“The Lyrics: Paul McCartney in Conversation” event at Yale Schwarzman Center

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From The Lyrics: Paul McCartney in Conversation (yale.edu):

Sir Paul McCartney ’08 MusDH celebrates his new book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, in conversation with editor and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon and the Neil Gray Jr. Professor of English at Yale Langdon Hammer. Hear them discuss the extraordinary book in which, with unparalleled candor, McCartney recounts his life and art through the prism of 154 songs from all stages of his career.

The Lyrics encompasses McCartney’s earliest boyhood compositions through the legendary decade of The Beatles, to Wings and his solo albums to the present. Arranged alphabetically to provide a kaleidoscopic rather than chronological account, it establishes definitive texts of the songs’ lyrics for the first time and describes the circumstances in which they were written, the people and places that inspired them, and what he thinks of them now.

Presented with this is a treasure trove of never-seen-before material from McCartney’s personal archive – drafts, letters, photographs – which make this also a unique visual record of one of the greatest songwriters of all time. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear McCartney discuss his life, the creative process, and moments of inspiration.

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The extraordinarily high demand for tickets to “The Lyrics: Paul McCartney in Conversation” resulted in our ticketing system, Yale Connect, shutting down shortly after 10am, Wednesday 2/8. To those attempting to register, we extend our sincere apologies for the frustration this issue has caused.

To ensure equity in the ticketing process, the Schwarzman Center has suspended access to all public tickets for this event until our technical team has resolved the issue.

We will soon set a new date and time when members of the public can obtain tickets. We will post those details on the Yale Schwarzman Center website and on social media.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

From Yale Daily News, February 10, 2023:

Thousands of Yale community members were touched by Beatlemania Wednesday morning. 

Registration to attend a Feb. 16 event with Paul McCartney opened to Yale College students on Feb. 3, although preregistration tickets sold out within two minutes. On Feb. 8, tickets were opened to the general public and sales crashed within 10 minutes on YaleConnect after thousands logged on to claim their free ticket. The Schwarzman Center has since closed registration and will release the tickets on an unspecified date. 

“To those attempting to register, we extend our sincere apologies for the frustration this issue has caused,” Schwarzman Center Communications Director Maurice Harris wrote to the News. “We will soon set a new date and time when members of the public can obtain tickets. We will post those details on the Yale Schwarzman Center website and on social media.” 

McCartney, who received an honorary doctorate degree in music from Yale in 2008, is slated to speak about his new book, “The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present.” McCartney will converse with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon and Langdon Hammer, a University English professor. […]