> In 1999, McCartney recorded a haunting cover version of an obscure song called No Other Baby. He’d had the song in his head for years without knowing who recorded it or who it was written by. Whenever he sang it to people, nobody knew it. Only after recording it did he discover that the song, or at least the version of it, was by a skiffle group called The Vipers, who released it as a single in 1958, the year after John met Paul (as it turns out, the record was, rather remarkably, produced by George Martin). Paul said he never owned the record, which means he would have heard it on the radio, or in a record store listening booth, what - once, twice? Yet forty years later, he remembered all the verses, as well as the refrain, which goes, I don’t want no other baby but you….I don’t want no other baby but you…

This kind of memory is certainly possible. And from what I've seen of McCartney - he has a vast repertoire of songs he knows (not just his own) - it seems almost certain that he has this talent. I suspect it's actually a relatively common ability though. I have family members who can remember both the tune and the lyrics of songs after 1 or 2 listens through. This just isn't so noticeable because they're not musicians.

In general, I find what people find easy to remember a fascinating topic. my personal ability to remember song lyrics (and in general auditory information) is awful - I actually can't remember the entire lyrics to single song. I'm sure I could memorise some if I really tried, but it would take me hours of conscious. effort. On the other hand I often recall visual or written information from a single glance, and am very good at book learning and retaining an understanding of system and concepts.