Macca is making a grand return. Paul McCartney has announced the release of his 19th solo album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane. Marking his first record in six years, it is set for a May 29 release via MPL/Capitol Records.
The rock legend paired the album announcement with the release of its lead single, “Days We Left Behind.”
“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?” McCartney said of the tune in a press release. “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 new album, which McCartney teamed with producer and songwriter Andrew Watt for, is framed as a collection of memories. The artist reflects on intimate moments from his childhood in post-war Liverpool, the resilience of his parents, and early adventures shared with George Harrison and John Lennon long before the Beatles ruled the world.
The Boys of Dungeon Lane follows 2020’s McCartney III and 2021’s remix album, McCartney III Imagined, featuring artists like Beck, Phoebe Bridgers, and Dev Hynes. Macca has remained as busy as ever, premiering his Paul McCartney: Man on the Run documentary in theaters and exclusively on Prime Video in February.
Last fall, his Wings band released a career-spanning anthology, which McCartney personally oversaw. The multi-format anthology — which features hits like “Band on the Run,” “Jet,” and “Live and Let Die” — was made available in a 3LP color vinyl collection, 2CD and Blu-ray, as well as 1CD and 1LP versions.
On The Beatles’ front, the band dropped their long-awaited Anthology compilation last November. The massive collection features 191 tracks across four volumes, including 13 previously-unreleased recordings on the brand-new Anthology 4.
Buy Paul McCartney’s The Boys Of Dungeon Lane here.
