I appreciate Magical Mystery Tour (and many of the McCartney songs I had dismissed as “shallow”) much more after reading and listening to A Life in Lyrics. It’s so interesting to hear the etymology of each one of the songs, and to know Magical Mystery Tour was inspired not just by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters but also by mystery tour buses from Paul’s youth ( they actually existed!) along with the coin operated animatronic “Jolly Jack” or “Laffing Sal,” (we have one in San Francisco) and the radio shows he listened to with his brother. Knowing this adds so much more richness and depth to the songs—the Beatles were simultaneously rejecting the values of their parents generation while weaving songs that represented the tapestries of their youth spent in Liverpool. Fascinating! Thanks for the chance to revisit these songs.