Nicky WoulffePaul McCartney goes back in time on a trip down memory lane with The Boys of Dungeon Lane, a beautiful and warm masterpiece that serves as his 21st solo offering.
Macca has always been my favourite Beatle. His songs with the Beatles, Wings, and his solo career have always dealt with memories and nostalgia. The Boys of Dungeon Lane is no exception in this respect. There is an innocence of youth about it which takes us back on a journey of a younger Paul in his beloved Liverpool.
For this effort McCartney teamed up with producer Andrew Watt who recently produced the Rolling Stones and Elton John. Watt’s production certainly seems to bring the best out of McCartney, who plays almost every instrument on the record.
The Long and Winding Memory
The new album is full of memories, love and reminiscing. This is nothing new to McCartney’s writing of great songs. He reflected on life many times with the Beatles with songs like “Yesterday”, and “Penny Lane”.
Now in his 83rd year, McCartney is longing to hold on to his memories of yesterday and of his youth or before he was one of the most famous people in the world. He speaks of times when everything seemed a lot easier.
This is so evident on the beautiful “Days We Left Behind” which shines a light on Speke in Liverpool where McCartney first lived — now taken over ironically by John Lennon International Airport. Notwithstanding this McCartney is asking us to hold on to our memories and not to forget our beautiful past.
The Places We Call Home
Everything comes into play on this album: the use of buses as young men which he uses as a reference on three of the songs on this album. On “Days We Left Behind”, he sings about his childhood home on Forthlin Road, while “Down South” recalls journeys along Chester Road. Elsewhere “Salesman Saint” paints a vivid picture of post-war Liverpool with the lines: “The war was nearly over/ The peace would soon begin/Living on the edge of the city/When the roads were going in”.
McCartney has always had simplicity about his lyrics but it is the way he has always got people to listen to his songs.
His collaboration with Ringo Starr along with Chrissie Hynde and Sharleen Spiteri reveals the changes in Liverpool in their lifetime. The rather catchy and bouncy “Home To Us” contains the lines: “The roses in the yard began to wilt and they turn to dust” they ponder, before stressing, “But it was home to us”.
A Voice Changed by Time
The Boys of Dungeon Lane does everything a Paul McCartney album should do. The voice is not once what it was. The octaves he could once reach are not there anymore. But it shows a certain vulnerability, which has a charm to it.
At this stage of his career, which spans well over 60 years, McCartney is looking at an ever decreasing life on the road and the thought of not making too many more albums. It was maybe time to hold on to all those beautiful memories created over a well lived lifetime.
It will not be the first time McCartney has reflected back in time. He did it on his 2005 record Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard which was an album full of great songs cherishing memories well made.
The Man on the Run
Some people might find my description of this record as a masterpiece a bit strong. But as a man who has been a Beatles fan since the late 60s and a McCartney fan for 56 years I do not say it lightly.
He is certainly encouraging us to hold on to the memories well made in our lifetime but in essence he is looking at his own life and realises that time is short.
Paul McCartney may not be finished just yet but he certainly is “The Man on the Run”.
