Paul McCartney is the author of “Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics 1965-1999” (W.W. Norton: 186 pp., $22.95) to be published tomorrow. Used by kind permission of the author and publisher.
Mull of Kintyre
Mull of Kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre
Far have I traveled and much have I seen
Dark distant mountains with valleys of green
Past painted deserts, the sun sets on fire
As he carries me home to the Mull of Kintyre
Sweep through the heather like deer in the glen
Carry me back to the days I knew then
Nights when we sang like a heavenly choir
Of the life and the times of the Mull of Kintyre
Smiles in the sunshine and tears in the rain
Still take me back where my memories remain
Flickering embers grow higher and higher
As they carry me back to the Mull of Kintyre
Mull of Kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre
Black Jacket
Sadness isn’t sadness it’s happiness
in a black jacket
Death isn’t death
it’s life
that’s jumped off a tall cliff
Tears are not tears
They’re balls
of laughter
dipped in salt
Steel
Steel yourself against the rapid fire
Confusion of events that masquerade as life
Bullet holes in time’s demented curtain
This Is the Way
This is the way we put out the candle.
Farewell to childhood.
Deep in the wild wood a fire goes out,
And what are we left with
Now we are grown up?
This is the way we pull up the anchor.
Goodbye to romance.
Out on the ocean a good ship is lost,
And what are we left with
Now we are grown up?
Full Moon’s Eve
On a full moon’s eve
A tiger sprang
And gnawed on
Who I used to be
A pale haze lights
The fox’s eye
And …
Checking once
He leaves by a hole in the hedge
Old loves return
To kiss the lips
In case the empty gallery
Should fill with whispering strangers
Like a flood