In His Own Words (In Their Own Words) by BBC

by Paul McCartney

Interviews with and photographs of the former Beatle review his career, his opinions, his current activities, and his plans

Genres: Music, Biography, Memoir, Nonfiction

Audio CD

First published August 1, 1976

About the author

Sir James Paul McCartney MBE, known as Paul McCartney, is an English singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, entrepreneur, painter, record producer, film producer, and animal-rights activist. He gained worldwide fame as one of the founders and members of The Beatles. McCartney and John Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and "wrote some of the most popular music in rock and roll history". After leaving The Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman McCartney, and songwriter/singer Denny Laine. He has worked on film scores, classical music, and ambient/electronic music; released a large catalogue of songs as a solo artist; and taken part in projects to help international charities.

McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the most successful musician and composer in popular music history, with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles. His song "Yesterday" is listed as the most covered song in history and has been played more than 7,000,000 times on American television and radio. Wings' 1977 single "Mull of Kintyre" became the first single to sell more than two million copies in the UK, and remains the UK's top selling non-charity single. (Three charity singles have since surpassed it in sales; the first to do so—in 1984—was Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?", whose participants included McCartney.)

His company MPL Communications owns the copyrights to more than 3,000 songs, including all of the songs written by Buddy Holly, along with the publishing rights to such musicals as Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, and Grease.

An iconic figure in contemporary culture, he is regarded internationally as an entertainer and humanitarian. Aside from his musical work, McCartney is an actor, a painter, a poet, and an advocate for animal rights, vegetarianism, and music education; he is active in campaigns against landmines, seal hunting, and Third World debt.

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a cool historical document. You could tell the interviews happened soon after the Beatles broke up because Paul is somewhat defensive and a bit guarded. But still great because he’s Paul. I want to own this.

[Jacquie South · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is actually credited as written and edited by Paul Gambaccini - "the bulk of this book was recorded in conversations with Paul McCartney held during the last 2 months of 1973. The Venus and Mars section stands alone, written summer 1975".

[Dave Estela]

This was written in 1975 so an interesting perspective on his thoughts at the time.

[Jamie Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved the pictures!!

[Jessmar Delos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Verygood

[YaQueMas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Great compilation of interviews. It’s better an audio book to hear him directly

[Patti Bath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great as an audiobook

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and hilarious recount of things in his own words. Great read.