The second season of Paul McCartney’s acclaimed McCartney: A Life in Lyrics podcast series premieres Wednesday, February 7. The program is narrated by award-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon, who co-wrote McCartney’s 2021 book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present with the Beatles legend.
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The podcast was inspired by the book, and features audio clips from interviews that Muldoon conducted with McCartney over the course of five years that were used to put together the publication. Speaking recently with American Songwriter, Muldoon admitted that he and McCartney had no idea that these recordings would get new life as part of the podcast.
Recording His Interviews with McCartney
“So when we did the interviews … we sat for two or three hours at a time in a room at a table with a couple of microphones,” the writer noted. “And the idea was solely … to record something that would be transcribed. And … I can say with almost complete authority that I certainly had no idea and he had no idea that what we were saying would ever be broadcast.”
He continued, “[A]t no point was there a thought of it being heard by anyone else. Because had there been a thought of that, we would have made more of an effort to position mics, we would have possibly [been] on better behavior, you know, because it is quite unbuttoned.”
Muldoon went on to note that people who have read the book have appreciated the candid and uncensored quality of the conversations.
“[T]hey do rather like … the laid-back aspect to it, you know?” he maintained. “That [McCartney is] quite open, quite free and easy.”
More Details About the Podcast
As previously reported, each McCartney: A Life in Lyrics episode focuses on one or two songs written by McCartney from his solo career or the Beatles catalog. As was the case for the podcast’s first season, the second series will feature 12 episodes. Among the tunes confirmed to be profiled during the new season are “Yesterday,” “Band on the Run,” “Hey Jude,” “Here, There and Everywhere,” and “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me).”
The last song is a deep cut that appeared on the classic 1973 Paul McCartney and Wings album Band on the Run.
“‘Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)’ [is] one that [isn’t] so well known,” Muldoon commented to American Songwriter. “That was the one where Dustin Hoffman … challenged him about whether or not he could write a song about anything, and the challenge was, ‘Can you write a song about Picasso’s last words?,’ which he managed to do.”
Muldoon’s Favorite McCartney Song
Asked if he had a favorite McCartney song, Muldoon hesitated, and then revealed his choice to be a classic 1966 Beatles tune.
“I suppose my own favorite, insofar as I’m allowed to have favorites … it is hard to top ‘Eleanor Rigby,’” he said. “It seems to me to be a perfect song, you know? And, I suppose … if I were forced to take one to a desert island, that would be the one. The truth is, we can take them all.”
It’s worth noting that an episode from the first season of the McCartney: A Life in Lyrics podcast focused on “Eleanor Rigby.”
The McCartney: A Life in Lyrics podcast is available at iHeart.com, Pushkin.fm, and on various popular streaming services, including Apple Music and Spotify. The series is co-produced by iHeartPodcasts and the Pushkin audio-production company.
