Mar 26, 2026
3 min read
Paul McCartney has released a new single, "Days We Left Behind," and announced a title and release date for an upcoming album, "The Boys of Dungeon Lane."
After five years of reports of an album in the works, Paul McCartney released new single "Days We Left Behind" on Thursday morning.The single, a love letter to Liverpool, came alongside the official announcement that the album he has been working on with producer Andrew Watt is indeed on the way."The Boys of Dungeon Lane" is released on May 29.
The upcoming set will be McCartney's first new album since his self-produced pandemic release "McCartney III" in December 2020.
Track listing for the album:
popular
- You are sleeping there
- Lost Horizon
-Days we left behind
- Waves in the pool
-Mountain parking lot
- Down South
- the two of us
- Come in
- I never know
- At home
- Life can be hard
- The first star of the night
- Salesman st
- Mom is fine
The album description calls it "his most introspective album yet, taking listeners back to where it all started. These extraordinary new songs find Paul writing with rare openness about his childhood in post-war Liverpool, the resilience of his parents, and the early adventures he shared with George Harrison and John Lennon long before the world heard of Beatlemania. Like his career, Dungeon Lane Boys showcase a wide range of musical instruments andshowcasing a wide range of musical instruments and Paul's musical style.There's Wings Tasteful rock, McCartney-esque grooves, understated intimacy, melody-driven storytelling – the common denominator is Paul."
McCartney also released a trailer for the album, consisting mostly of excerpts from the first single.The pre-order link can be found here.
Days Left Behind was broadcast on BBC Radio Merseyside at 2.50pm.UK time (10:45 a.m. ET), followed by a clip of McCartney talking about the song.
- You know, songwriters, writers in general - what else can you draw from the past?he said in a BBC audio clip."I mean, you can do the present, but you can still have a lot of the past. It's the past though, you know - for me it's a lot of memories of Liverpool and that includes John Middle's part.
"This is a very nostalgic song for me," McCartney said in a statement."The title of the album, 'The Boys of Dungeon Lane', comes from a song in that song. I think about it, about the days when I left, and I often wonder if I'm only writing about the past, but I think how can you write about other things? There's only so many memories of Liverpool. There's a place called Speke where we don't have much work, but it doesn't matter because you all know and you don't.
The new album is helmed by one of the most celebrated producers of the modern era, Watt, who said he received a call to start working with McCartney shortly after he won the Grammy for producer of the year in 2021. Watt has specialized in working on the veteran rocker's projects in recent years, including the Rolling Stones' "Hackney Diamonds," Ozzy's "Ordinary" and Elton John's album with Brandi Carlile, "Who Believes inAngels?"Watt also produced Lady Gaga's "Mayhem" and worked on albums by Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Pearl Jam and Justin Bieber.
The announcement of the album describes its origin five years ago, when McCartney and Watt met for "a cup of tea and an exchange of ideas. While playing the guitar during the meeting, Paul happened to have a voice that even he - the most successful living singer in the world - did not recognize. Unconscious and driven by his experimental nature, until Paul changed one, then another. "As You Take It There." Encouragedfrom his new producer, Paul played several instruments, in the spirit of his 1970 debut album, "McCartney."
The description goes on to detail how "Paul's packed schedule meant the album was recorded in tight and efficient sessions between legs of a five-year world tour split between Los Angeles and Sussex. With no pressure from record companies and no deadlines, the pair were able to build the album according to their schedule."
McCartney's album seems full of nostalgic and autobiographical images.The title location is Dungeon Lane, a very narrow street in Speke, a suburb of Liverpool, close to the current Liverpool John Lennon Airport.This street is just a few minutes from the childhood homes of McCartney and George Harrison, a member of the Beatles.
The title of Boys of Dungeon Lane was already revealed earlier this week, first through a teaser campaign featuring posters with the logo plastered around Liverpool.McCartney's brother, Michael McGirr McCartney, confirmed that the posters are related to his brother's upcoming album, with a post on social media that the logo was designed by his son.
McCartney's account then sent fans a message linked to a Google Maps page, which showed a photo of a boy running down Dungeon Lane while holding a sign with the album's logo on it.
The nostalgic theme was further hinted at when McCartney took to his social media on Wednesday to post a black and white photo of himself believed to be from the late 1950s.
McCarthy seems to be more forthcoming, using bird emojis in her latest postsThe beach near Dungeon Lane is said to be a popular spot for birdwatching, and in the book "Many Years Now", the singer explains that he had a bird guide that he carried as a boy.
McCartney previously used the phrase "Dungeon Lane boys" in a 1991 demo for a song titled "In Liverpool".The lyrics for the unreleased song included the lines "Walking with the Dungeon Lane boys / Aimlessly to the iron shore."(The phrase "cast iron shore", referring to a coastal area in Liverpool, also appears in the John Lennon-penned Beatles song "Glass Onion.") There was some fan speculation that he would eventually record "In Liverpool" for this new album, but it seems to exist mainly as a seed of what he eventually discovered 35 years later.
The news of the new single and album came the day before McCartney is set to perform a two-night stand at the Foundation Theater in Hollywood, his first live dates since wrapping up his 2025 arena tour in November.No other concert plans for 2026 have been announced yet.
Potential ticket buyers who pre-registered for McCartney's two concerts at the 1,200-capacity Fonda were notified by Ticketmaster on Wednesday whether they'd been selected for a chance to go, and the vast majority will walk away empty-handed.The gap between supply and demand for these shows is similar to when McCartney performed three nights at the 575-capacity Bowery Ballroom in New York in February 2019.
