Paul McCartney has revealed the 154 songs detailed in his career-spanning book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, due out November 2nd. Check out the full list below.
One highlight from the two-volume collection is the handwritten lyrics to an unrecorded Beatles song, “Tell Me Who He Is.” The never-before-seen lyrics were unearthed from a notebook believed to date back to the early 1960s.
The Lyrics includes songs from McCartney’s solo work and years in the Beatles and Wings, such as “Blackbird,” “Live and Let Die,” “Hey Jude,” “Band on the Run” and “Yesterday.” The collection contains handwritten lyrics alongside previously unpublished photos, drafts, and drawings. Each song features commentary by McCartney about his creative process.
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In the anthology’s foreword, McCartney explained why he decided to share his lyrics notebooks. He wrote,
“More often than I can count, I’ve been asked if I would write an autobiography, but the time has never been right. The one thing I’ve always managed to do, whether at home or on the road, is to write new songs. I know that some people, when they get to a certain age, like to go to a diary to recall day-to-day events from the past, but I have no such notebooks. What I do have are my songs, hundreds of them, which I’ve learned serve much the same purpose. And these songs span my entire life.”
As revealed when The Lyrics was first announced in February, McCartney collaborated with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon over a five-year period to bring the book to life. In a statement, Muldoon surmised “these commentaries are as close to an autobiography as we may ever come.”
To accompany the book’s release, the British Library will host a free display titled Paul McCartney: The Lyrics from November 5th, 2021 through March 13th, 2022. It will feature previously unseen lyrics from McCartney’s personal archive, as well as photographs spanning his career.
Pre-orders for The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present are ongoing. Check out the trailer below, followed by the full list of songs included in the book.
Songs included in The Lyrics:
Volume 1:
All My Loving
And I Love Her
Another Day
Arrow Through Me
Average Person
Back in the U.S.S.R
Band on the Run
Birthday
Blackbird
Café on the Left Bank
Calico Skies
Can’t Buy Me Love
Carry That Weight
Check My Machine
Come and Get It
Coming Up
Confidante
Cook of the House
Country Dreamer
A Day in the Life
Dear Friend
Despite Repeated Warnings
Distractions
Do It Now
Dress Me Up as a Robber
Drive My Car
Eat at Home
Ebony and Ivory
Eight Days a Week
Eleanor Rigby
The End
Fixing a Hole
The Fool on the Hill
For No One
From Me to You
Get Back
Getting Closer
Ghosts of the Past Left Behind
Girls’ School
Give Ireland Back to the Irish
Golden Earth Girl
Golden Slumbers
Good Day Sunshine
Goodbye
Got to Get You Into My Life
Great Day
A Hard Day’s Night
Helen Wheels
Helter Skelter
Her Majesty
Here, There and Everywhere
Here Today
Hey Jude
Hi, Hi, Hi
Honey Pie
Hope of Deliverance
House of Wax
I Don’t Know
I Lost My Little Girl
I Saw Her Standing There
I Wanna Be Your Man
I Want to Hold Your Hand
I Will
I’ll Follow the Sun
I’ll Get You
I’m Carrying
I’m Down
In Spite of All the Danger
I’ve Got a Feeling
Jenny Wren
Jet
Junior’s Farm
Junk
The Kiss of Venus
Lady Madonna
Let Em In
Let It Be
Let Me Roll It
Live and Let Die
London Town
The Long and Winding Road
Love Me Do
Lovely Rita
Volume 2:
Magneto and Titanium Man
Martha My Dear
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
Maybe I’m Amazed
Michelle
Mother Nature’s Son
Mrs. Vandebilt
Mull of Kintyre
My Love
My Valentine
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
No More Lonely Nights
The Note You Never Wrote
Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Oh Woman, Oh Why
Old Siam, Sir
On My Way to Work
Once Upon a Long Ago
Only Mama Knows
The Other Me
Paperback Writer
Penny Lane
Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)
Pipes of Peace
Please Please Me
Pretty Boys
Pretty Little Head
Put It There
Rocky Raccoon
San Ferry Anne
Say Say Say
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
She Came in Through the Bathroom Window
She Loves You
She’s a Woman
She’s Given Up Talking
She’s Leaving Home
Silly Love Songs
Simple as That
Single Pigeon
Somedays
Spirits of Ancient Egypt
Teddy Boy
Tell Me Who He Is
Temporary Secretary
Things We Said Today
Ticket to Ride
Too Many People
Too Much Rain
Tug of War
Two of Us
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
Venus and Mars/Rock Show/Venus and Mars – Reprise
Warm and Beautiful
Waterfalls
We All Stand Together
We Can Work It Out
We Got Married
When I’m Sixty-Four
When Winter Comes
Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?
With a Little Help From My Friends
Women and Wives
The World Tonight
The World You’re Coming Into
Yellow Submarine
Yesterday
You Never Give Me Your Money
You Tell Me
Your Mother Should Know
