Paul McCartney announces nostalgic new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane

Paul McCartney has announced his first new album in six years, described as a "collection of revealing glimpses" into "never-before shared" memories.

The Boys Of Dungeon Lane was inspired by his childhood in post-war Liverpool, and named after a road in Speke that leads to the Mersey shore, where the young McCartney would spend afternoons bird-watching.

The first single, Days We Left Behind, premiered on BBC Radio Merseyside, and finds the singer in a wistful, nostalgic mood.

Over a simple acoustic backing, he reminisces about "smokey bars and cheap guitars", observing that while Liverpool is always changing, "nothing can erase the days we left behind".

Singing in a delicate falsetto, his voice conveys some of the frailty of age, lending the song a powerful emotional punch.

"We met on Forthlin Road / And wrote a secret code / Never to be spoken."

"This is very much a memory song for me," said the 83-year-old in a press release announcing his new album.

"I do often wonder if I'm just writing about the past but then I think how can you write about anything else?"

Expanding on the lyrics, he adds: "It's just a lot of memories of Liverpool... 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 will be the star's 19th solo album, in a recording career that spans 63 years and changed the sound of rock and roll forever.

His last album, 2020's McCartney III, was primarily recorded alone in lockdown (he called it "rockdown") with the star playing nearly all the instruments and handling all the production.

By contrast, The Boys of Dungeon Lane was created with US producer Andrew Watt, who has a track record of coaxing vibrant and fiery material out of veteran performers like Ozzy Osbourne and The Rolling Stones.

In fact, it was McCartney who introduced Watt to the Stones ahead of their 2023 comeback album Hackney Diamonds. At the time, he was already working on new material with the producer.

They first met in 2021 "for a cup of tea and an exchange of ideas".

"While playing around on the guitar during the meeting, Paul happened upon a chord that even he - the world's most successful living songwriter - 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 track, As You Lie There. Encouraged by his new producer, Paul would flesh out the new track, playing the majority of instruments - much in the spirit of his 1970 solo debut album, McCartney."

Recording sessions took several years, fitted in around McCartney's hectic touring schedule, as well as the production of the Beatles documentary Get Back and the writing of a memoir about the star's 1970s band, Wings.

During that time, the star also won a Grammy for Now and Then, the single billed as the final Beatles track, which was recovered from demos with the help of cutting-edge audio technology.

With the star in reflective mood, the new music promises to incorporate elements of all his previous work - from "Wings style rock" and "Beatles style harmonies" to "McCartney style grooves" (according to the blurb for the album, at least).

Speaking on his Life In Lyrics podcast in 2024, the musician said his interest in birds stretched back over decades.

"I loved bird watching when I was a kid, because I like to be able to get out of the normal stream of life," he said.

"We were about a mile away from quite deep countryside, so I used to just go out on my own, just being away from the normal stuff - school, family life."

The title of McCartney's new album was accidentally confirmed on social media by his brother Mike on Wednesday - after his son spotted posters being put up around Liverpool.

"Josh saw this teaser for r kids new album 'The Boys of Dungeon Lane' in Liverpool yest[erday]," he wrote.

The image "was familiar" to Josh, he noted, because "he had designed the... artwork for his Uncle".