Sir Paul McCartney to explore his creative songwriting process in new podcast

Each episode will see the singer and Irish poet Paul Muldoon focus on one song from Sir Paul’s back catalogue.
Sir Paul McCartney (Ian West/PA)
PA Archive
Naomi Clarke4 October 2023

Sir Paul McCartney is to explore the people, experiences, and art that has inspired his songwriting in a new podcast.

Titled McCartney: A Life in Lyrics, the Beatles star will delve into his creative process alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon across 24 episodes.

Each episode will see the pair focus on one song from Sir Paul’s back catalogue, spanning from his early Beatles tracks to his solo work.

The episodes will be split across two seasons and will be a combination of a “master class, memoir, and improvised journey” – with the beloved musical veteran.

The first episode, released on October 4, sees Sir Paul and Muldoon discuss how the Soviet Union influenced the Beatles 1968 song Back In The USSR.

The singer explained that he took inspiration from Chuck Berry’s Back In The USA, saying: “It was a little bit too pro-US, because we were in the UK, so I could poke fun at it in my own way.

“And when I saw that USSR was kind of similar then I realised I could set it back in the US, I could do a little parody on Chuck’s idea of being back and I would have a Russian guy who had come from America and was glad to be back in Russia.

“And he’d come from Miami on BOAC – British Overseas Airwaves Cooperation.”

The conversations between Sir Paul, 81, and Muldoon, 72, were recorded across the last few years as they collaborated on the book The Lyrics: 1965 to Present.

Released in 2021, the book features 154 songs from all stages of his career, spanning The Beatles, Wings and as a solo artist.

Sir Paul released 12 studio albums with the Beatles alongside fellow bandmates John Lennon, George Harrison and Sir Ringo Starr.

Among the classic tracks from the British band’s repertoire include Let It Be, Hey Jude, Twist And Shout and Blackbird.

He also released seven studio albums with his later group Wings and has recorded a host of his own solo work.

Created by iHeartPodcasts and Pushkin, episodes of the series will also be broadcast on select radio stations on Sunday morning starting on October 8.

The first episode of McCartney: A Life in Lyrics is available on October 4.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in