Anatomy of a Song: "Paperback Writer" Quiz

Answer: Lennon/McCartney

Largely written by Paul McCartney, "Paperback Writer" like many other songs by The Beatles, was credited to Lennon/McCartney.

The wannabe paperback writer in the song may be a reference to a friend of John Lennon's, British novelist and one time beat poet Royston Ellis, (this is only one possibility among many). Ellis travelled to Liverpool in 1960 to perform a poetry reading at Liverpool University. Needing musicians as a backing for his poetry reading, he chose The Beatles and is credited with suggesting the spelling of Beatles with an a instead of Beetles with an e.

The only song credited to Lennon/Harrison is the instrumental "Cry For A Shadow". It was recorded in Hamburg, Germany, in 1961 while The Beatles were recording as Tony Sheridan's backing group in the studio. It was released as the B-Side of "Why" by Tony Sheridan and The Beatles and peaked at number 88 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. It did not chart in the UK. Pete Best was on drums.

Answer: Years

"Paperback Writer" lyrics:

"Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book
It took me years to write will you take a look"

The best selling book in 1966 when "Paperback Writer" was at number one was "Valley of the Dolls" written by Jacqueline Susann. It spent 28 weeks at the top of the The New York Times Fiction Best Seller list and 65 weeks in the top 10.

The success on the New York Times list may owe something to the fact that Jacqueline Susann obtained a list of the bookstores from which The New York Times obtains sales figures to make its bestseller list. She then bought a large number of copies with her own money.

Answer: Edward Lear

"Paperback Writer" lyrics:

"It's based on a novel by a man named Lear
And I need a job so I want to be a paperback writer"

Edward Lear 1812-1888, (he was the 20th of 21 children) was an English artist, author, illustrator, musician and poet. Although it is mentioned in the lyrics of "Paperback Writer", Lear never actually wrote a novel. One of his most famous nonsense poems was "The Owl and the Pussycat", published in 1871.

Answer: dirty

"Paperback Writer" lyrics:

"It's a dirty story of a dirty man"

In 1966 photographer Robert Whitaker took a series of photographs of The Beatles with them dressed as butchers and draped with pieces of meat and body parts from plastic baby dolls. Selected photographs were used to promote the "Paperback Writer" single in the UK and later one became the cover photograph of The Beatles' US album "Yesterday And Today".

This became known as the "Butcher Cover"; after many complaints the album was swiftly withdrawn. Some album covers were destroyed but some had another cover pasted over the original one; this became known as the "Trunk Cover". If you live near a landfill site in Jacksonville, Illinois there are many original "Butcher Covers" buried there.

Answer: Clinging

"Paperback Writer" lyrics:

"And his clinging wife doesn't understand"

I don't know what kind of wives the members of The Beatles had but only three of them were married when "Paperback Writer" was number one. John Lennon married his first wife Cynthia Powell on the 23rd August 1962. Ringo Starr married his first wife Maureen Cox on the 11th February 1965. George Harrison married his first wife Patricia Boyd on the 21st January 1966. Paul McCartney married his first wife Linda Eastman on the 12th March 1969.

Answer: Daily Mail

"Paperback Writer" lyric:

"His son is working for the Daily Mail
It's a steady job but he wants to be a paperback writer"

One story about the origins of the song is that Paul McCartney started writing the song after reading about an aspiring author in the Daily Mail. It might possibly have been Martin Amis but as he would have only been 17 years old when "Paperback Writer" was written in 1966, this story could be a red herring. Paul McCartney might have read it in John Lennon's copy of the Daily Mail while writing songs at Lennon's home in Weybridge, Greater London, UK.

Answer: 1,000

"Paperback Writer" lyrics:

"It's a thousand pages give or take a few
I'll be writing more in a week or two"

"Paperback Writer" was The Beatles' tenth consecutive number one hit on the UK singles chart. Their ten number one hits came in the 37 months between the 2nd May 1963 and the 23rd June 1966. It was The Beatles' 12th number one hit on the US Billboard Hot 100. Their 12 number one hits came in the 28 months between the 1st February 1964 and the 25th June 1966.

Answer: Frére Jacques

In the third and fourth verses of "Paperback Writer" George Harrison and John Lennon are singing "Frére Jacques", the title of a French nursery rhyme.

There are different views as to who "Frére Jacques" is about and when it was first published. Some opinions say it is about the French monk Frére Jacques or a Russian Father Theofil, or the Italian Fra Jacopino. It may have been published in the 17th, 18th or 19th centuries. I doubt if any of this mattered to Paul and John when they were putting "Paperback Writer" together in that long ago spring of 1966.

Answer: A million

"Paperback Writer" lyrics:

"If you really like it you can have the rights
It could make a million for you overnight".

I don't know about making a million overnight but this paperback would have to sell quite a few copies to catch the following money makers. As of the date of this quiz, "A Tale Of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens had sold in excess of 200 million copies. "The Lord of the Rings" by J. R. R. Tolkien had sold in excess of 150 million copies and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone" had sold in excess of 110 million copies.

Answer: Strangers In The Night

On the UK singles chart, "Strangers In The Night" was replaced at number one after three weeks by "Paperback Writer" on the 23rd June 1966. On the Billboard Hot 100, "Paperback Writer" was replaced at number one after one week by "Strangers In The Night" on the 2nd July 1966. After one week "Paperback Writer" returned to number one but was itself replaced after one week by "Hanky Panky" by Tommy James and The Shondells.

"Strangers In The Night", by Frank Sinatra, entered the Billboard Hot 100 on the 7th May 1966. Coincidentally his previous US number one hit "Learnin' The Blues" also entered the Billboard chart on the 7th May but exactly 11 years earlier in 1955.

Sinatra's previous UK number one hit was "Three Coins In The Fountain" which hit the top on the 17th September 1954.