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McCartney: A Life in Lyrics

iHeartPodcasts and Pushkin Industries

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McCartney: A Life in Lyrics offers listeners the opportunity to sit in on conversations between Paul McCartney and poet Paul Muldoon dissecting the people, experiences, and art that inspired McCartney’s songwriting. These conversations were held during the past several years as the two collaborated on the award winning book, “The Lyrics: 1965 to Present.” Over two seasons and 24 episodes of “McCartney: A Life in Lyrics”, you’ll hear a combination master class, memoir, and improvised journey ...
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Mary McCartney discusses the release of Linda McCartney – Life in Photographs with Dylan Jones at a special event for the iBookstore. With over 170 images, the book features Linda's early rock'n'roll portraits and final years with The Beatles to her touring days with Wings and raising four children with Paul.
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MPL and Hear Music are celebrating the release of Band on the Run, the first release in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection. Personally supervised by Paul, Band on the Run has been newly remastered at Abbey Road Studios. This very special release will be available as a Standard CD, Special 2 CD + DVD Edition, Deluxe 3 CD + DVD Collectors’ Edition, and 180 Gram Double Vinyl. A Digital Download is also available. The podcasts provide an insight into the band behind the album, the cover shoot ...
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Today, I'm joined by the Reverend Shawn Amos to turn a spotlight on a classic blues record that has reverberated down almost six decades since its recording - Junior Wells 'Hoodoo Man Blues'. We talk about the contrast between Junior Wells unprecedented creative feedom and the restraints on blues artists at Chess Records, the interplay with Buddy G…
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Today, Carla Geneve zooms in from WA to celebrate the almost-20th anniversary of The Drones classic 'Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By'. Carla talks about being introduced to the record by her Dad at age 11, the violence of the music and subject matter, the epic nature of the nine songs, leaving space for meaning a…
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Today singer-songwriter and Frontier Ruckus frontman Matthew Milia joins me to celebrate Paul and Linda McCartney's 1971 masterpiece RAM. We talk about the freedoms and pressures on Paul as an artist in the wake of the Beatles breakup, his philosophy of 'don't fix the mistake, explore the accident', the darkness in some of the lyrics, the derangeme…
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TW: Suicide Today, celebrated author Ken Womack joins me to unpack his extraordinary new definitive biography of Beatles road manager Mal Evans, 'Living the Beatles Legend'. Ken talks about the incredible access given to him by the Evans family, including Mal's unpublished memoirs and diaries, the digital warehouse he built to sort through the incr…
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Coming at the end of an intensely creative period, The Beatles’ Abbey Road features some of the most adventurous compositions in the quartet’s catalog. It's fitting then that the album concludes with one of the most inventive and famous medley committed to record. To close season two of “A Life in Lyrics” McCartney discusses The Beatles’ send off t…
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Today we bring you a (if you can believe it) new perspective on the Beatles story, as Dierdre Kelly joins me to discuss her fascinating book 'Fashioning The Beatles: The Looks That Shook The World', in which she unpacks the journey of the Fab Four's style across their careers, how they influenced and were influenced by fashion and the culture at la…
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“Michelle” from 1965’s Rubber Soul started as a kind of light-hearted party piece. But in McCartney’s quest to turn it into a legitimate Beatles song, he went on a bit of a journey to sound not only like a believable French chanteur but also to expand his approach to bass playing, taking inspiration from Motown’s James Jamerson. “McCartney: A Life …
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Today I'm joined by songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and co-founder of The Lumineers, Jeremiah Fraites, to wax rhapsodic on Radiohead's iconic 1997 album 'OK Computer'. We talk about Jeremiah's journey from hating to loving Radiohead as a teenager, the album's diverse but coherent sound, the album's sonic easter eggs, the balance of performed and …
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This episode deals with themes and events surrounding the Northern Ireland conflict. As such, this episode may be traumatic or emotional for some listeners. Paul McCartney doesn’t view himself as a writer of protest songs. But the events of Bloody Sunday sufficiently moved him to use his voice. Rush released as Wings first single in 1972, “Give Ire…
