The Economist December 4th 2021 Books & arts 89outin2011,isandJabhatalNusra,another
jihadistgroup,razedover 80 churches,kid
nappedclericsandsoldChristianandYazi
di women into sex slavery. In Aleppo,
hometomoreChristiansthananyother
Syriancity,manywereaffectedbyindis
criminategovernmentbombing.Econom
icwoehasleftlittleincentivetostay.
InthefourthcenturyGazawaswholly
Christian.Bythe21stcenturythecommu
nityhadshrunktounder1,000,andthe
consequencesoftheelectionofHamasin
2006 imperilleditsmembersfurther.They
endurethesamehardshipsanddearthof
opportunityasotherGazansandreceive
scantgovernmentprotection;unemploy
mentamongyoung Christiansstandsat
70%.Egypt’sChristianpopulation,chiefly
Copts,istheregion’slargest,butstillsuf
ferslegalandsocialdiscrimination,evenif
somefamiliesareinsulatedbyprivilege.
“Theunderlyingsenseofinferiorityisour
greatest persecution,” says one woman.
“I’vehadMuslimmengrabmebythehair
andtrytodragmebecauseI don’thavea
headscarfon.”
“TheVanishing”skatesoverpastabus
es by Christians,such as the Crusades.
Nonetheless,itisbotha heartfeltlament
fortheMiddleEastanda poignanttribute
tohopeandtoleranceinthefaceofadver
sity—tenaciousworshippersinbombed
outchurches,theopennessofYazidirape
victims.Whateveryourbeliefs,itsevoca
tionoffracturedlivessustainedbyfaithis
deeplyaffecting.n
TheBeatles
A long and
winding ode
T
helivesofdistinguishedpeopleoften
take a lot of telling. Yet even devotees
might raise an eyebrow at the heft of Sir
Paul McCartney’s memoir: two volumes to
talling 960 pages. Casual Beatles fans may
be surprised by the title, too. Though most
would consider Sir Paul the band’s best
musician (with an honourable mention for
George Harrison), John Lennon typically
gets the plaudits for writing. In a poll by the
bbcin 2001 to rank the greatest lyricists,
Lennon received more than twice as many
votes as McCartney.
Superficially, “The Lyrics” is a coffee
table book. Sir Paul has arranged 154 fa
vourite compositions alphabetically, with
lots of glossy photos. But in the essays that
accompanyeachsong,hisunderlying pur
pose is to affirm his status as a writer. They
are based on 50 hours of conversation with
Paul Muldoon, a prizewinning poet, in
which Sir Paul reflected on his life, his lyr
ics and the relationship between them. Mr
Muldoon calls Sir Paul a “great writer” who
has learned from “an impressive array of
literary masters: Dickens, Shakespeare,
Robert Louis Stevenson, Lewis Carroll”.
Sir Paul flaunts his bookish side. He
fondly recalls his favourite bookshop in
Liverpool and an inspirational English
teacher. The autobiographical snippets in
clude many encounters with writers. As a
young Beatle, he found himself talking to
Bertrand Russell about imperialism, lis
tening to Allen Ginsberg praise “Eleanor
Rigby” and stumbling across Harold Pin
ter’s bathtub of champagne bottles.
His songs are full of allusions. The
index includes authors ranging from
Edward Lear (mentioned in “Paperback
Writer”) to Rabindranath Tagore (who in
spired “Pipes of Peace”). Echoes of Shake
speare recur. “Lend me your ears” in “With
a Little Help from My Friends” is pinched
from “Julius Caesar”. Sir Paul says the girl
who is “way beyond compare” in “I Saw Her
Standing There” harks back to the sonnet
about a summer’s day. His link to Hamlet’s
neardying words—“but let it be”—seems
more of a stretch.
The melody usually comes first, Sir Paul
says of his writing process. The tune of
“Yesterday” arrived in a dream; its working
title was “Scrambled Eggs”. Next he looks
for characters to sketch: “Once you get into
creating a narrative and storytelling, it is so
much more entertaining.”
Some songs are ensembles of voices,
such as “Band on the Run” and “Penny
Lane” (written partly in free indirect
speech). Others are portraits, such as the
solitary woman in “Another Day”, or Maha
rishi Mahesh Yogi, the Beatles’ spiritualadviser, in “The Fool on the Hill”. Even
when Sir Paul uses the first person, he of
ten inhabits another persona. For “The
Long and Winding Road” he pretended to
be Ray Charles; mimicking other writers is
a habitual “disappearing trick”. Of “Maybe
I’m Amazed”, usually interpreted as an ode
to Linda, his first wife, he insists that:
“Starting with myself, the characters who
appear in my songs are imagined.”
Overall he makes a strong case for treat
ing his work as poetry. Lennon, he says,
“never had anything like my interest in lit
erature”. It was cynicism that secured his
bandmate’s acclaim: “It’s easier to get criti
cal approval if you rail against things and
swear a lot.” Frequently he contrasts Len
non’s tough childhood, in which guardians
absconded or died, with the jolly, loving
family who gave Sir Paul an optimistic out
look. That is why his songs are often about
the happiness of ordinary folk.
Lennon is arguably the main character
in “The Lyrics”, memories of Sir Paul’s best
friend and fiercest rival popping up in
songs written long after his death. Harri
son and Ringo Starr rarely intrude. All the
same, this is an enlightening account of
how some of the greatestever songs came
about. It also illuminates Sir Paul’s attach
ment to his Liverpudlian and Irish heri
tage, the challenges of going solo and his
musical ambitions today. If at times it is
rambling and repetitive, what fan willnot
enjoy a meander that feels like a longpriv
ate audience with one of the Fab Four? nThe Lyrics.By Paul McCartney. Edited by
Paul Muldoon. Liveright; 960 pages; $100.
Allen Lane; £75
Alittle help from his friendForgottenwarsMessage in a bottle
I
t soundsmorelikea badvisittotheoto
laryngologist than an important conflict
between empires. The incident that gave
the War of Jenkins’ Ear its name occurred
in 1731, when a Spanish coastguard com
mander mutilated the captain of a British
privateer suspected of smuggling in the
Caribbean. Jenkins’ severed appendage
was preserved in a bottle and presented to
King George II of Britain as proof of Span
ish barbarity. The ensuing conflict lasted
from 1739 to 1742.
Yet as Robert Gaudi writes in his new
history, the war’s causes went beyond a
single outrage. Tension had simmered over
a dispute about fees for Britain’s contract
to provide slaves to the Spanish colonies.
British ships ran contraband to and fromThe War of Jenkins’ Ear.By Robert Gaudi.
Pegasus Books; 408 pages; $29.95 and £22