Introducing: McCartney: A Life in Lyrics

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2:33McCartney and his friend, the poet Paul Muldoon. The two of them taped years of conversations, digging into Paul's lyrics and songwriting process. And because it's hard to separate the art from the man, a lot of his personal life gets revealed too. Like his relationship with his family in Liverpool, the success and breakup of the Beatles, his time with Wings, and so much more. McCartney, A Life in Lyrics dropped with two episodes today, one on Eleanor Rigby and the one I'm presenting to you here now on Back in the USSR. If you love music and songwriting and have ever wanted the chance to be a fly on the wall for a conversation with the Beatle, then McCartney of Life and Lyrics will not disappoint.

3:15To binge all the first season right away, subscribe to Pushkin Plus on Apple Podcasts, and all 12 episodes will be there waiting for you. In the meantime, here's Paul Muldoon and Paul McCartney on Back in the USSR for their new podcast, McCartney, A Life in Lyrics. Enjoy. At the height of the Cold War. With the closing of the border, Soviet divisions in East Germany were on the move, with combat forces brought into strategic positions for the contest over the status of Berlin. At a time when two halves of the world were separated by an iron curtain on the brink of nuclear war. The Beatles released, well, a strange kind of rock and roll song.

4:11I'm Paul Muldoon. I'm a poet, a lover of not only the lyric poem, but the song lyric. Over the past several years, I've got to spend time with one of the greatest songwriters of our era. And will you look at me? It's happened. I'm going on tour. I'm actually a performer. That's Sir Paul McCartney. He and I worked on a book together, looking at the lyrics of more than 150 of his songs. And we recorded many hours of our conversations. Am I actually my songwriter? My God, well that crept up on me. This is McCartney, A Life in Lyrics. It's a masterclass, a memoir, and an improvised journey with one of the most iconic figures in popular music.

5:08In this episode, back in the USSR. Mobilization efforts during the last months of 1961 brought the United States Army to a strength of over a million men, subsequently increasing our troop strength throughout Europe. It's hard to imagine just how puzzling it would have been in 1968 To hear a song about somebody being happy to leave the West and go back to the Soviet Union Only a few months before, Russian tanks had rolled into Prague To crack down on protests against Soviet control This 1968 report from ABC News highlights the extent of the operation. Russian tanks and infantry, aided by troops from East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria, have occupied Czechoslovakia and have crushed the new and relatively liberal leadership of that small country.

6:09The way this song turns the cultural and political world order on its head is what makes it the joke of an era. As was often the case for McCartney, he drew inspiration from what was happening in the wider world, as well as from the songs that were playing on his radio. Oh, well, oh, well, I feel so good today We just touched ground on an international runway Chuck Berry wrote a song called Back in the US, which we were very familiar with, And so, again, I thought it was kind of cool. It was obviously a serviceman returning home, going back into the UX, going back into his home civilisation.

7:00Chuck Berry had come back from a trip to Australia where he had witnessed the dismal living conditions of the indigenous population. and he wrote this song as a kind of anthem to his glorious USA.

7:28Glossing over the struggles of the American civil rights movement at the time, Berry's song is a celebration of capitalism and the economic boom of the 1950s, of drive-ins and sizzling hamburgers.

8:00Paul McCartney and the Beatles loved Chuck Berry, and they loved this upbeat celebratory anthem. But now a decade had passed. The Vietnam War was a total failure and the world's love affair with American culture had started to wear off. It was a little bit too pro-US because we were in the UK. So I could poke fun at it in my own way. And when I saw that US-SR was kind of similar, then I realized I could sit back in the US, I could do a little parody on Chuck's idea of being back, and I would have a Russian guy who'd come from America and was glad to be back in Russia. And he'd come from Miami on BOAC, British Overseas Airways Corporation.

9:04The speaker of the song, the protagonist, flies back to the Soviet Union with the glamour of modern jet travel, like that showcased in this 1964 ad for BOSC. In the economy class, the standard is so high that passengers can easily persuade themselves that they have VIPs travelling first. One medium dry vodka martini, mixed like you said, sir. Who is this man? Anything else? It's easy to imagine him as a kind of suave jet setter, fluent in many languages, lots of charm, maybe like a James Bond type. The Prime Minister's talked to Moscow. They're saying it was an accident during a routine training exercise.

9:50Governments change. The lives stay the same. Except he wouldn't be reporting to MI6 or Dem Judy Dench. Rather, the KGB. He's flying home from Miami. He's just been to sunny Florida, maybe hanging out on the beach, which gets us to the bridge. If the verse is setting up a joke, the punchline is the bridge, when our protagonist starts listing the territories of the former Soviet Union.

10:39The harmonies of the bridge were inspired by the Beach Boys. In fact, when the Beatles went to India in 1968 to meditate, Mike Love of the Beach Boys was there too. He has even claimed in several interviews that he gave McCartney the idea for that part of the song. Where did the Beach Boys fit into this? Well, they were big influences round about the time. So this, as I'm doing a parody of Chuck and I'm doing it, I'm doing it American, but it's a Russian guy having all the sentiments.

11:24So I'm using stuff from the Beach Boys for the parody.

11:40So when I'm going, Ukraine girls really knock me out. I'm thinking California girls will knock me out.

