I can’t agree. For one thing “Edward” doesn’t scan in that line. For another, not needing to use his first name seems to me a demonstration of how *famous *Lear is to the listeners.
Yeah, my idea would have made more sense if I’d remembered Norman Lear was a television writer, not a novelist. I think I had him confused with Norman Mailer.
If McCartney had wanted to sing ‘Edward Lear’ then he’d have easily found a way to make it scan - that’s what professional songwriters do.
You’re missing the point anyway - Beatles listeners in Britain did not need to be told that Edward Lear was/is famous. If a character in an American work referred to ‘a writer called Mark Twain’ when talking to American publishers, it would be a clear indication that the person was not very aware.
I’m more likely to be wrong on the grounds that Edward Lear was not known for novel writing.
I’m surprised no one has commented on John Lennon slowly singing “Frère Jacques” in falsetto behind McCartney’s lead at about 1 minute in. I always thought that was such a cool touch to the song.
Does that Frère Jacques have any relationship to the “Lear” lyric?
What’s all the hubbub, bub? The novel isn’t even finished, yet; he’ll be writing more in a week or two.
Yeah, no. Paul’s mother died when he was a very young man. I think somebody else referred to his Aunt. That sounds right.
Not truly germane to the discussion, but until about 1974 I thought the title of the song was “Take the back right turn”. I really didn’t understand the song too well as a result.
A friend of mine thought it was “Pay for that rice, sir.”
“It’s based on a story by an Edward Lear…”
I’m not even a professional songwriter, but these are words that go together well, my Michelle.
“**An **Edward Lear”? One of the six hundred Edward Lear’s you hear so much about?
Who would put an “an” in that sentence? No professional, that’s for sure.
You’re still missing my point; Kent Clark’s suggestion is valid and fits with what I was suggesting in post 19. The line “It’s based on a novel by a man named Lear”, or “…an Edward Lear” is the voice of the character who wishes to be a paperback writer. It’s not the voice of Paul McCartney; in this interpretation, McCartney is deliberately making the character appear ignorant of literature.
As I also said though, the details of the contents of the manuscript don’t really fit with it being Edward Lear.
I agree that the song is written in the voice of a character. I still maintain that “a man named Lear” is Paul winking at his audience. Both are possible, and I think likely.
Remember, this song was written by the real Paul while he was still alive, before being replaced by the lookalike responsible for his “career” from, say, 1969 till now. That Paul was capable of these tricks. 
To be fair, he’s probably written a manuscript that’s a thousand pages long (either handwritten, or typewritten). That doesn’t necessarily translate into a thousand-page paperback novel.
On the other hand, this site suggests that a typeset book page typically contains about 60% of the wording of a single (typed) manuscript page, so a thousand-page manuscript would be 1,667 typeset pages (more or less). Sounds like he’s writing a fantasy trilogy, in fact. 
I have a painter friend who says she actually slept with Edward Lear.
Or was it Norman Lear?
Maybe it was Norman Mailer.
At any rate, I can tell I’m starting wrong
Let me begin again.
With apologies to T-Bone Burnett
Compare with this deliberately bad example of a cover letter I See No Possible Way How This Incredible Cover Letter Could Ever Fail | Whatever
Oh, geez. Paul died in a car crash in November 1966 and was replaced by a double. Where were you in August 1969 when the TRUTH CAME OUT?
(Me, I was an 8 year old budding conspiracy theorist)
You’ve got that backward. You multiply by 0.6 rather than divide. So a 1000 page manuscript is 600 pages typeset.
I was in college reading about it in Rolling Stone. I let my ears tell me the “truth.”
I was going to put the date earlier. What did Paul ever write that was worthwhile after “Penny Lane”? But to prevent arguments from busybodies about the White Album I set the date at the Let It Be sessions. Really, “The Long and Winding Road”? That’s from a Beatle? No, that’s when they ran out of Paul’s pre-posthumous writings and let Phil Spector write stuff for them. And he be crazy then.
Paperback writers make a living by churning it out; those 1000 pages should be several miniseries volumes.
Did “a man named Lear” ever write something to inspire “a dirty story of a dirty man and his clinging wife doesn’t understand”? Or did Macko just pull “Lear” from the air?
As for “Paul died and was replaced”: Has a DNA test been performed?
I think you’ve been whooshed.