Sir Paul McCartney is to include the previously unseen lyrics to an unrecorded Beatles song in his forthcoming book.
Titled The Lyrics, the collection will feature 154 songs from across his six-decade career in the Beatles, Wings and as a solo artist, such as Hey Jude, Blackbird, Penny Lane, Band On The Run, Live And Let Die and more.
Also included will be the words to Tell Me Who He Is, after the handwritten lyrics to the lost song dating back to the early 1960s were discovered in one of Sir Paul’s notebooks.
The Fab Four released a string of albums during that period, including their 1963 debut, Please Please Me, 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night and the more experimental Rubber Soul in 1965.
The Lyrics will also feature unseen personal photographs, drafts and drawings from Sir Paul’s personal archive, with each song accompanied by a commentary offering insight into his creative process.
It is edited and introduced by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet, Paul Muldoon.
The release will also be accompanied by a display at the British Library featuring material from the book including Sir Paul’s handwritten lyrics.
The display in the library’s entrance hall will celebrate “one of the world’s most successful songwriters and performers”, according to organisers.
Writing in the foreword to the book, Sir Paul says: “More often than I can count, I’ve been asked if I would write an autobiography, but the time has never been right.
“The one thing I’ve always managed to do, whether at home or on the road, is to write new songs.
“I know that some people, when they get to a certain age, like to go to a diary to recall day-to-day events from the past, but I have no such notebooks.
“What I do have are my songs, hundreds of them, which I’ve learned serve much the same purpose. And these songs span my entire life.”
The Lyrics is published on November 2 by Allen Lane.
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