More times than I can count I’ve been asked to write an autobiography, but the time has never been right. Usually I was raising a family or I was on tour, which has never been an ideal situation for long periods of concentration. But the one thing I’ve always managed to do, whether at home or on the road, is write new songs. 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. And these songs span my entire life, because even at the age of 14, when I
EXTRACT
Paul McCartney reveals the stories behind his greatest hits
In an exclusive extract from his new book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the present, the songwriter talks about the Beatles, his boyhood and beyond
Right: a recording session at Abbey Road Studios, London, 1968
© PAUL MCCARTNEY/PHOTOGRAPHER: LINDA MCCARTNEY
The Sunday Times
