Paul McCartney Launches New Podcast ‘McCartney: A Life In Lyrics’
Episode one finds the legend diving into ‘Eleanor Rigby.’
Paul McCartney has unveiled his wildly anticipated new podcast, McCartney: A Life in Lyrics. The 12-part series is 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 Paul’s iconic catalog.
Shop the best of Paul McCartney’s discography on vinyl and more.
For the podcast, McCartney has teamed up once again with poet Paul Muldoon—his collaborator on the No.1 bestseller The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present—to invite listeners into his creative process. Beginning with early Beatles and ending with Paul’s solo work, listeners will get an unrivaled opportunity to listen in as McCartney dissects the people, experiences and art that inspired his songwriting. Paul McCartney: A Life in Lyrics is co-produced by iHeartPodcasts and Pushkin.
In the season premiere, McCartney gives the backstory to his iconic song “Eleanor Rigby.” The episode begins with McCartney explaining the lyric, “Wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door.”
“My mom’s favorite was Nivea and I love it to this day. It kind of scared me a little that women used quite so much cold cream, and it was my dread, when I got older and got married, that I would marry someone who would [wear a lot of cold cream] and put one of those big shower caps on and the curlers and have masses of things… So that played on my mind quite a bit, so she’s wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door.”
McCartney also discusses the name “Eleanor Rigby,” saying, “There is a grave which John and I wandered around endlessly talking about our future. And there is a grave there [with the name Eleanor Rigby]. I don’t remember ever having seeing that gravestone but it’s been suggested to me that psychologically I would have seen it.”
