Paul McCartney to return with first solo album in over five years, The Boys of Dungeon Lane

"Days We Left Behind" arrives as McCartney's first new music since his eighteenth solo album , McCartney III, released in 2020. Since then, a deluxe version of WINGS has been released, as well as the documentary film Man On The Run, which chronicles McCartney's life after the breakup of The Beatles, and how Wings came to be.

Speaking about the single, McCartney says: “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.”

The Boys of Dungeon Lane first started coming together five years ago in conversations and studio time between McCartney and producer Andrew Watt, most notably when McCartney began building upon a chord that he didn't recognise. This led to the creation of opening track As You Lie There, with the album going on to be recorded in sessions across Los Angeles and Sussex, between McCartney's packed tour schedule.

The final work sees McCartney at his most introspective, offering newly inspired love songs alongside reflections on childhood in post-war Liverpool, the resilience of his parents, and early memories of moments shared with George Harrison and John Lennon long before they shot to fame as The Beatles.

The Boys of Dungeon Lane artwork

The Boys of Dungeon Lane tracklist

"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"
"Momma Gets By"