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Today I'm joined by Ed Nash, bassist of UK indie heroes Bombay Bicycle Club, down the line from North London to chat about Kurt Vile's modern classic 2011 album, 'Smoke Ring for My Halo'. Ed talks about discovering the album on tour in Australia, how it became the soundtrack of BBC's breakthrough period, listening to it on repeat on tour, the sonic…
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The breadth of Paul McCartney’s influences is astounding. One of the many surprising places McCartney found inspiration was in the music of his parent’s generation. For 1966's “Here, There and Everywhere”, he found himself looking to write something akin to Fred Astaire’s 1935 classic “Cheek to Cheek.” In the process, McCartney wrote what might be …
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We kick off our tenth anniversary year with ARIA-winner Mia Dyson, who joins me to talk about the soundtrack of the iconic Talking Heads concert film 'Stop Making Sense'. We talk about wearing out VHS tapes in the pre-streaming era, the contrast between the band's musical eccentricity and austere aesthetic, why the film is the perfect entry point f…
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In 1968 the longest song to ever reach number one on the Billboard charts was Paul McCartney’s epic “Hey Jude”—clocking in at seven minutes and twelve seconds. The song was written to soothe John Lennon’s son Julian amid his parent’s divorce. But as with all great works, it has come to mean something a little different to everyone who hears it. “Mc…
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Paul McCartney and John Lennon had a knack for finishing each other's songs. They collaborated by lending ideas for verses, choruses and middle eights many times over the course of their partnership. 1967’s “A Day in the Life” is one of the most prominent examples of McCartney and Lennon’s collaboration. What started as a Lennon song, once worked o…
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From his earliest days as a songwriter, Paul McCartney was interested in love songs. But by the time of Wing’s 1976 album “At the Speed of Sound” McCartney had become tired of critics suggesting that was all he wrote. And so he wrote the album’s lead single, a defiant anthem about the importance of love in our lives, and named it “Silly Love Songs.…
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“Drink to me, drink to my health” were among the last words spoken by the great Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. On somewhat of a lark, Dustin Hoffman challenged Paul McCartney to use those words to write a song – on the spot. McCartney indulged Hoffman and, without hesitation, an early version of “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)” poured out of him…
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The Beatles’ songbook became standard repertoire for artists to perform almost as quickly as they kicked off “the British invasion.” But one was covered more than all the rest: Yesterday. “McCartney: A Life in Lyrics” is a co-production between iHeart Media, MPL and Pushkin Industries. The series was produced by Pejk Malinovski and Sara McCrea; wri…
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One day in the car, Paul McCartney heard a BBC production of the absurdist play “Ubu Cocu” by french writer Alfred Jarry. Taken by the rebelliousness of the radio play, McCartney wrote a sweet-sounding tune about a murderous medical student that seemingly lives in the same universe as Ubu: “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.” “McCartney: A Life in Lyrics” is…
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Paul McCartney found himself in a tricky place after The Beatles’ break up. What did his musical future look like without the three musicians he’d spent half of his life building a musical rapport with? McCartney’s other band, Wings, and an impromptu tour of UK colleges helped him find his footing. “McCartney: A Life in Lyrics” is a co-production b…
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Countless decisions, large and small, aided The Beatles’ ascent to the top of popular culture. The release of their debut single, “Love Me Do,” in the UK in the fall of 1962 was one of those decisions. Their debut on American television was another. In this first episode of season two, Paul McCartney and Paul Muldoon discuss the early evolution of …
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Season Two of McCartney: A Life in Lyrics comes out weekly starting February 7th, and features the stories behind songs like Yesterday, Band on the Run, Here, There and Everywhere, Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me) and many more. Binge the entire season early and ad-free starting February 7th by subscribing to Pushkin+ on our Apple show page or at…
