The story behind the Beatles’ “Paperback Writer”: How a challenge from Paul McCartney’s aunt inspired the song

Family is a recurring theme in Paul McCartney’s vast songwriting oeuvre. From Let It Be, in which his late mother Mary appeared to him in a dream with a comforting message, Put It There - one of his dad’s sayings; rowdy household knees-ups in Let ‘Em In - to the heartfelt unwritten letter, underlining all of the things he would have liked to have said, but didn’t, to his deceased writing partner/bandmate John Lennon in Here Today.

And even Hey Jude, which contained a few adult words of advice for Lennon’s son Julian... McCartney could always find inspiration from his relationships with those around him.

A thousand pages, give or take a few

Even Paperback Writer, The Beatles 14th single release on Capitol, has family connections.

As Macca explained in 1966: “Years ago, my Auntie Lil said to me, ‘Why do you always write songs about love all the time? Can’t you ever write about a horse or the summit conference or something interesting?’ So, I thought, ‘All right, Auntie Lil.’”

According to a story by a former disgraced radio DJ who shall remain nameless, Paul got the idea about a budding young novelist after seeing Ringo deep in thought, flicking through a paperback backstage during the Fabs’ UK tour at the end of 1965.

Harrison plugs in his Gibson SG...

Once the idea was there, the words simply flowed. George Harrison’s brilliant overdriven riff and some unusual three-part harmonies make the song one the group’s finest works. It was recorded in one day at Abbey Road and released with Lennon’s trippy, psych-out Rain on the flip in May 1966.

In the promo videos, you can even see McCartney with a chipped front tooth - the result of a bike accident while visiting his dad on Merseyside in the Christmas holidays.

Paperback Writer live

Despite its very intricate, Beach Boys-like vocal arrangement, The Beatles did perform the song live during what was to be their last tour of live shows in the summer of 1966 - footage of them singing Paperback Writer from two nights at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan exist and fun fact, it was the penultimate song that the band played in in their last live concert in front of a paying public, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

Macca occasionally included the song in his set in his solo shows, up until quite recently - the song’s last outing was in Buffalo, New York in 2015.

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