Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Paul McCartney and the Creation of ‘Paperback Writer’: Examining the Flow of Ideas and Knowledge Between Scalable Creative Systems

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Paul McCartney and His Creative Practice

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture ((PASCC))

  • 456 Accesses

Abstract

As explored in a prior chapter in Paul McCartney and His Creative Practice: The Beatles and Beyond, the way a song like ‘Yesterday’ emerged clearly shows that nothing exists in isolation. A system, such as a system of musical recordings, can sometimes appear to operate independently with apparent well-defined boundaries around it. Despite these appearances though, systems still depend upon other systems, which all exist as multi-layered systems within systems. We use the concepts of holons and holarchies to show that not only are the systems of audio engineering deeply connected horizontally to the system of record producing and the system of studio musicianship, but these related holons are linked vertically to the broader system of popular record production and at a different scale again to the system of western popular music.

This chapter explores the scalability of creative systems by examining the recording and production of the Beatles’ ‘Paperback Writer’ (1966), principally written by Paul McCartney and exposes some of the creative processes operating at an individual level, the sharing of ideas and knowledge between the creative group that worked within Studio Three of EMI’s Abbey Road studio, all of which was situated within a temporally and spatially located sociocultural system.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Beatles, T. (2000). The Beatles anthology. Chronicle Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, H. (1982). Art worlds. University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boden, M. (2004). The creative mind: Myths and mechanisms (2nd ed.). Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bosso, J. (2014, February 9). Paul McCartney’s 12 greatest Beatles bass performances. Music Radar: The No 1 Website for Musicians. http://www.musicradar.com/news/bass/paul-mccartneys-12-greatest-beatles-bass-performances-509352. Accessed 28 September 2016.

  • Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice. Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1993). Field of cultural production (R. Johnson, Ed.). Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1996). The rules of art: Genesis and structure of the literary field. Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burrows, T. (2000). John Lennon: A story in photographs. Brown Partworks Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Capra, F., & Luisi, P. (2014). The systems view of life: A unifying vision. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, S. (1997). More than the Beatles: Popular music, tourism and urban regeneration. In S. Abram, J. Waldren, & D. Macleod (Eds.), Tourists and tourism: Identifying with people and places (pp. 71–90). Berg Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, R. (1995). McCartney: Yesterday and today. Boxtree.

    Google Scholar 

  • Criticos, H. (2019, July 3–5). The constrabling nature of internet radio. Making Sense: Data, Publics and Storytelling, The Annual Australian and New Zealand Communication Association Conference. University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1988). Society, culture and person: A systems view of creativity. In R. Sternberg (Ed.), The nature of creativity: Contemporary psychological perspectives (pp. 325–329). Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1991). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Harper Perennial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. HarperCollins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999). Implications of a systems perspective for the study of creativity. In R. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 313–335). Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). The systems model of creativity: The collected works of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dacey, J., & Lennon, K. (1998). Understanding creativity: The interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors. Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeZutter, S. (2011). Distributed creativity in performing groups: A case study. In C. Lobman & B. O’Neill (Eds.), Play and culture series volume 11: Play and performance (pp. 237–260). University Press of America.

    Google Scholar 

  • Du Noyer, P. (2015). Conversations with McCartney. Hodder & Stoughton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberger, R., & Shanock, L. (2003). Rewards, intrinsic motivation, and creativity: A case study of conceptual and methodological isolation. Creativity Research Journal, 15(2–3), 121–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emerick, G. (2006). Here, there and everywhere: My life recording the music of the Beatles. Gotham Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Everett, W. (1999). The Beatles as musicians: Revolver through the anthology. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fulton, J. (2011). Print journalism and the creative process: Examining the interplay between journalists and the social organisation of journalism. Altitude: An e-Journal of Emerging Humanities Work, 9, 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. (1979). Central problems in social theory: Action, structure and contradiction in social analysis. Macmillan Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Glăveanu, V. (2014). Distributed creativity: Thinking outside the box of the creative individual. Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gould, J. (2008). Can’t buy me love: The Beatles, Britain, and America. Three Rivers Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haralambos, M., & Holbern, M. (1995). Sociology: Themes and perspectives (4th ed.). Collins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hennessey, B., & Amabile, T. (2010). Creativity. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 569–598.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hennion, A. (1990). The production of success: An antimusicology of the pop song. In S. Frith & A. Goodwin (Eds.), On record (p. 186). Pantheon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, S. (1988). The tragedy of technology. Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howard, R. (Dir.). (2016). The Beatles: Eight days a week—The touring years. Prod: Apple Corps/Imagine Entertainment.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglis, I. (Ed.). (2000). The Beatles, popular music and society: A thousand voices. Macmillan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerrigan, S. (2013). Accommodating creative documentary practice within a revised systems model of creativity. Journal of Media Practice, 14(2), 111–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koestler, A. (1964). The act of creation. Hutchinson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koestler, A. (1967). The ghost in the machine. Pan Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koestler, A. (1978). Janus: A summing up. Huchinson & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laszlo, E. (1972). The systems view of the world: The natural philosophy of the new developments in the sciences. George Braziller.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewisohn, M. (1988). The complete Beatles recording sessions: The official story of the Abbey Road years. Hamlyn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewisohn, M. (1992). The complete Beatles chronicle. Pyramid Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacDonald, I. (2005). Revolution in the head: The Beatles records and the sixties (2nd rev. ed.). Pimlico.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, G. (1979). All you need is ears. St. Martin’s Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, G. (1994). Summer of love: The making of Sgt Pepper. Macmillan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattelart, A., & Mattelart, M. (1998). Theories of communication: A short introduction. Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • McIntyre, P. (2004). Creativity and cultural production: A study of contemporary Western popular music songwriting (Unpublished PhD thesis). Macquarie University, Sydney.

