Album Review: Paul McCartney - 'The Boys Of Dungeon Lane'

This 14-track set is Macca’s first new album since his pandemic project, 2020’s self-produced 'McCartney III'.

Harking back to a time when “music from a distant playground” was enough to give The Fab Four their jollies, Paul McCartney’s latest album was first teased via a street poster campaign.

Then Macca’s brother, Michael McGear McCartney, let the cat out of the bag in a so-scouse social media post, divulging that the logo was actually designed by his son: “Josh saw this teaser for r kids new album ‘The Boys Of Dungeon Lane’ in Liverpool yestas. It was familiar to him as he had designed the Dungeon Lane (Speke) artwork for his Uncle.”

The Boys Of Dungeon Lane, McCartney’s 20th studio album, was recorded in sessions spanning five years – interspersed between legs of his extensive global Got Back tour – at his Hogg Hill Mill studio in East Sussex and also Diamond Dust in LA, his Grammy-winning co-producer Andrew Watt’s studio.

Dungeon Lane is a road that runs adjacent to the eastern end of the Liverpool John Lennon Airport’s runway.

Side note: The titular address is a stone’s throw away from the childhood homes of both McCartney and fellow Beatle, George Harrison.

Feeling overwhelmed by the whole prospect? Please don’t. We’re here to help you navigate McCartney’s memory lane while highlighting his lyrical wizardry and melodic nous, track by track.

Fun fact: A 1991 demo for ‘In Liverpool’, an unreleased McCartney song, contained the following lyrics: “Walking with the boys of Dungeon Lane/ Aimlessly towards the cast iron shore.” And if “the cast iron shore” sounds familiar, that’ll be because this coastal area in Liverpool also scored a mention in the John Lennon-penned Beatles song, Glass Onion: “Standing on the cast iron shore…”

As You Lie There

“Do I ever cross your mind as you lie there?” Macca ponders. “As you lie across the bed, am I there inside your head?” – way to capture lyrical magic in the opening couplet!

This song, the first to be written for this record, originated five years ago when McCartney, at the suggestion of his manager, met Andrew Watt “for a cup of tea and an exchange of ideas”.

Macca was tooling around on guitar during this meeting and soon came up with an alluring, unconventional three-chord sequence, which Watt suggested they record. McCartney then fleshed it out, playing the majority of the instruments himself in the spirit of the 1970s McCartney album – his solo debut.

“When I first met Andrew, I thought, ‘He’s a bit pushy,’” McCartney said during a promotional listening party in LA. “And he is, but that’s what you want in a producer. You don’t want a shrinking violet.”

McCartney himself explained As You Lie There’s backstory during a London listening party (as reported by The Times and The Guardian): “Up in one of the windows, there was a girl I fancied called Jasmine. But I didn’t know how to approach her; I never spoke to her. That’s what the song is about: imagining Jasmine lying there. The joke was, she did show up later that year and knocked on the door. I was indisposed – I was on the toilet – so I missed Jasmine! How romantic is that?”

His hopeful, lustful, spoken-word fantasising is soon interrupted by scorching rock’n’roll riffs. McCartney’s quite-gravelly-these-days timbre rocks out, too. Piano clamours through the arrangement, which veers wildly between intimate, stripped-back introspection and full-blown instrumental freak-out. Exhilarating, experimental stuff.

Lost Horizon

“The call of the train whistle cuttin’ through the night/ I still remember that sound…” – pull up a pew and get comfy, ‘cause Grandpa Paul fancies a reminiscing sesh. With its sauntering pace, strumming guitars and textured harmonies, Lost Horizon feels comforting – commemorating a life well lived with great fondness. We dig the closing advice, as well: “You’ve gotta live for now/ Make every moment count…”

Days We Left Behind

Released on March 26, the day McCartney officially announced this album, Days We Left Behind is a love letter to Liverpool.

“See the boys of Dungeon Lane/ Along the Mersey shore/ Some of them will feel the pain/ But some were meant for more…” – the album’s title, which pinpoints a street in the neighbourhood where both he and George Harrison grew up, was plucked from this lead single’s lyrics.

Following this song’s premiere airing on the BBC’s Radio Merseyside, Macca explained, “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.”

“Nothing can erase/ The days we left behind.”

Instrumentation is sparse here – wistful, plucked guitar melodies and meandering piano embellishing every evocative phrase: “In the skies/ The skylarks rise/ Above the sounds of war…”

Ripples In A Pond

Ripples In A Pond is a love song about committing to always trying one’s best within a long-term relationship: “I love you more than I ever did before.”

It’s a super-sweet sentiment – his wife Nancy Shevell has gotta be chuffed, right? Jaunty, optimistic drumming, anthemic guitar – I keep making mental notes to look up the musicians’ names, because their playing is so great, only to remember McCartney is practically a one-man band on here! He plays nearly every instrument. SUCH a show-off!

