Musical History Tour: New McCartney Lyric Book to Include Lost Beatles Song

From his and John Lennon's first band, The Quarrymen, through the Beatles, Wings, collaborations with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, as well as his many solo records, Paul McCartney's musical career has spanned eight decades.

Paul McCartney will include the lyrics to a never-recorded Beatles composition in a forthcoming literary collection of his songs.

Fans of the Fab Four will be able to read the words to a song entitled Tell Me Who He Is in McCartney's new book, The Lyrics, from publisher Allen Lane — no relation, reportedly, to Penny Lane.

The concept for the book, in which the lyrics to 154 McCartney compositions from his 64-year career are accompanied by his commentary on how they were written, stemmed from conversations between the 79-year-old iconic singer-song-writer and Northern Irish poet Paul Muldoon.

The lost song was discovered in one of McCartney’s notebooks from the early 1960s.

"More often than I can count, I’ve been asked if I would write an autobiography, but the time has never been right," McCartney writes in the book's foreword. "The one thing I’ve always managed to do, whether at home or on the road, is to write new songs".

"I know that 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," he continues. "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."

Muldoon likened the book's writing and editing to the famous 60s band's writing process. 

"In a strange way, our process mimicked the afternoon sessions he had with John Lennon when they wrote for the Beatles," he said. "We were determined never to leave the room without something interesting".

"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. He’s going to come out of this book as a major literary figure," Muldoon added.

"Discovering a new Beatles song would be like unearthing the sarcophagus of Cleopatra on an archaeological dig," raved Beatles biographer Bob Spitz, who said he was "keener than keen" to see the lyrics to Tell Me Who He Is.

"John’s and Paul’s notebooks were full of half-started lyrics, even finished songs that they discarded," Spitz pointed out. "During the early years, the songs were coming so fast and furiously that several were either overlooked or stashed in the back of a drawer. One can only imagine how many Beatles-worthy lyrics were relegated to the bin."

The publisher said the book contains “many further treasures” from the McCartney archives, including handwritten lyrics, previously unpublished personal photographs, drafts and drawings.