Earlier this month, McCartney, 83, held a preview of the new record at Abbey Road’s Studio 2, where most of the Beatles’ discography was recorded.Mary McCartney/Provided
Paul McCartney is 83 years old. It’s no surprise that he looks back on his new album as fun and introspective rather than looking forward. At least the runway is long.
Liverpool’s Penny Lane was within McCartney’s ears and eyes in 1967. Boys of Dungeon Lane, with its quirky moments, Beatles-like nostalgia, and Wings-style rockers, is also in the same neighborhood. How do we get there? McCartney has always used public transportation.
“The morning bus was where we both met, I sat next to you in the empty seat,” McCartney rhymes over the thumping of Down South music. “We talked about guitars and rock and roll. Those were themes that never got old.”
He sings about fellow Beatle John Lennon. Tragically, Lennon never grew old. He was assassinated in 1980. Another poem recalls a hitchhiking trip taken by McCartney and the late George Harrison. The title “Down South” refers to London, which is below Liverpool on the map. Young people shared rides before growing up.
“It was a good way to get to know you before we started twisting and screaming.”
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The Beatles twisted, screamed, and shook the world. Nearly 60 years after Beatlemania ended, McCartney released The Boys of Dungeon Lane, his first album since 2020’s McCartney III. Earlier this month, he held a listening session for the record at Abbey Road’s Studio Two. This is where most of the Beatles’ discography was recorded, from “I Saw Her Standing There” to “The End.”
McCartney had no intention of letting go of the Beatles and had earned the rights to them.
Album opener As You Lie There is about a girl on the run, moving between spoken word wistfulness and vintage Wings rowdiness. “I used to walk by your house, look up at your window every night,” McCartney says. “The light came on. I saw your silhouette in the blinds.”
It’s a little creepy coming from a man who once sang, “She was only 17, you know what I mean.”
McCartney had no intention of letting go of the Beatles and had earned the rights to them.Provided by Universal Music Group
On the crunching rocker “Lost Horizon,” McCartney recalls a time when his future was wide open and there was no end in sight. “Every day we spent there was the beginning of the first day of eternity.”
Ringo Starr, another surviving Beatle, shares vocals with his former bandmates on “Home to Us,” an ELO-style number about Liverpool. The line about his mother making toast was McCartney’s highest reference to breakfast since the famous Beatles song that nearly called him “Scrambled Eggs.”
Momma Gets By is a sentimental, cinematic story song with strings and piano. Imagine Eleanor Rigby singing “My Love.” McCartney recalls his parents and the 1940s on the waltz-like “Salesman Saint,” with its bizarre incorporation of swinging big-band horns.
The album’s lead single, “Days We Left Behind”, was released in March. The sound is played on an acoustic guitar. Memoirs are kept in black and white.
‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane’ features whimsical moments, Beatles-like nostalgia and Wings-style rockers, writes Brad Wheeler.Provided by Universal Music Group
nothing stays
I can’t think of anything
no one can erase it
The days we left behind
After McCartney recently performed the song on Saturday Night Live, critics complained about the octogenarian’s strained delivery. His vocals sound better on the record. Multiple takes and studio tricks create amazing effects.
It’s clear that no one can erase McCartney’s legacy (and his gift to Melody). Even now, as represented by “Boys of Dungeon Lane,” he’s not that bad.
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