Paul McCartney has revealed details of his new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, due out on May 29 via MPL/Capitol. The record, produced with Andrew Watt, draws from his childhood memories in post-war Liverpool. The lead single, 'Days We Left Behind,' is now available.
Paul McCartney announced his first album since 2020's McCartney III on Thursday, sharing the nostalgic single 'Days We Left Behind.' The Boys of Dungeon Lane marks a reflective return, with McCartney describing it in a press release as an autobiographical work reckoning with his early life in Liverpool's working-class Speke neighborhood, near Dungeon Lane and Forthlin Road—streets tied to his youth and memories of John Lennon and George Harrison before Beatlemania. The album title comes from a lyric in the single, which McCartney called 'very much a memory song.' He elaborated: '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 project began in 2021 over tea with producer Andrew Watt, when McCartney strummed an unfamiliar chord on guitar, sparking the opening track 'As You Lie There.' Sessions took place in Los Angeles and Sussex, England, around McCartney's tours, with him playing most instruments himself. The album blends Wings-style rock, Beatles harmonies, and intimate storytelling. Its tracklist includes: 'As You Lie There,' 'Lost Horizon,' 'Days We Left Behind,' 'Ripples in a Pond,' 'Mountain Top,' 'Down South,' 'We Two,' 'Come Inside,' 'Never Know,' 'Home to Us,' 'Life Can Be Hard,' 'First Star of the Night,' 'Salesman Saint,' and 'Momma Gets By.' This follows recent Wings projects like the book The Story of a Band on the Run and documentary Man on the Run.
