Paul McCartney is teaming up once again with poet Paul Muldoon, his collaborator on the #1 bestseller The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present. This time, McCartney will invite listeners into his creative process with a new podcast co-produced by Pushkin Industries and iHeartPodcasts, out September 20, 2023.
McCartney: A Life in Lyrics is a combination master class, memoir, and improvised journey with one of the most beloved figures in popular music, where each episode focuses on one song from McCartney’s iconic catalog – spanning early Beatles through his solo work.
The podcast offers listeners an unrivaled opportunity to sit in on conversations between McCartney and Muldoon where they dissect the people, experiences, and art that inspired McCartney’s songwriting. The stories are richly interwoven with contemporary music and soundscapes, providing a revelatory and entertaining window into a true creative genius.
“When we listened back to the tapes, we realized there was something very special happening in these conversations,” Muldoon explains in the prologue episode, out now. “It was McCartney unfiltered.”
Season 1 features 12 episodes that include timeless favorites like “Eleanor Rigby,” “Back in the USSR,” “Let It Be,” “When Winter Comes,” “Penny Lane,” “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey,” “Here Today,” “Live and Let Die,” “Magical Mystery Tour,” “Jenny Wren,” “Too Many People,” and “Helter Skelter.” Superfans can binge all of the first season immediately at release with a Pushkin+ subscription. Season 2 will follow with an additional 12 episodes in February of 2024.
McCartney and Muldoon have previously collaborated with great success in the #1 New York Times bestseller The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, which provided the genesis of more than 50 hours of recorded conversations. The Lyrics will be released in paperback on November 7, 2023 with additional new chapters.
“Paul McCartney is one of the most groundbreaking, gifted artists of all time, and his songs have elevated and given meaning to so many moments in so many of our lives – so the chance to launch a podcast that tells the stories behind those songs … it’s a once-in-a-lifetime project,” said Conal Byrne, CEO of iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group. “‘McCartney: A Life in Lyrics’ will be a first-hand, first-of-its-kind account of his creative process – that has shaped and inspired multiple generations across the globe. We simply could not be more excited to partner with Sir McCartney, Paul Muldoon, executive producer Malcolm Gladwell and Pushkin Industries to bring these stories to listeners everywhere.”
New episodes of McCartney: A Life in Lyrics will be released weekly starting September 20, 2023 on iHeartRadio, Apple, Spotify, and wherever podcasts are available. Pushkin+ subscribers will be able to binge the entire season on the very first day. McCartney: A Life in Lyrics will be distributed by iHeartPodcasts.
ABOUT PAUL McCARTNEY
Born in Liverpool in 1942, Paul McCartney was raised in the city and educated at the Liverpool Institute. Since writing his first song at 14, McCartney has dreamed and dared to be different. He now lives in England.
Paul’s output has been impossibly prolific and singularly influential crossing many different genres. Paul changed the world forever with The Beatles before going on to continue to push boundaries and make music history with his group Wings and as a solo artist. His most recent solo (and 18th) studio album McCartney III secured the UK Album Chart’s festive Number 1 spot in 2020, furthering his lead as the UK’s most successful album act of all time.
In November 2021 Paul released his book, THE LYRICS: 1956 to the Present, recounting his life and art through the prism of 154 songs from all stages of his career – from his earliest boyhood compositions through the legendary decade of The Beatles, to Wings and his solo albums to the present. The LYRICShit Number One on the New York Times Best Seller list, and was named the 2021 Book Of The Year by Barnes & Noble.
An 18-time Grammy winner and recipient of The Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement and Trustees Awards, McCartney’s list of international accolades reads like no other as well as being recognised for decades of philanthropic activities.
Equally renowned for his live performances as he is for his song-writing Paul set the world record for largest paying concert attendance – 184,000 people – in Rio De Janerio in 1990. A freeman of The City Of Liverpool and Lead Patron of The Liverpool Institute Of Performing Arts, Paul McCartney was appointed Fellow of The Royal College of Music in 1995 by The Prince Of Wales. In 1996 Paul McCartney was knighted by H.M. The Queen for his services to music, and in 2017 he was made a Companion Of Honor in the Queen’s Birthday Honors list.
ABOUT PAUL MULDOON
Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet and professor of poetry, as well as an editor, critic, playwright, lyricist and translator. He has also published smaller collections, works of criticism, opera libretti, books for children, song lyrics and radio and television drama. Muldoon served as Professor of Poetry at Oxford University from 1999 to 2004 and as poetry editor of The New Yorker from 2007 to 2017. He has taught at Princeton University since 1987 and currently occupies the Howard G.B. Clark ’21 chair in the Humanities.
ABOUT PUSHKIN INDUSTRIES
Pushkin Industries is an audio production company co-founded by Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg in 2018. Pushkin has produced numerous shows that have broken into the top 10 on Apple Podcasts, including Gladwell’s hugely successful Revisionist History, Against the Rules, The Happiness Lab, Broken Record, Cautionary Tales, The Last Archive, Deep Cover and Lost Hills. Our podcast hosts include Michael Lewis, Jill Lepore, Rick Rubin, Maya Shankar, Tim Harford, Laurie Santos, Ibram X. Kendi and many more. Pushkin’s original audiobooks include the New York Times audio bestsellers Fauci by Michael Specter and The Bomber Mafia and Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. Pushkin is dedicated to producing audio in any format that challenges listeners, encourages their curiosity, and inspires joy. Visit pushkin.fm, where you can purchase our audiobooks and then listen on your podcast player of choice.
ABOUT IHEARTMEDIA
iHeartMedia, Inc. [Nasdaq: IHRT] is the leading audio media company in America, reaching over 90% of Americans every month, and has a portfolio of unmatched consumer brands and industry-leading events. iHeart’s broadcast radio assets alone have more consumer reach in the U.S. than any other media outlet; twice the reach of the next largest broadcast radio company; and over four times the ad-enabled reach of the largest digital only audio service. iHeart is the largest podcast publisher according to Podtrac, with more downloads than the next two podcast publishers combined; has the number one social footprint among audio players, with seven times more followers than the next audio media brand; and is the only fully integrated audio ad tech solution across broadcast, streaming and podcasts. The company continues to leverage its strong audience connection and unparalleled consumer reach to build new platforms, products and services. Visit iHeartMedia.com for more company information.