11:52Girls make me sing and shout And Georgia's always on my, my, my, my, my, my, my

12:03I think I was very lucky. As I say, when I hit this little humorous vein, it seemed to just sort of flow. So I know what I'm doing now. It's in the middle. So now I'm going to go into detail about the countries and the territories. So we've got Ukraine, and we've got Moscow, and we've got Georgia. Well, if I say Georgia, I think of the old American song, Georgia on my mind, which I would be thinking of the Ray Charles, Georgia on my mind. Georgia Georgia

12:43The whole day through Ray Charles' home state of Georgia is suddenly transformed into the Soviet satellite nation of Georgia. And now the joke is complete. Leaving behind the sun and fun of Miami and old sweet Georgia, we break through the wall, eager to get back into the USSR on board our BOAC jet. I don't think I ever understood at the time that BOAC was in the first line. I'm not sure if I ever quite understood what it was. Now does that horrify you? No, not at all. I mean, I'm still finding things in these lyrics, but I do sometimes think, I mean, particularly about this one, how amazingly ancient all the ideas are now.

13:43There isn't a USSR anymore. There isn't a BOAC. And I often wonder, like you didn't get it, I don't think the kids get it. I'm not sure they know what USSR was. It's just a rock and roll song. But I mean, obviously, the joke is that I then split it up. Back in the U.S. Back in the U.S. Back in the U.S. That's all.

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17:51While the song has an upbeat rock and roll energy, the subtext of the lyrics is certainly more bittersweet. The Soviet Union at the time was a totalitarian state with strong censorship in place. You know, it was always grey. So I mean, when I'm writing this song, it's very much tongue-in-cheek. I'm not really thinking there's anything for this guy to go back to. I mean, I remember when we first went to Berlin and sort of looked over the wall. Aware of their special responsibilities on this trouble spot between the free and communist worlds, American soldiers of the Berlin garrison are combat ready and alert.

18:35To me, I just knew there was like a vast grey expanse that was beyond this wall and that we were all in technicolor. People in East Germany continue to risk their lives to escape to the free world. Everyone in Russia who goes back to the Beatles period remembers having to smuggle records or it was all very, you know, little rooms where you could play and you didn't want people to know, you didn't want the authorities to know that you were listening to this forbidden group, which really, we loved the idea of that, that we were getting smuggled along with Levi jeans. This was like a true cultural arrival.

19:28A little over a decade after the fall of the Soviet Union, McCartney really did arrive when he was invited to give a concert on Red Square in Moscow.

19:49And when he played back in the USSR, he felt the whole crowd rise and join in the song.

20:02During his time in Russia, this was 2003 McCartney got to meet a young Vladimir Putin then serving his first term as president There's actually a news clip of the occasion and you see Putin and McCartney sitting across from each other like two statesmen And then Paul McCartney pops the question. You were growing up, did you listen to the Beatles? Yes, it was extremely popular. It was like a gulp of freedom. Your music was like an open window to the world. It was banned by the authorities, I understand. It was considered at this time a propaganda of some alien ideology. It would have seemed unimaginable then that 20 years later the same man would order Russian troops to invade Ukraine an act of war unparalleled in Europe since the end of the Second World War cracking down on any protest, arresting journalists assassinating political enemies, jailing young women for singing in churches once again closing the window to the outside world.

21:23My conversation with Paul McCartney took place before the current war in Ukraine but during our time together we often spoke about the subversive nature of art and how throughout history music has served as a beacon of freedom. Art is dangerous To some people We always thought that we were on the right side That if we were dangerous We were dangerous to the Russian authorities And to us that said They're not that good That was how we felt And I think It was true to a large extent That they were trying to suppress this Western influence and it goes on you know yeah I know there was a period when you thought oh it's all clearing up but it's actually this suppression and it's back big time you know it's sort of many countries now and it's sort of being given a free pass and everyone's kind of stymied and sort of saying no So, please don't do that.

22:37I mean, God knows what the politics and the realities are behind it. But anyway, so for me, it's kind of nice to just escape into a song like this.

23:05You don't know how lucky you are, boys, back in the USSR.

23:13Been away so long, I hardly knew the place. Gee, it's good to be back home. Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case. Honey, disconnect the phone. Back in the USSR, from the 1968 record titled The Beatles, also known as the White Album. In the next episode, Paul McCartney tells us about how his late mother visited him in a dream and gave him some words of wisdom. Seeing her beautiful, kind face was very comforting. I immediately felt at ease and loved. One of the Beatles' last hits, Let It Be, is an answer to the band's inner turmoil and to Hamlet's age-old question, to be or not to be? McCartney, A Life in Lyrics is a co-production between iHeartMedia, NPL and Pushkin Industries.

24:24This episode of Broken Record is brought to you by Chase Sapphire Reserve. Traveling is one of life's greatest joys. Honestly, can anything be more exhilarating? Well, actually, yeah, with Chase Sapphire Reserve. It's your gateway to the world's most captivating destinations. First, you will earn eight times points on all purchases through Chase Travel. And the card gets you into Sapphire Lounge by the club at select airports nationwide. and access to one-of-a-kind experiences. Whether you are booking a once-in-a-lifetime trip or your next week in Escape, discover more with Chase Sapphire Reserve at chase.com slash sapphire reserve.

25:02Cards issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC. Subject to credit approval, terms apply. Why are TSA rules so confusing? You got a hoodie on, take it off! I'm Manny. I'm Noah. This is Devin. And we're best friends and journalists with a new podcast called No Such Thing. where we get to the bottom of questions like that. Why are you screaming at me? I can't expect what to do. Now, if the rule was the same, go off on me. I deserve it. You know, lock him up. Listen to No Such Thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. No such thing. This is an iHeart Podcast.