    Google Scholar 

  • McIntyre, P. (2006). Paul McCartney and the creation of ‘yesterday’: The systems model in operation. Popular Music, 25(2), 201–219.

    Google Scholar 

  • McIntyre, P. (2008, November). The systems model of creativity: Analyzing the distribution of power in the studio. In 4th Art of Record Production International Conference, University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Published in Journal of the Art of Record Production, Issue 4: Supplement to ARP08, The Peer—Reviewed Proceedings of the 2008 Art of Record Production Conference. http://www.artofrecordproduction.com/content/view/214/126/.

  • McIntyre, P. (2009, July 8–10). Rethinking communication, creativity and cultural production: Outlining issues for media practice. In T. Flew (Ed.), Communication, creativity and global citizenship: Refereed proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand communications association annual conference. Brisbane. ISBN 987-1-74107-275-4. http://www.proceedings.anzca09.org.

  • McIntyre, P. (2011). Systemic creativity: The partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Musicology Australia, 33(2), 241–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McIntyre, P. (2011). Rethinking the creative process: The systems model of creativity applied to popular music songwriting. Journal of Music Technology and Education, 4(1), 77–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McIntyre, P. (2012). Constraining and enabling creativity: The theoretical ideas surrounding creativity, agency and structure. The International Journal of Creativity and Problem Solving, 22(1), 43–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • McIntyre, P., Fulton, J., & Paton, E. (Eds.). (2016). The creative system in action: Understanding cultural production and practice. Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • McIntyre, P., & Thompson, P. (2011, December 2–4). Performing creativity: Paul McCartney’s practice in the recording studio. 21st Century Production: Technology, Performance & the Workspace: The Art of Record Production Conference. San Francisco State University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miles, B. (1997). Paul McCartney: Many years from now. Secker & Warburg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, A. (1997). The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Norman, P. (2016). Paul McCartney: The biography. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paton, E. (2012). The social system of creativity: How publishers and editors influence writers and their work. International Journal of the Book, 9(3), 9–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pedler, D. (2003). The songwriting secrets of the Beatles. Omnibus Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peel, I. (2002). The unknown Paul McCartney: McCartney and the avant-garde. Reynolds & Hearn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Redvall, E. (2012). A systems view of film-making as a creative practice. Northern Lights: Film & Media Studies Yearbook, 10(1), 57–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, K., & Kehew, B. (2006). Recording the Beatles: The studio equipment and techniques used to create their classic albums. Curvebender Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sawyer, K. (2012). Explaining creativity: The science of human innovation (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schaffner, N. (1977). The Beatles forever. McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultheiss, T. (1980). The Beatles: A day in the life—The day-by day diary 1960–1970. Omnibus Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skyttner, L. (2006). General systems theory: Problems, perspectives, practice (2nd ed.). World Scientific.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sounes, H. (2010). Fab: An intimate life of Paul McCartney. HarperCollins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Southall, B., Vince, P., & Rouse, A. (1997). Abbey Road: The story of the world’s most famous recording studio. Omnibus Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • St Clair, R., Nelson, C., & Rodriguez, W. (2005). Habitus and communication theory. Intercultural Communication Studies, 13(4), 142–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swartz, D. (1997). Culture and power: The sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, P. (2016). Scalability of the creative system in the recording studio. In P. McIntyre, E. Paton, & J. Fulton (Eds.), The creative system in action: Understanding cultural production and practice (pp. 74–86). Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, P., & McIntyre, P. (2013, July 12–14). Rethinking creativity in record production education: Addressing the field. In The 8th Art of Record Production Conference—Rewriting the Rules Of Production. Université Laval, QC, Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, P., & McIntyre, P. (2020). Sound engineering in the recording studio as creative practice. In S. Zagorski-Thomas, S. Lacasse, & S. Stévance (Eds.), The art of record production Vol. 2: Creative practice in the studio (pp. 155–170). Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, S. (2000). A hard day’s write: The stories behind every Beatles song. Carlton Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Velikovsky, J. (2019). The holon/parton structure of the meme, or the unit of culture. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Advanced methodologies and technologies in artificial intelligence, computer simulation and human-computer interaction (p. 809). IGI Global.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webb, J. (1998). Tunesmith: Inside the art of songwriting. Hyperion.

    Google Scholar 

  • Youtube. (2016a). The Beatles—Paperback Writer isolated bass track. Bass only. Published on October 22, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNvzhJ5Ho_w. Accessed 28 September 2016.

  • Youtube (2016b). Learn to play Paperback Writer by The Beatles. Published on April 27, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_YQWkYHjz0. Accessed 28 September 2016.

  • Youtube. (2016c). The Beatles—Paperback Writer—Isolated Guitar. Published on June 23, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thklo1OXx00. Accessed 28 September 2016.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Creative Industries, University of Newcastle Australia, Newcastle, NSW, Australia

    Phillip McIntyre

  2. Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK

    Paul Thompson

Authors
  1. Phillip McIntyre
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Paul Thompson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Phillip McIntyre .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

McIntyre, P., Thompson, P. (2021). Paul McCartney and the Creation of ‘Paperback Writer’: Examining the Flow of Ideas and Knowledge Between Scalable Creative Systems. In: Paul McCartney and His Creative Practice. Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79100-1_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation