Paul McCartney Announces The Boys of Dungeon Lane, Shares Reflective New Song “Days We Left Behind”
Paul McCartney has announced a new solo album called The Boys of Dungeon Lane, which will be released May 29th. Macca’s 19th studio album is produced by Andrew Watt (Ozzy Osbourne, Post Malone, Elton John), who also helped to instigate it.
“The Boys of Dungeon Lane was first brought into existence five years ago when Paul met producer Andrew Watt for a cup of tea and an exchange of ideas,” McCartney’s website explains. “While playing around on the guitar during the meeting, Paul happened upon a chord that even he didn’t recognise. 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.”
That session yielded the opening track, “As You Lie There,” but the former Beatle has given fans a first impression of the album with “Days We Left Behind,” a poignant ballad that reminisces on his childhood. It’s a fair look at the project, which is described as a “collection of rare and revealing glimpses into memories never-before shared, along with some newly inspired love songs.” McCartney’s announcement also describes the music as having Wings style rock, Beatles style harmonies, and McCartney style grooves.
“This is very much a memory song for me,” McCartney says of “Days We Left Behind.” “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. 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 song evokes the same feeling as “Blackbird,” with fingerpicked guitars and soft vocals. The bass is subtle, but has a distinctly McCartney melodicism. Hear the song in the official lyric video:
The Boys of Dungeon Lane is available for pre-order on CD, vinyl and as a digital download (Apple Music, and Amazon Music).
In his time with No Treble, Kevin has met hundreds of amazing bassists and interviewed icons like Jack Casady, Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, and more. He's a gigging bassist performing jazz in Northern Virginia and bluegrass with The Plate Scrapers up and down the East Coast. Kevin appreciates all genres of music, from R&B to metal and everything in between. Connect with Kevin on Facebook and check his performance schedule on his website.
