As well as an incoming album, the Beatle and music legend has also dropped a new single today, Days We Left Behind
Sir Paul McCartney has raided memories from his childhood in Liverpool to tell his story before The Beatles’ story – in his first album in over five years.
The Boys Of Dungeon Lane will feature a collection of rare and revealing glimpses into memories he has never shared before in songs, as Paul, 83, is in reflective mood for many of the new tracks. The first single released today is called Days We Left Behind, a deeply intimate and nostalgic song that reflects the emotional tone of the project.
Speaking about Days We Left Behind, Paul said: “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.”
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Dungeon Lane, was an area down by the shoreline of the Mersey where Paul would play out with friends. The area also had daffodil fields in the past but these days would be known for being a short distance southeast of Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport.
It is a place Paul still sees when returning home, serving as a symbolic gateway to a world he lived in before he was famous, and before the Beatles had formed in 1960.
The opening lyrics to Days We Left Behind are: “Looking back at white and black, reminders of my past. Smoky bars and cheap guitars, but nothing built to last.”
For a young Paul in the Fifties, there were afternoons by the River Mersey, sometimes with a birdwatching book in hand, as well as the beginning of a friendship with a boy called John Lennon, who he would begin to write songs with.
Another line to the song, which speaks of their friendship, says “We met at Forthlin Road, and wrote a secret code, to never be spoken.”
Paul and John wrote many of the Beatles hits at Paul’s home in Forthlin Road. They would of course go on to become global stars along with George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Writing previously in his book ‘The Lyrics’ Paul told how he and John would use his home at 20 Forthlin Road to compose early songs including early hits. He said: “Love Me Do was written in one of our sessions at 20 Forthlin Road, up a little garden path, past my dad’s lavender hedge, up by the front door where he had planted a little mountain ash, which was his favourite tree.
“You would come to the front door and then into a small parlour to the left of the door, and then you go through the parlour to the dining room behind that, which is where we did most of our composing when we were teenagers.”
In total the new album The Boys Of Dungeon Lane will feature 14 tracks, which have been compiled over the last five years. The simple album cover features a street sign like that which would also be seen on Penny Lane in Liverpool, and if it was removed, deliberately or not, the cover would look like the Beatles’ White Album.
The LP was first brought into existence five years ago almost by accident at first when Paul met producer Andrew Watt for a cup of tea and a chat about some ideas.
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.
This session yielded the album’s opening rocky track, As You Lie There, which is quite a contrast to the softer single Days We Left Behind.
Encouraged by his new producer, Paul fleshed out the new track, playing the majority of instruments much in the spirit of his 1970 solo debut album, McCartney.
Although they didn’t know it at the time this would be the start of a journey to creating Paul’s 18th studio album, credited solely to Paul McCartney.
Paul’s packed schedule of live shows and filming and travelling meant that the album was recorded in “tight and efficient sessions” between legs of global tour dates and alternating between studios in Los Angeles and his home studio in Sussex.
With no record label pressure and no deadline, the pair were able to make the album to their own timeline and satisfaction.
Like the albums and music of his career, The Boys of Dungeon Lane is understood to be an eclectic mix of styles and songs and sees Paul playing across an array of instruments.
One source close to Sir Paul described “Wings style rock and Beatles style harmonies”
Sir Paul could debut the new single live this weekend as he has two dates playing at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, California with lucky ticket holders watching him play an intimate venue holding around 1,200 people.
He is expecting to announce more live shows later this year, possibly around the time the new LP comes out in May.
* The Boys of Dungeon Lane is out May 29 via MPL/Capitol Records.
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