When I was asked to collaborate with the former Beatle on a book, I gained a unique insight into the creative process behind the band’s biggest hits
![Ken Dodd, Stockhausen and Psycho: unlocking Paul McCartney’s musical genius](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/51b6afdd6a656bae0ca6d751789ec9d3f3084709/37_232_4990_2994/master/4990.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=7d635e7c7cc33cc7d404873a06a263a8)
Towards the end of 2016 I had a phone call from an unfamiliar number. The voice, though, was immediately familiar. The newly elected
Donald Trump introduced himself quite matter-of-factly. He lost no time in getting to the point: would I be willing to come to
Washington to serve as his “Poetry Supremo”?
That Sir Paul McCartney turns out to be such a brilliant mimic shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Like almost all great writers, he’d apprenticed himself to the masters of the trade: Dickens, Shakespeare, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lewis Carroll. All apprenticeships are characterised by caricature and impersonation.