Blackbird Singing : The Poems and Lyrics 1965-1999

The Words are as pure and magical as we remember them. Here Paul McCartney, in his first collected volume of poems and lyrics, emerges with a dreamlike yet thoroughly mature voice that confirms his stature as one of the most original and best-loved poets of our time. To actually read McCartney's poems, whether exuberant ballads of love or poignant messages of deepest grief, is to appreciate the electrifying power of the confluence of dream and song. Readers will be familiar with many of the lyrics, like "Yesterday", "Penny Lane", and "Hey Jude", which are part of the most cherished songbook of the twentieth century, but this volume also contains dozens of poems never before seen. Inspired by his late wife, Linda McCartney, Blackbird Singing gives us extraordinary access to the inner life of one of the most influential figures of twentieth-century culture. The poems demonstrate, against an acknowledgment of the essential solitariness of existence, an irrepressible belief in the power of words and music to make things better.