Mountain Top

Plinky-plonky harpsichord, trippin’ adventures with pals (“...magic mushrooms peeping through/ Seem to want to talk and say, ‘Hello’...”) – Mountain Top was inspired by McCartney's headlining Glastonbury performances (most recently in 2022). Written from the wide-eyed perspective of a high young woman enjoying the festival atmosphere, it embodies psychedelic wonderment until the arrangement eventually falls off a cliff, descending into the fully-fledged instrumental freakout zone.

Down South

“It was a good way to get to know you/ A fine way to work it all out… Before we learned to Twist And Shout…” – Macca goes meta!

Getting to know a future Beatle (George Harrison) during shared morning bus rides (“We talked about guitars and rock’n’roll/ They were the subjects that would never grow old”), hitchhiking Down South in a lorry – this one’s bound to be a Beatles superfan highlight.

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We Two

Bass-driven melodies, glistening guitar, bongo flourishes, falling in love with the same person “over, over again” – Macca’s a bit of an old softie, ay? He’s all about serenading and rhapsodising about enduring, monogamous unions.

Come Inside

Snappy clapping pattern, honky-tonk piano and an invitation to peruse the contents of one’s mind: “Step right up and take a look/ See what you can find/ ‘Cause all my life’s an open book/ Come inside my mind.”

Macca belts impressively again here – a rock’n’roll lifer who’s known to sprinkle in a few “doo-doo-doo”s for good measure.

Never Know

“The things that you do/ Have always meant so much to me.”

The “oh-oh”, “bom-bom”, “doo-doo” vocal percussion during Never Know is intoxicating – so dreamy! This one also features a flute solo (which is as major as the one in Six Months In A Leaky Boat by Split Enz), But then it totally unleashes to close – a rock opera’s climax.

Home To Us

Hearing The Beatles rhythm section singing unison vocals warms the cockles: “The place we used to live in you could say it wasn't much/ But it was home to us/ And you could be forgiven if you thought that it was rough/ But it was home to us/ The roses in the yard began to wilt, and then they turned to dust/ But it was home to us…”

This record’s second single is McCartney's first-ever duet with Ringo Starr (who drums and also sings). Home To Us also features additional backing vocals by Chrissie Hynde and Sharleen Spiteri.

Mum burning the toast, playing ball in the alley “until the sun goes down” – we’re reminded of The Fab Four’s humble beginnings.

Life Can Be Hard

“Enchanted by her beauty,” after all these years, Life Can Be Hard is a sweet love song about Nancy.

The violin-enhanced number boasts a cheeky, strutting pace and optimistic outlook: “I can see when there’s no food in the larder/ I know that she wouldn’t care…”

Did we just hear, “Watching her sway, I know that there’s always a chance…”? Macca turns 84 on June 18, and there’s still an oo-er glint in this octogenarian’s eyes, which is golden.

First Star Of The Night

A gentle lullaby of sorts – featuring jangly guitar and tamba, meandering bass and background “OOooo”s – First Star Of The Night reminds us that blue feelings are alright, because they usually fleeting – like weather systems: “positive emotions that died seem to come back shining bright”. Life-affirming stuff.

Salesman Saint

A trumpet player’s lament honours McCartney’s dad Jim’s jazz background in this one. Backed by military drumming, Salesman Saint immortalises Jim (“My father was a salesman”) and McCartney’s mother, Mary (“My mother was a saint”), as well as their choice to start a family in wartime England: “They couldn’t take anymore/ But they had to carry on,” Macca sings. Then uplifting guitars usher in a tone shift: “So they learned to carry on, with laughter and a song.”

“Carry on,” repeated, brings the legendary British motivational slogan, “Keep calm and carry on,” to mind.

Meticulously placed brass fanfare, somewhat like a ‘40s swing band, opens our ears to the sounds of his parents’ heyday.

Momma Gets By

“Momma gets by/ While Papa gets high…” – Momma Gets By follows a fictional couple, whose love endures despite how miserable their life might appear to outsiders.

Strings breeze through this piano-led ballad, which could be the centrepiece of a musical.

“Papa gets back/ And heads for the sack/ As soon as he steps inside the kitchen door.”

Worry not, Momma’s own “philosophy of life” helps her overlook the fact that her husband is too knackered to ever help her out with the household chores.

“It wasn’t too long ago when she agreed to be his wife/ And even though he’s complicated, she takes it in her stride,” McCartney sings. “What are his silly faults compared to what she feels inside?”

Although this closing, narrative-driven snapshot is historical in nature, we’re still saddened by all the women – many of whom are no longer with us – who prioritised the comfort, needs and egos of men in order to ‘get by’.

Fun fact: A Liverpool bar called The Jacaranda (affectionately known as "The Jac"), temporarily changed its name to The Maccaranda, even serving Maccaritas, to mark this album’s release.