Paul McCartney has announced The Boys of Dungeon Lane, his first new studio album since 2020’s lockdown project, McCartney III.
Set for release on May 29th, the record sees the icon diving deep into his Liverpool roots, and he’s shared the poignant lead single, ‘Days We Left Behind’, to give us a first taste.
As reported by Rolling Stone, the album is a nostalgic exploration of McCartney’s memories of growing up in post-war Liverpool. The title itself is pulled from a lyric in the new single, referencing a real street in the Speke neighbourhood where he spent his childhood. As the BBC notes, the lane leads down to the Mersey shore, a fitting backdrop for a record steeped in memory.
“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?” McCartney said in a statement.
“It’s just a lot of memories of Liverpool. It involves a bit in the middle about John [Lennon] 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 Boys of Dungeon Lane is Macca’s 18th solo LP and came about after he met with go-to rock producer Andrew Watt. While casually noodling on a guitar, McCartney stumbled upon a chord he didn’t recognise, which quickly evolved into a three-chord progression that became the album’s opening track, “As You Lie There.”
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The pair continued to work on the album during sessions scheduled between McCartney’s hectic touring schedule, recording in studios across Los Angeles and Sussex, England.
The announcement comes after McCartney participated in the Wings documentary Man on the Run and has been involved in Sam Mendes’ upcoming four-part Beatles biopic, proving he’s far from done with exploring his own monumental history.
