WEBVTT - Welcome to 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?

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<v Speaker 3>It's happened.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm going on to I'm actually a performer, I'm I

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<v Speaker 1>actually am a songwriter. My god, well that.

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<v Speaker 2>That crypt hoy, That is Sir Paul McCartney. Together we

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<v Speaker 2>worked on the Lyrics nineteen fifty six to the Present,

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<v Speaker 2>which looked at more than one hundred and fifty tracks

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<v Speaker 2>from McCartney's songbook.

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<v Speaker 1>Letter. You can't really talk about music because it's music.

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<v Speaker 1>It's purposely not talking. It's playing it sounds, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>So it's quite nice, it's quite liberating. Things slip out

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<v Speaker 1>like they would in a session with 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 mon 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 1>The lyrics behind the shelter and the middle of around

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<v Speaker 1>in the selling poppies from Funnily enough, a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>Americans thought she was selling puppies. I say, puppies. There's

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<v Speaker 1>another interesting image, a tray full of puppies, and now

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<v Speaker 1>she's sell poppies. I now she feels as interesting to

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<v Speaker 1>play she is. Anyway, that's very sort of sixties did

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<v Speaker 1>gees anyw.

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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 in my come Truely.

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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'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?

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<v Speaker 2>I have the people sprung from Liverpool, going all the

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<v Speaker 2>way back to his childhood in Liverpool.

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<v Speaker 3>Is so sorry, uncal.

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<v Speaker 1>Clouds work with my dad in Cotton firm, and they

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<v Speaker 1>would get pissed. A lot of the uncles were referred

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<v Speaker 1>to as piss artists. They drink a bit. Yeah oh,

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<v Speaker 1>Cloud would stand on the table and recite the Bible

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<v Speaker 1>summaris shit, you know, keep everyone straight in the way

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<v Speaker 1>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>McCarry 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.

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<v Speaker 3>Yourself in a bone.

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<v Speaker 1>On a river. Boy, were you lucky to grow up

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<v Speaker 1>in that, with that transition from black and white to color?

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, but you were inactive 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.

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<v Speaker 1>His life, I'm a coat and grab my hat because

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<v Speaker 1>it's an experiment, an ongoing experiment. As you follow the

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<v Speaker 1>trail of redcruns, you're surprised, often to find yourself in

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<v Speaker 1>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.