Today, Sir Paul McCartney, a musician whose career spans nearly six decades and counting, celebrates his 78th birthday. Most famously known as a member of The Beatles, and as half of the Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo, McCartney grew up in Liverpool, UK, where he met his future band mates George Harrison and John Lennon. After joining Lennon’s extant band The Quarrymen, the group changed their name to The Beatles and started a residency at a number of different clubs in Hamburg, Germany. Shortly after returning to the UK in 1962, another lineup change occurred and Ringo Starr joined the band. That same year, The Beatles’ first hit “Love Me Do” was released, and within the next two years, they had arguably become the most popular band in the world.
Over the next six years, The Beatles released more than 13 studio albums and recorded over twenty #1 US hits, including “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Help!,” “Yesterday,” “All You Need Is Love,” “Hey Jude,” and “Let It Be,” plus many, many more. Most of the hits by the band were written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, and their songwriting process has been the model and inspiration for musicians who came after them.
As all good things tend to do, The Beatles came to an end in 1970, and all four musicians went their separate ways. Paul McCartney went on to have a successful and prolific career in the 1970s on his own, and with his band Wings. He scored more hits including “Band on the Run,” “Silly Love Songs,” and “Ebony and Ivory” (featuring Stevie Wonder). Since The Beatles broke up, Paul McCartney has released 17 solo albums (the latest of which just came out in 2018), and seven albums with Wings. He continues to perform live, write songs, and even write books (his recent children’s book “Hey Grandude!” was just added to the NLS collection). I’m sure I’m not the only one eagerly awaiting Sir Paul’s next output!
Happy Birthday from the NLS Music Section, Paul McCartney!
Below you will find a number of books about Paul McCartney and The Beatles, as well as braille sheet music and audio courses to learn some of his songs:
Talking Books about Paul McCartney and The Beatles:
- The Beatles Anthology (DB 50874 & BR 12804)
- Brown, Pete and Steven Gaines. The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of The Beatles (DB 19232)
- Center for Cassette Studies. The Beatles (DBM00065)
- The Liverpool Scene (DBM00629)
- Davies, Hunter. The Beatles (DB 45537)
- Doggett, Peter. You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup (DB 72167)
- Gould, Jonathan. Can’t Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America (DB 66593)
- Guesdon, Jean-Michel and Philippe Margotin. All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Beatles Release (DB 96585)
- Hertsgaard, Mark. A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of The Beatles (DB 42327)
- McCartney, Paul. Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics, 1965-1999 (DB 53888)
- Hey Grandude! (DB 96512)
- Norman, Philip. Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation (DB 19057)
- Paul McCartney: The Life (DB 85727)
- Spitz, Bob. The Beatles: The Biography (DB 61584)
Instructional Recordings and Braille Music of Songs by The Beatles
(braille is in for voice and piano in line by line and bar over bar formats with chord symbols unless otherwise noted)
“909 (the One After)” (DBM02324 [guitar])
“A Hard Day’s Night” (DBM03018 [guitar])
“All My Loving” (BRM32635 [lead sheet format] & DBM02803 [alto sax])
“All You Need Is Love” (BRM35728 [lead sheet format] & DBM03976 [piano])
“Blackbird” (DBM01993 [guitar])
“Can’t Buy Me Love” (BRM36507 [lead sheet format]& DBM03041 [guitar])
“Day Tripper” (BRM34569 [lead sheet format] & DBM03047 [guitar])
“Eight Days a Week” (DBM03054 [guitar])
“Eleanor Rigby” (BRM27043)
“The Fool on the Hill” (BRM36237 [lead sheet format])
“Get Back” (BRM21943 & DBM03786 [guitar])
“Good Day Sunshine” (BRM35729 [lead sheet format])
“Hello, Goodbye” (BRM20936)
“Help” (DBM03073 [guitar])
“Here Comes the Sun” (DBM02943 [guitar])
“Honey Don’t” (DBM03817 [guitar])
“I Saw Her Standing There” (DBM03089 [guitar])
“Hey Jude” (BRM18366)
“Julia” (DBM03817 [guitar])
“Let it Be” (BRM20935)
“The Long and Winding Road” (DBM02599 [piano])
“Lady Madonna” (DBM03787 [guitar])
“Love Me Do” (BRM27902),
“Michelle” (DBM03827 [guitar])
“Norwegian Wood” (DBM03799 [guitar])
“Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da” (BRM20456)
“Octopus’ Garden” (DBM02045 [guitar])
“She Loves You” (DBM03164 [guitar])
“Slow Down” (DBM03872 [guitar])
“Strawberry Fields Forever” (BRM32371 [lead sheet format])
“This Boy” (DBM02073 [guitar])
“Two of Us” (DBM02687 [guitar])
“We Can Work It Out” (DBM03180)
“When I’m Sixty-Four” (BRM36385 [lead sheet format])
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (DBM02853 [guitar])
“With a Little Help from My Friends” (BRM20938)
“Yellow Submarine” (BRM12051)
“Yesterday” (BRM30012 & DBM02217 [Piano])
9 Beatles Songs (BRM34936), for voice and piano in section by section format
Beatles for Guitar 1 (BRM35600), for guitar with chord symbols and text
Selected Beatles Songs (BRM34837), for piano or organ in section by section format
Instructional Recordings and Braille Music Songs by Paul McCartney solo or with Wings
“Ebony and Ivory” (BRM27684)
“Let ‘Em In” (BRM24218)
“Mull of Kintyre” (BRM24914)
“Silly Love Songs” (BRM24027)
“Waterfalls” (BRM26347)
“Say, Say, Say” (BRM28214 [lead sheet format])
If you would like to download the materials from BARD and need some guidance, or if you would like to explore more materials of the NLS Music Collection and learn about our service, please email us at [email protected], or give us a phone call at 1-800-424-8567, extension 2. We are happy to help and look forward to hearing from you.