McCartney: A Life in Lyrics
4.8/5
Critic Rating
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 with one of the most beloved figures in popular music. Each episode focuses on one song from McCartney’s iconic catalog – spanning early Beatles through his solo...
Critic Reviews
Score: 4.5
Fiona McCann • Irish Times • Dec 18, 2023
"The audio varies – here we have tapes of the Pauls’ meandering conversations that are a little distant and fuzzy at times, and without the polish of studio sessions, but there we have Muldoon’s crisp and tightly scripted narration, and songs and news clips are expertly threaded through the episodes. …"
Score: 5
Eliana Dockterman • Time • Nov 22, 2023
"Muldoon and McCartney chat in a casual and candid manner about the inspiration behind some of his most influential lines and riffs. Some of the insights are profound...Some are simply fascinating..."
Score: 5
Miranda Sawyer • The Guardian • Oct 14, 2023
"More for emotional older men...I’m always a bit surprised by the leisured pace at which McCartney speaks. This, along with Muldoon’s mellifluous floweriness, means that you have to slow down for this show, adjust your settings to “relaxed”....it’s still a delight to hear one of the titans of our age speak about his work..."
Score: 5
Jenny McCartney • The Spectator • Oct 14, 2023
"The music, meanwhile, took inspiration from sources as varied as Bach and the jagged violins on the Psycho soundtrack. Muldoon’s a warmly mellifluous host, and McCartney’s a genial guest, rolling with his companion’s livelier subtextual interpretations without fully committing to them. It was rewarding just to pause and consider the lyrics to ‘Eleanor Rigby’, a compressed short story with the emotional force of poetry."
Score: 5
Fiona Sturges • Financial Times • Oct 8, 2023
"McCartney: A Life in Lyrics is rare among music podcasts in being able to play lengthy excerpts of the music under discussion — such are the perks of interviewing a copyright-owning Beatle. But the most striking element is the enthusiasm with which McCartney looks back at his life and his songs. it’s testament to McCartney’s charm, charisma and his understanding that no detail is too insignificant that I wanted both to last longer."
Score: 4
Will Hodgkinson • The Times UK • Oct 4, 2023
"All of this makes for fascinating material...For Beatles nuts this is 18 minutes of pure gold. Muldoon can get a bit lofty, describing McCartney’s songwriting as “a beacon he would steer by”, but he gives the space for McCartney to explain his craft, which he does with enthusiasm."
Score: 5
PR Staff • PodcastReview.org • Oct 4, 2023
"Of particular interest is the arrangement’s connection to the score from Psycho’s famous shower scene. It’s all made worthwhile by McCartney’s typically warm and open style."
Score: 5
Hannah Verdier • The Guardian • Sep 27, 2023
"McCartney proves he’s one hell of a storyteller as he describes the characters he’s created...With a huge back catalogue, there’s plenty more to come..."
