Paul McCartney launched the podcast McCartney: A Life in Lyrics this Wednesday, the 4th. In the first episode, the former Beatle talked about the song "Eleanor Rigby," from the 1966 Revolver
The 12-part series was based on the best-selling book and is presented by poet Paul Muldoon , who wrote the foreword to The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present.
The first episode shows Macca analyzing the Beatles' song, "Eleanor Rigby." He explained where the song's title came from, revealing that the name came from a grave he and his late bandmate John Lennon saw . Listen to the episode at the end of this article.
“There’s a grave where John and I wandered endlessly talking about our future,” he recalled on the podcast. “And there’s a grave there [with Eleanor Rigby on it]. I don’t remember seeing that headstone, but it’s been suggested to me that psychologically I would have seen it.”
He also discussed his aversion to classical music training, explaining how most musicians of his generation don't know how to read music. He went on to say that when he teaches a child to play the piano, he usually shows them a few chords to start with. “You have C, D minor, E minor, F, G, A minor, right there, it’s like most Beatles songs. That’s more than you need to know,” he said.
McCartney: A Life In Lyrics was co-produced by Pushkin Industries and iHeartPodcasts. A new episode will be released every week. The first season will have 12 episodes, and the second season will follow with 12 additional episodes, scheduled for release in February 2024.