of the.

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<v Speaker 5>Uncles were referred to as piss artists. They drink a bit,

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<v Speaker 5>yeah oh, Cloud would stand on the table and recite

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<v Speaker 5>the Bible shit, you know, keep everyone straight in the.

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<v Speaker 1>Way of the light.

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<v Speaker 2>Even if the lyrics aren't strictly autobiographical, every song in

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<v Speaker 2>McCartney's repertoire is tied to vivid memories, his initial inspiration,

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<v Speaker 2>his writing process, his performances.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey hey ha ha ha hey.

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<v Speaker 2>And then there were the meanings that snuck their way

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<v Speaker 2>into the lyrics, the strange echoes and insights of which

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<v Speaker 2>McCary and he wasn't aware when he put pen to paper,

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<v Speaker 2>but has since come to recognize in his own work.

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<v Speaker 1>Yesterday, all my trouble seems so far. I mean, the

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<v Speaker 1>fact that I dreamed the song yesterday leads me to

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<v Speaker 1>believe that it's not just quite as cot and dried

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<v Speaker 1>as we think it is. And so I say, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>you just throw some words in a bowl and then

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<v Speaker 1>pull them out. They will achieve some sort of resonance.

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<v Speaker 2>Throughout our talks we also realized how much we held

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<v Speaker 2>in common. We both lived our childhoods in black and

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<v Speaker 2>white and watched the world change into technicolor, yourself in

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<v Speaker 2>a bone on a river.

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<v Speaker 1>Boy, were you lucky to grow up in that with

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<v Speaker 1>that transition from black and white to color.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, you were an active for some that that's one

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<v Speaker 2>of the reasons why it did go to the color

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<v Speaker 2>was because of you.

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<v Speaker 1>It's true. I mean, obviously I see how it happened

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<v Speaker 1>to me, not realizing that in me expressing how it

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<v Speaker 1>happened to me, I was making it happen.

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<v Speaker 2>We went song by song, but as you will hear

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<v Speaker 2>our conversations often spread from the songs themselves. As McCartney

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<v Speaker 2>reflected on the lyrics that tell the story of his life,

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<v Speaker 2>I'm a coat and grab.

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<v Speaker 4>My hat because it's an experiment, an ongoing experiment. As

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<v Speaker 4>you follow the trail of breadcruns.

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<v Speaker 1>You're surprised, often to find yourself in the next line.

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<v Speaker 2>This is McCartney, a life in lyrics, a masterclass, a memoir,

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<v Speaker 2>and an improvised journey with one of the most iconic

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<v Speaker 2>figures in popular music.