Sir Paul McCartney has confirmed his new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, will arrive on May 29, with lead track Days We Left Behind out now.
The Beatles legend, 83, shows no signs of slowing down, heading back to his roots for his first solo release in more than five years, which dives into the early Liverpool memories that shaped his life long before Beatlemania took hold.
The record sees McCartney reflecting on his childhood, his parents, and the early days spent with his bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison — the quiet years before the world knew their names.
The first song, Days We Left Behind, sets the tone, inspired by the streets and places he grew up around, including Dungeon Lane in Speke.
Speaking about the track, McCartney said it’s “a memory song,” adding that many of the images come straight from his old neighbourhood and the life his family lived there.
The album also features new love songs in McCartney’s classic style, mixing nostalgia with fresh material.
He said in a statement: “This is very much a memory song for me. 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.”
Recording began five years ago after a meeting with producer Andrew Watt, with sessions squeezed in between McCartney’s touring schedule in Los Angeles and Sussex.
Musically, the album spans everything from rock and harmony-driven tracks to stripped-back acoustic moments, with McCartney playing many of the instruments himself.
The Boys of Dungeon Lane is the follow-up to 2020’s McCartney III.
