Paul McCartney fans are getting insight into his songwriting process with podcast McCartney: A Life in Lyrics, which features interviews McCartney did with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon for McCartney’s bestselling book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present.
Muldoon tells ABC Audio that when he and McCartney first sat down for the interviews they had no idea anyone would ever hear them, which may have made the interviews even more interesting.
He says that being so relaxed each other made for good listening, though that’s not what they set out to do. He adds, “In fact, I’m sure there were moments where we were so unbuttoned that we probably wouldn’t have thought it would ever be broadcast.”
Muldoon says one of their main goals during the interviews was to make sure McCartney didn’t tell the same stories he had shared in the past.
“The fact that he has been interviewed so often over the years makes it more difficult, actually,” he says. “We felt some kind of, I suppose, obligation to mix it up a little bit.”
And Muldoon insists that McCartney was never hesitant to discuss anything, noting, “He’s very open.”
“There’s very little of a schism or a chasm between how he presents himself and who he is,” Muldoon shares. “I think … what you see is pretty much what you get.”
A new episode of McCartney: A Life in Lyrics, a co-production of Pushkin and iHeartPodcasts, premieres every Wednesday, with each episode focused on a specific song. So far, there have been episodes on “Penny Lane,” “Eleanor Rigby,” “Let it Be” and more.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
