"Fans or readers, or even critics, who really want to learn more about my life should read my lyrics."
In an exclusive extract from his new book, @PaulMcCartney reveals the stories behind the music. thetimes.co.uk/article/paul-m…
In an exclusive extract from his new book, @PaulMcCartney reveals the stories behind the music. thetimes.co.uk/article/paul-m…
"Some people, when they get to a certain age, like to refer to a diary to recall day-to-day events from the past, but I have no such notebooks. What I do have is my songs — hundreds of them — which serve much the same purpose." 
I Lost My Little Girl
Written in 1956, released in 1991
"You wouldn’t have to be Sigmund Freud to recognise that the song is a very direct response to the death of my mother. I wrote this song later that same year. I was 14 at the time."
Written in 1956, released in 1991
"You wouldn’t have to be Sigmund Freud to recognise that the song is a very direct response to the death of my mother. I wrote this song later that same year. I was 14 at the time."
Please Please Me
Released in 1963
"We wrote with two guitars, John and I. The joy of that was that I was left-handed while he was right-handed, so I was looking in a mirror and he was looking in a mirror."
Released in 1963
"We wrote with two guitars, John and I. The joy of that was that I was left-handed while he was right-handed, so I was looking in a mirror and he was looking in a mirror."
Yesterday
Released in 1965
"Somewhere in a dream, I heard this tune. When I woke up, I thought, 'I love that tune. What is it?'
“After a couple of weeks it became clear that no one knew the song and it didn’t exist, except in my head."
Released in 1965
"Somewhere in a dream, I heard this tune. When I woke up, I thought, 'I love that tune. What is it?'
“After a couple of weeks it became clear that no one knew the song and it didn’t exist, except in my head."
Got to Get You into My Life
Released in 1966
"What we had to get into our lives, it seemed, was marijuana. Until we happened upon marijuana, we’d been drinking men. We were introduced to grass when we were in the US, and it blew our tiny little minds."
Released in 1966
"What we had to get into our lives, it seemed, was marijuana. Until we happened upon marijuana, we’d been drinking men. We were introduced to grass when we were in the US, and it blew our tiny little minds."
Penny Lane
Released in 1967
"The characters in Penny Lane are still very real to me. I drive past it to this day, showing people the barbershop, the bank, the fire station, the church I used to sing in, and where the girl stood with the tray of poppies as I waited for the bus."
Released in 1967
"The characters in Penny Lane are still very real to me. I drive past it to this day, showing people the barbershop, the bank, the fire station, the church I used to sing in, and where the girl stood with the tray of poppies as I waited for the bus."
Let It Be
Released in 1970
"Let It Be isn’t about being complacent, or complicit. It’s about having a sense of the complete picture, about being resigned to the global view."
📸 Linda McCartney
Released in 1970
"Let It Be isn’t about being complacent, or complicit. It’s about having a sense of the complete picture, about being resigned to the global view."
📸 Linda McCartney
Here Today
Released in 1982
“A love song to John, written very shortly after he died. There’s one line in the lyric I don’t really mean: 'Well knowing you / You’d probably laugh and say / That we were worlds apart'.
“I don’t think it’s true that we were so distant."
Released in 1982
“A love song to John, written very shortly after he died. There’s one line in the lyric I don’t really mean: 'Well knowing you / You’d probably laugh and say / That we were worlds apart'.
“I don’t think it’s true that we were so distant."
Read the full exclusive extract here: thetimes.co.uk/article/paul-m…
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