Paul McCartney's songwriting output as a member of the Beatles, mainly with his co-writer John Lennon, has been exhaustively documented over the years. Now, taking 50 key songs from his five-decade career since the break-up of the Fab Four, Paul McCartney: The Stories Behind 50 Classic Songs takes an in-depth look at the post-Sixties work of one of popular music's most versatile and prolific composers and performers. Paul McCartney has been a genuine pop idol, a cutting-edge experimenter, and in later years recognized as an international musical treasure. The 50 selections from his vast songwriting catalogue highlighted in Paul McCartney: The Stories Behind 50 Classic Songs mark half a century of musical creativity by a true icon of popular music. Each song includes full session details, personnel lists and chart data and is described in detail, from original inspiration to the final release. Quotes from session musicians and studio personnel – and star guests such as Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello and Kanye West – bring the making of every song to life, alongside a wealth of related photographs in and out of the studio.

Based on exclusive first-hand interviews, a chronicle of Paul McCartney's struggles in the first decade after the Beatles' breakup discusses his reclusive life, substance abuses, arrests, and efforts to launch his band Wings.

"Jonn Lennon's life in the years between 1970 and his tragically young death in 1980 were eventful and fascinating. He moved from stardom in the world's biggest pop group, to global peace campaigner and figurehead for radical causes. He left England for a new life in the USA with Yoko Ono. There was a bizarre interlude of 18 months - his famous 'lost weekend' - when John ran off with Yoko's secretary May Pang and descended into alcoholism. Reunited with Yoko, he abandoned publi life and retired to his New York apartment to raise their son and live the life of a recluse. In 1980 he re-emerged with a new album, but the plan to resume his career was cruelly curtailed on that fateful night outside the Dakota Building. This book recounts John's life after The Beatles in a fascinating and revealing track-by-track analysis of the stories behind each song that he wrote."--Back cover.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Washington Post Notable Book Excerpted in The New Yorker A work of unparalleled candor and splendorous beauty, The Lyrics celebrates the creative life and the musical genius of Paul McCartney through his most meaningful songs. Finally in paperback and featuring seven new song commentaries, the #1 New York Times bestseller celebrates the creative life and unparalleled musical genius of Paul McCartney. Spanning sixty-four years—from his early days in Liverpool, through the historic decade of The Beatles, to Wings and his solo career—Paul McCartney’s The Lyrics revolutionized the way artists write about music. An unprecedented “triumph” (Times UK), this handsomely designed volume pairs the definitive texts of over 160 songs with first-person commentaries on McCartney’s life, revealing the diverse circumstances in which songs were written; how they ultimately came to be; and the remarkable, yet often delightfully ordinary, people and places that inspired them. The Lyrics also includes: · A personal foreword by McCartney · An unprecedented range of songs, from beloved standards like “Band on the Run” to new additions “Day Tripper” and “Magical Mystery Tour” · Over 160 images from McCartney’s own archives Edited and introduced by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon, The Lyrics is the definitive literary and visual record of one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

From the acclaimed biographer who brought you the rock biography of Bruce Springsteen comes the life of musician Paul McCartney—from his groundbreaking years with the Beatles to Wings to his work as a solo artist and activist. More than a rock star, more than a celebrity, Paul McCartney is a cultural touchstone who helped transform popular music as one half of the legendary Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo. In this definitive biography, Peter Ames Carlin examines McCartney’s entire life, casting new light not just on the Beatles era but also on his years with Wings and his thirty-year relationship with his first wife, Linda McCartney. He takes us on a journey through a tumultuous couple of decades in which Paul struck out on his own as a solo artist, reached the top of the charts with a new band, and once again drew hundreds of thousands of screaming fans to his concerts. Carlin presents McCartney as a musical visionary but also as a layered and conflicted figure as haunted by his own legacy—and particularly his relationship with John Lennon—as he was inspired by it. Built on years of research and fresh, revealing interviews with friends, bandmates, and collaborators spanning McCartney’s entire life, Carlin’s lively biography captures the many faces of the living legend.

**NOTE: EBOOK DOES NOT INCLUDE ANY IMAGES** Every album and every song ever released by the Beatles?from "Please Please Me" (U.S. 1963) to "The Long and Winding Road" (U.S. 1970)?is dissected, discussed, and analyzed by two music historians in this lively and fully illustrated work. All the Songs delves deep into the history and origins of the Beatles and their music. This first-of-its-kind book draws upon decades of research, as music historians Margotin and Guesdon recount the circumstances that led to the composition of every song, the recording process, and the instruments used. Here, we learn that one of John Lennon's favorite guitars was a 1958 Rickenbacker 325 Capri, which he bought for £100 in 1960 in Hamburg, Germany. We also learn that "Love Me Do," recorded in Abbey Road Studios in September 1962, took 18 takes to get right, even though it was one of the first songs John and Paul ever wrote together. And the authors reveal that when the Beatles performed "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, John's microphone wasn't turned on, so viewers heard only Paul singing. All the Songs is the must-have Beatles book for the any true Beatles fan.