Freddie Mercury was one of the greatest showmen of the twentieth century. With his unparalleled voice and searing on-stage energy, he was a great pretender, a killer queen and a champion of the world. But behind the glamour lived a musician and lyricist talented beyond measure, and the creative force behind one of the most culturally significant and musically diverse bands the world has ever seen. When Freddie passed away in 1991, he left to his former fiancé and dearest friend, Mary Austin, not only his house and possessions, but also a creative archive spanning almost two decades. From his earliest works before Queen was formed, right through to the end of his solo career, his notebooks and doodlings contain previously unpublished material including alternate lyrics and abandoned verses for Bohemian Rhapsody and multiple drafts of Don't Stop Me Now, as well as entire songs that were never recorded. Accompanied by stories, memories, and anecdotes from his lifelong companion, and illustrated with photographs from Freddie's personal collection, many of which have never been published before, A Life in Lyrics is the definitive creative record of one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
"Was ich habe, sind meine Songs sie umspannen mein gesamtes Leben." Paul McCartney Sieben Jahrzehnte umspannend von seiner frühen Liverpooler-Zeit über das historische Jahrzehnt der Beatles bis hin zu Wings und seiner langen Solokarriere hat Paul McCartneys Lyrics die Art, wie Künstler über Musik schreiben, revolutioniert, indem es die endgültigen Texte von 161 Songs mit intimen autobiografischen Kommentaren zu McCartneys Leben und seiner Musik verknüpft. Alphabetisch geordnet, zeigen diese berühmten Kommentare die jeweiligen Umstände, unter denen die Songs geschrieben wurden, wie sie entstanden sind, und die bemerkenswerten, aber oft wunderbar einfachen Menschen und Orte, die sie inspiriert haben. Dutzende von Vignetten lassen das Liverpool der Arbeiterklasse von McCartneys Jugend wiederauferstehen, in der Lieferjungen Pakete auf den Docks auslieferten und Besuche bei älteren Damen in der Nachbarschaft "Eleanor Rigby" inspirierten. McCartney stellt uns auch seine frühen literarischen Einflüsse vor, darunter Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll und Allen Ginsberg, aber auch Alan Durband, seinen geliebten Highschool-Englischlehrer, und seine Mutter Mary, die verstarb, als er gerade vierzehn Jahre alt war. Doch die beiden stärksten Präsenzen in Lyrics sind McCartneys Songwriter-Partner John Lennon und sein "Golden Earth Girl", Linda. "Ein halbes Jahrhundert Musikgeschichte, eines der schönsten Bücher des Jahres." Elke Heidenreich, Spiegel Online Die kompakte Ausgabe des zweibändigen Originals Mit sieben weiteren Songs "Ein gewaltiges Werk und es schadet gar nichts, dass man bei fast jeder Zeile das Lied dahinter im Geiste mitsingt." Claus Kleber "Ein Weltkulturerbe für sich." Julian Weber, taz McCartney schildert Begegnungen mit den Großen seiner Zeit: Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger und Keith Richards, Willem de Kooning, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Jackson u.v.m.
Freddie Mercury was one of the greatest showmen of the twentieth century. With his unparalleled voice and searing on-stage energy, he was a great pretender, a killer queen and a champion of the world. But behind the glamour lived a musician and lyricist talented beyond measure, and the creative force behind one of the most culturally significant and musically diverse bands the world has ever seen. When Freddie passed away in 1991, he left to his former fiancée and dearest friend Mary Austin not only his house and possessions but also a creative archive spanning almost two decades. From his earliest works before Queen was formed, right through to the end of his solo career, his notebooks and doodlings contain previously unpublished material including alternate lyrics and abandoned verses for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and multiple drafts of 'Don't Stop Me Now', as well as entire songs that were never recorded. Accompanied by stories, memories, and anecdotes from his lifelong companion, and illustrated with photographs from Freddie's personal collection, many of which have never been published before, A Life in Lyrics is the definitive creative record of one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
From his early Liverpool days, through the historic decade of The Beatles, to Wings and his long solo career, The Lyrics pairs the definitive texts of Paul McCartney's songs with first-person commentaries on his life and music. Spanning two alphabetically arranged volumes, these commentaries reveal how the songs came to be and the people who inspired them: his devoted parents, Mary and Jim; his songwriting partner, John Lennon; his "Golden Earth Girl," Linda Eastman; his wife, Nancy McCartney; and even Queen Elizabeth, among many others. Here are the origins of "Let It Be," "Lovely Rita," "Yesterday," and "Mull of Kintyre," as well as McCartney's literary influences, including Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, and Alan Durband, his high-school English teacher. With images from McCartney's personal archives-handwritten texts, paintings, and photographs, many previously unseen-The Lyrics, spanning sixty-four years, becomes the definitive literary and visual record of one of the greatest songwriters of all time.