If you had a nickel for every time Paul McCartney was asked to write his autobiography, you’d have a lot of nickels.

Memoirs from rock music stars usually are formulaic. Here are the basic themes: They grow up poor. There was some form of dysfunction in their childhood. Mediocre to poor students who couldn’t wait to be done with school. Music turned around their lives. Lots of stories about sex, drugs and money.

McCartney’s story wouldn’t be much different. He lost his mother at a young age to cancer. He met John Lennon and George Harrison. They formed a band. You know the rest.

But, he found a different way to tell his life story than the routine autobiography. “The Lyrics” looks at the more than one hundred songs he has written, both as a member of The Beatles and also in his long post-Fab Four career. In addition to the actual lyrics of each song, McCartney tells how he came to write the tune along with what was occurring in his life at that time.

While this is certainly a different and more way to tell your story, it does drag on for more than eight hundred pages, over two volumes. But, there is better news about the book. There are plenty of visuals.

More than half the book is filled with original hand-written lyric sheets, drawings and never-seen photographs. The pictures, most of which were taken by his late first-wife, Linda, were more captivating and kept my interest much longer than the actual lyrics and Paul’s stories.

Even though the book is pricey at about $100 (pssst…you can read it for free from most public libraries if you’re patient enough to wait on a long list), I recommend it. It’s especially worthwhile for us Beatles fanatics. You’ll get it for the words, but it’s the pictures that make it memorable.

Related Post: It’s a great week to be Paul McCartney

Type your email address in the box and click the “create subscription” button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.