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

Brand-new song, ‘Days We Left Behind,’ available now

√ Album out May 29 via MPL/Capitol Records – available to preorder now

Press release

“The Boys of Dungeon Lane” is not only the first new solo album to be released by Paul McCartney in over five years; it is a collection of rare and revealing glimpses into memories never-before shared, along with some newly inspired love songs from one of the most culturally significant figures of our time.

With “The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” McCartney turns the lens inward, revisiting the formative years that shaped not only his life, but the very foundations of modern popular culture. In a career defined by timeless storytelling and unforgettable characters, McCartney now tells the most personal story of all, his own. “The Boys of Dungeon Lane” is his most introspective album to date and takes the listener back to where it all began.

These extraordinary new songs find McCartney in a candid, vulnerable and deeply reflective mood, writing with rare openness about his childhood in post-war Liverpool, the resilience of his parents, and early adventures shared with George Harrison and John Lennon long before the world had ever heard of Beatlemania. These were the years that historians continue to examine, the quiet, unguarded days that unknowingly laid the groundwork for a cultural revolution. McCartney visits them not as myths or folklore but as his own memories.

The album takes its title from one of the many standout tracks, which is available now: "Days We Left Behind," a stripped-back and deeply intimate track that captures the emotional core of the project. Dungeon Lane is a place McCartney still sees when returning home, serving as a symbolic gateway to a pre-fame world: afternoons by the Mersey, birdwatching book in hand, “smoky bars and cheap guitars,” and dreams not yet lived.

Speaking about "Days We Left Behind,” McCartney shared, “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.”

As well as being packed with poignant reflections from an artist whose influence is woven into the fabric of our lives, “The Boys of Dungeon Lane” also includes new love songs in the inimitable instantly identifiable McCartney style. A world without McCartney is impossible to imagine, yet here listeners can travel to a world that existed before everything changed, offering memories never previously shared and revealing, with extraordinary honesty, the human story behind a global icon. This is the story before the story.

About the creation of the album

“The Boys of Dungeon Lane” was first brought into existence five years ago when McCartney met producer Andrew Watt for a cup of tea and an exchange of ideas. While playing around on the guitar during the meeting, McCartney happened upon a chord that even he – the world’s most successful living songwriter – didn’t recognize. Undeterred and driven by his experimental nature, McCartney 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, McCartney would flesh out the new track, playing the majority of instruments – much in the spirit of his 1970 solo debut album, “McCartney.” So began the journey of what became his 18th studio album, credited solely to Paul McCartney.

McCartney’s packed schedule meant the album was recorded in tight and efficient sessions between legs of global tour dates spanning five years and alternating between Los Angeles and Sussex. With no record label pressure and no deadline, the pair was able to make the album to its own timeline and satisfaction.

Like his career, “The Boys of Dungeon Lane” is musically eclectic and sees McCartney across an array of instruments and styles showcasing his broad musicality. There’s Wings-style rock, Beatles-style harmonies, McCartney-style grooves, understated intimacy, melody driven storytelling, character songs – the common thread being Paul.
The track list is:

• “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”