Editing Paperback Writer (section)

==Background and inspiration==
"Paperback Writer" was largely written by [[Paul McCartney]], who based the lyrics on a challenge made to him by his Aunt Lil. McCartney said 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.'"{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=60}} According to [[Radio Luxembourg]] DJ [[Jimmy Savile]]'s recollection, the inspiration for the song came backstage at a concert venue when McCartney, mindful of his aunt's request, saw [[Ringo Starr]] reading a book and declared his intention to write a song about a book.{{sfn|Turner|2005|p=101}}

The lyrics are in the form of a letter from an aspiring author addressed to a publisher.<ref name="Fontenot/About">{{cite web
| last=Fontenot| first=Robert| year=2008| title=The Beatles Songs: 'Paperback Writer' – The history of this classic Beatles song| work=About.com| url=https://www.thoughtco.com/top-beatles-songs-4058717|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150104225223/http://oldies.about.com/od/thebeatlessongs/a/paperbackwriter.htm|archive-date=4 January 2015|access-date=10 October 2021}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|According to the Beatles' friend and aide Tony Bramwell, McCartney based much of the lyric on a letter he had received from a would-be novelist.{{sfn|Turner|2005|p=101}}}} McCartney completed the song with [[John Lennon]] in response to pressure from [[EMI]] for a new [[The Beatles|Beatles]] single in April 1966, early on in the sessions for the band's ''[[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]'' album.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=150–51}} Intrigued by the rhythmic possibilities of the phrase "paperback writer", McCartney came up with the framework for the song during his hour-long drive from London to Lennon's house in Surrey.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=151}}

Discussing "Paperback Writer" with Alan Smith of the ''[[NME]]'' that year, McCartney recalled that he and Lennon wrote the lyrics in the form of a letter beginning with "Dear Sir or Madam", but that the song was not inspired by "any real-life characters".<ref>{{cite web|first=Alan |last=Smith |title=Paul Speaks Out! |work=[[New Musical Express]] |date=16 June 1966 |access-date=9 January 2016 |url=http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/db1966.0616.beatles.html |via=Beatlesinterviews.com}}</ref> However, according to a 2007 piece in ''[[The New Yorker]]'', McCartney said he started writing the song in 1965 after reading in the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' about an aspiring author, "possibly [[Martin Amis]]" (who would have been a teenager at the time).<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Colapinto|first=John| author-link=John Colapinto|title=When I'm Sixty-Four|url=https://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/06/04/070604fa_fact_colapinto|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=4 June 2007|access-date=24 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012113833/http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/06/04/070604fa_fact_colapinto|archive-date=12 October 2012}}</ref> The ''Daily Mail'' was Lennon's regular newspaper and copies were in Lennon's Weybridge home when Lennon and McCartney were writing songs.{{sfn|Turner|2005|p=101}}

Aside from deviating from the subject of love, McCartney had it in mind to write a song with a melody backed by a single, static chord. "John and I would like to do songs with just one note like '[[Long Tall Sally]].' We got near it in '[[The Word (song)|The Word]].{{'"}}{{sfn|Aldridge|1990|p=24}} McCartney claimed to have barely failed to achieve this goal with "Paperback Writer", as the verse remains on G until the end, at which point it pauses on C.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pollack|first=Alan W.|title=Notes on 'Paperback Writer' and 'Rain'|url=https://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/pw_and_r.shtml|date=22 December 1993|website=Soundscapes|accessdate=10 October 2021
}}</ref>

Lennon told ''[[Hit Parader]]'' in 1972 that "Paperback Writer" was primarily written by McCartney: "I think I might have helped with some of the lyrics. Yes, I did. But it was mainly Paul's tune." Speaking in 1980, Lennon described "Paperback Writer" as "son of '[[Day Tripper]]' – meaning a rock'n'roll song with a guitar lick on a fuzzy, loud guitar – but it is Paul's song".{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|p=212}}