Sir Paul McCartney is to publish a new autobiography comprising of 154 songs spanning his entire career. The book, titled ‘The Lyrics’, will recount McCartney’s songwriting journey – from his earliest childhood compositions, through his seminal decade with The Beatles, to Wings and then his solo albums to present. Arranged on 900 pages and two volumes, the book is also purportedly structured in alphabetical rather than typically linear order, so as to provide a “kaleidoscopic rather than chronological account,” according to McCartney’s publisher Allen Lane. Each song is endorsed by Sir Paul’s own commentary; the texts will describe the circumstances in which the songs were written, the people and places that inspired them, as well as what he thinks of them today.

McCartney said: “More often than I can count I’ve been asked if I would write an autobiography, but the time has never been right. The one thing I’ve always managed to do, whether at home or on the road, is to write new songs. Some people, when they get to a certain age, like to go to a diary to recall day-to-day events from the past, but I have no such notebooks. What I do have are my songs, hundreds of them, which I’ve learned serve much the same purpose. And these songs span my entire life.

“I hope that what I’ve written will show people something about my songs and my life which they haven’t seen before. I’ve tried to say something about how the music happens and what it means to me and I hope what it may mean to others too,” he added

The book was edited by Pulitzer prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon, who compiled the work based on his conversations with McCartney over a five year period. “These commentaries are as close to an autobiography as we may ever come,” Muldoon said. “His insights into his own artistic process confirm a notion at which we had but guessed — that Paul McCartney is a major literary figure who draws upon, and extends, the long tradition of poetry in English.

“He’s one of the most buoyant, upbeat people I know, but his general demeanor shouldn’t suggest that he’s anything but a deep thinker. He looks long and hard into every aspect of life and I believe readers, old and new, will be struck by a book that will show that side of him”

 ‘The Lyrics’ is available to pre order now and will be released November 2nd.