Paul McCartney has announced The Boys of Dungeon Lane, his first new album in more than five years. This will be released on 29 May, and the first single, Days We Left Behind, is out today.
As befits a man of his years and experience, The Boys of Dungeon Lane finds McCartney in reflective mood. The record is described as his most introspective to date, as the former Beatles reaches into his almost full memory bank to recall his years spent growing up in post-war Liverpool.
And it seems that his former bandmates - John Lennon in particular – are still in McCartney’s thoughts.
“This is very much a memory song for me,” he says of Days We Left Behind – a song that sounds like it could have been written with the intention of it being covered by a Rick Rubin-era Johnny Cash. “The album title, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, comes from a lyric in this track. I was thinking just that, about the days I left behind and I do often wonder if I’m just writing about the past but then I think: how can you write about anything else?”
“It’s just a lot of memories of Liverpool,” McCartney continues. “It involves a bit in the middle about John and Forthlin Road which is the street I used to live in. Dungeon Lane is near there. I used to live in a place called Speke which is quite working class. We didn’t have much at all but it didn’t matter because all the people were great and you didn’t notice you didn’t have much.”
The Lennon reference is intriguing. “We met at Fortlin Road, and wrote a secret code, to never be spoken” sings McCartney. “I stand by what I said, the promise that I made, will never be broken.”
We’ll leave it to the Beatles cryptologists to pick the bones out of that one.
The new album is produced by who else but Andrew Watt, the current go-to man for ‘vintage’ artists looking for a late career renaissance (see also: Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop and Ozzy Osbourne). That said, the seeds of the record were actually sown five years ago, when McCartney and Watt met up to throw around some initial ideas.
“While playing around on the guitar during the meeting, Paul happened upon a chord that even he – the world’s most successful living songwriter – didn’t recognise,” says a press release. “Undeterred and driven by his experimental nature, Paul carried on changing one note, then another, until he had a three-chord sequence – which Watt suggested they should record.
“This session yielded the album’s opening track, As You Lie There.”
More tracks followed – The Boys of Dungeon Lane contains 14 in total – with McCartney playing the majority of the instruments. We’re told that the album will feature “Wings-style rock, Beatles-style harmonies, McCartney-style grooves, understated intimacy, melody driven storytelling and character songs – the common thread being Paul.”
The Lennon reference is intriguing. “We met at Fortlin Road, and wrote a secret code, to never be spoken” sings McCartney. “I stand by what I said, the promise that I made, will never be broken.”
We’ll leave it to the Beatles cryptologists to pick the bones out of that one.
The new album is produced by who else but Andrew Watt, the current go-to man for ‘vintage’ artists looking for a late career renaissance (see also: Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop and Ozzy Osbourne). That said, the seeds of the record were actually sown five years ago, when McCartney and Watt met up to throw around some initial ideas.
“While playing around on the guitar during the meeting, Paul happened upon a chord that even he – the world’s most successful living songwriter – didn’t recognise,” says a press release. “Undeterred and driven by his experimental nature, Paul carried on changing one note, then another, until he had a three-chord sequence – which Watt suggested they should record.
“This session yielded the album’s opening track, As You Lie There.”
More tracks followed – The Boys of Dungeon Lane contains 14 in total – with McCartney playing the majority of the instruments. We’re told that the album will feature “Wings-style rock, Beatles-style harmonies, McCartney-style grooves, understated intimacy, melody driven storytelling and character songs – the common thread being Paul.”
