Chatting about his old songs in his new book The Lyrics, Paul McCartney says that he and John Lennon liked to incorporate everyday phrases into their lyrics, rather than anything more obviously ‘poetic’ or highfalutin.
Beatles’ songs are so easy to remember, and so accessible, because they are full of phrases we employ in our daily lives: ‘Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head . . . I grabbed my coat, found my hat, and was on the bus in no more than a few seconds. . . ’
In one of Paul’s solo songs, She’s Given Up Talking, he rhymes the phrase, ‘Don’t say a word’ with ‘Not a dickie bird’.
In his book, he explains — perhaps for his American readers — that this is Cockney rhyming slang.

Paul McCartney reveals in his new book The Lyrics that John Lennon and McCartney liked to incorporate everyday phrases into the lyrics.
‘I love the way ordinary people won’t go for fancy words, so they adapt them to their own satisfaction,’ he continues.
‘They refuse to say it in the way it should be said, so they just say it another way.
There’s an old monument on the South Coast of England, near where I live, which is French [in name], starting at Ypres.
It’s a tower, like a little castle, and it’s called The Ypres Tower. The locals, who are not about to use the French pronunciation, call it “The Wipers”.’
Paul clearly approves of this local defiance, but in fact, the city of Ypres in Belgium was pronounced ‘Wipers’ by many, perhaps even most, of the soldiers who fought on the Western Front in World War I.
Certainly, all the Australian soldiers called it ‘Wipers’, while some of the British preferred to call it ‘Eepers’, taking care to sound that final ‘s’.
Two British soldiers — Captain Fred Roberts and Lieutenant Jack Pearson — even managed to publish 23 issues of a satirical magazine called The Wipers Times on a printing press salvaged from the ruins of Ypres.
They produced their first editions of the book under fire. The subsequent editions were often stopped by bombardments.
The Wipers Times was distributed underground and full of the darkest humor.
The editors made fun of everything, even their magazine, in the midst death.
In a spoof titled ‘Answers to Correspondents’, they proclaimed, ‘No, Ypres is not pronounced “Wipers” because it was once the centre of the handkerchief industry.’
In many ways, The Wipers Times was a precursor to Private Eye, thriving on parody, including spoof ads for made-up shows such as ‘Over The Top — A Screaming Farce’.
The editors rejoiced at the subversion of wartime cliches such as the idea it would be over by Christmas.
‘It all helps to pass the time till Christmas, when the war is going to end,’ reads one item, from 1917, ‘only we don’t know which Christmas.’
Paul McCartney is a good example of this. The editors at The Wipers Times preferred everyday speech to their comic verse.
Take the case of poor Bill ’Arris
Rosy Greet is deep in love
So he forgot to grease the bottoms of his toes.
Stayed outside and got ‘trench feet’ . . .
Don’t dream when you’re near machine guns,
It is important to remember this.
If you don’t see love between Huns, think of it as love.
A sniper’s quick, and love is blind.
Jane Ridley’s new biography of King George V includes a mention of the strange British pronunciation of Ypres.

ing George’s formidable wife, Queen Mary, always corrected anyone who mispronounced a French word
In a footnote, Ridley points out that King George’s formidable wife, Queen Mary, always corrected anyone who mispronounced a French word.
Just as her husband, the King, bristled with irritation at those who dressed too casually, berating them as ‘cads’, so Queen Mary refused to overlook any mispronunciation.
Clearly, Ypres was always going to be — for want of a better word — a minefield.
Apparently, on one visit to a hospital during the Great War, the Queen asked a wounded soldier: ‘And where were you wounded, my poor man?’
‘Wipers’ came the soldier’s reply, whereupon the Queen immediately corrected him: ‘Ypres!’
The soldier continued: ‘We were just advancing on Wipers . . .’
‘Ypres!’ repeated the Queen.
And so it went on, with the Queen saying ‘Ypres!’ every time the soldier said ‘Wipers’.
After the Queen left the hospital, the matron inquired about the soldier’s experience.
‘It’s a pity the poor dear had the hiccups,’ replied the soldier.