Appreciation …

… Ken Dodd, Stockhausen and Psycho: unlocking Paul McCartney’s musical genius. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The depth and durability that are the hallmarks of McCartney’s lyrics derive from the combination of two seemingly irreconcilable forces that I characterise as the “physics” and the “chemistry” of the song. The physics has to do with the song’s engineering. One estimate has the Beatles playing nearly 300 times in Germany between 1960 and 1962. That sheer exposure to the business of how songs are constructed lies at the root of the word “poet”, a version of the Greek term for a “maker”. It’s no accident that one Scottish term for a poet or bard is makar.