One of the bestselling music books of recent years is The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present (Liveright/Norton, 2021), in which Paul McCartney collected the words to more than 160 songs from his six-decade career, accompanied by commentary from the lyricist himself and photos from his archive. (The volume was edited with an introduction by poet Paul Muldoon.) Certainly, the shelf of books about McCartney and the Beatles is a long one, but The Lyrics offers fans something new: a fresh perspective on familiar songs. Our starred review called the book a “delightful, surprising treasure trove that no Beatles completist should miss.”
For an encore, McCartney brought out 1964: Eyes of the Storm (Liveright/Norton, June 13), a collection of recently rediscovered photographs he shot with a 35 mm camera on the Beatles’ first trans-Atlantic tour. In another starred review, our critic called it a “luminous photographic record of the dawn of Beatlemania” and a “must for Beatles fans.”
Like McCartney, musical legend Dolly Parton has found a readership for her song lyrics. In 2020, she released Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics (Chronicle Books), written with Robert K. Oermann, a sumptuous volume that collects the words of 175 favorites, including “Coat of Many Colors,” “I Will Always Love You,” and “Jolene,” along with notes on the backstory of each song and plenty of photographs. Kirkus’ starred review called it a “splashy, entertaining guide to the lyrics of one of the most popular musicians of our time.”
This fall brings Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones (Ten Speed Press, Oct. 17), a “must-have treasury for diehard Dolly fans and armchair fashionistas,” written with Holly George-Warren and Rebecca Seaver. Here are 60 years’ worth of Parton’s flamboyant stage costumes, architectonic blond wigs, and shoes (high-heeled, of course), along with observations on personal style inspirations such as Mae West and RuPaul. Like the star herself, it’s flashy, irresistible fun—not to mention a revealing lens on this artist whose self-presentation has always been an essential element of her appeal.
Johnny Cash: The Life in Lyrics (Voracious/Little Brown, Nov. 14), written with Mark Stielper and John Carter Cash, is a posthumous gift for fans of the Man in Black. This volume gathers lyrics to 125 songs, along with the stories behind them and a lavish assortment of archival photographs. Framed as a biography of this iconic songwriter and performer, the book offers “invaluable insight into one of the major figures in American music,” according to our starred review.
Last but certainly not least: Bob Dylan. The Lyrics: 1960-2012 (Simon & Schuster, 2016) put the Nobel Prize winner’s poetic words between hard covers; now Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine (Callaway Arts & Entertainment, Oct. 24), edited by archivists Mark Davidson and Parker Fishel, presents more than 1,000 photographs and assorted ephemera from the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, along with an introduction by Sean Wilentz, an epilogue by Douglas Brinkley, and contributions by Peter Carey, Joy Harjo, Greil Marcus, Michael Ondaatje, and other writers. An essential volume, like all of the above—because the music alone is never enough.
Tom Beer is the editor-in-chief.