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It's that time of the year again.... we are signing off for 2023 with a blockbuster episode celebrating the best movies to hit cinema screens in the past 12 months. Joining me as usual are filmmaker Charles Hood and film journalist Drew Taylor, hosts of the legendary Light the Fuse podcast. Strap in a for an epic celebration / discussion / fight ab…
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Season 1 of “McCartney: A Life in Lyrics” concludes with a band in flux. The Beatles had evolved significantly by 1968 from when they first released “Love Me Do.” Back then, they were only competing with the likes of Andy Williams, Little Stevie Wonder, and Peter Paul and Mary. But by the recording of the “White Album" The Beatles were up against a…
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Many observers have tried to pinpoint the specific events that lead to Lennon-McCartney, the formidable songwriting partnership, transitioning to Lennon v. McCartney. But the fact is there is no single truth regarding why the beloved duo split. So instead of investigating the why, we look at the aftermath: legal battles, hurtful accusations in song…
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“Long Tailed Winter Bird,” “Bluebird,” and “Single Pigeon” are just a few of the many bird-oriented songs Paul McCartney has written over the years. His love of ornithology extends back before his songwriting days to his early childhood. “Blackbird”, one of the most universally cherished songs in his canon, was born of that love and worked well wit…
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Today it's My Favorite ALbum, as Melbourne singer-songwriter Al Matcott is bringing it all back to Bob Dylan and his underrated (?) 1978 album 'Street Legal'. We talk about how he found an emotional connection with the album around his mother's passing, how it inspired him to seek out a tarot reading, how the album bridges Dylan's confessional and …
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“Magical Mystery Tour” was inspired by a holiday bus from Liverpool to a mystery destination—often ending up in the carnivalesque seaside town of Blackpool. It’s one of the best examples of The Beatles further dipping into the era’s psychedelic subculture. The production of the song delivers a dense and lively atmosphere, from the opening brass fan…
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Today we present a fun and rollicking chat with Gareth Liddiard, frontman of Tropical Fuck Storm and the Drones and master anecdotalist. Gareth joins me to bring some sunshine to a brilliant and under-appreciated record by Spencer P Jones, the legendary guitarist and singer/songwriter originally from NZ who made Australia his home for most of his c…
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James Bond themes were handled by soulful or sultry vocalists in the decade since 1963’s “From Russia With Love.” Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones and even Louis Armstrong had taken turns singing themes and secondary themes for the films. The Broccoli family who produces the James Bond franchise expected nothing less when they asked Paul McCartney to writ…
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Today ARIA winning singer-songwriter Fanny Lumsden joins me to delve into a seminal record of both our youths - The Chicks’ final country album, 2002’s ‘Home’. We talk about the album’s forgotten origins in the midst of a legal battle with the band’s record label, how they fused their bluegrass background with contemporary country and pop songwriti…
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Warning: This episode begins with a description of the assassination of John Lennon. John Lennon’s assassination has reverberated across decades, country and culture. On the 8th of December, 1980 the world lost one of its greatest creative forces and advocates for peace. And Paul McCartney lost even more: a collaborator, a bandmate, and a dear frie…
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One of this year’s most pleasant surprises has been the first album of original material since 2005 from The Rolling Stones - Mick, Keith, Ronnie, Steve and on this album, Charlie and even Bill. Producer/songwriter/musician and friend of the show Michael Carpenter has spent a long time dissecting the Stones recorded catalogue and joins me today to …
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As Paul McCartney’s life moved further away from the centering force of Liverpool, the distance, both physical and cultural, started becoming increasingly apparent. It's a distance described by Paul as inevitable, if regrettable. “Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey” is Paul’s expression of the dual longing for home one can experience while also longing …
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Comedian, actor, writer, dancer, singer and most importantly previous guest on this podcast Elouise Eftos returns to the podcast today to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Britney Spears’ classic 2003 album ‘In the Zone’. We talk about the background of the album, how it saw Britney taking the most creative control she ever had (and tragically woul…
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