At 83, Paul McCartney is releasing his 18th solo album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, a collection of memories and sounds from his early life. In an interview at his Soho office, he reflected on the formative experiences that inspired the record, from family singalongs to the first time he heard the word ‘ubiquitous’. The album, he says, is not a sentimental exercise but an adventurous take on guitar music, infused with youthful energy.
McCartney recalled the earliest sounds he can remember, including a dubious memory of his own birth. ‘I have a feeling I can remember being born,’ he said. ‘Highly dubious, but I feel the white tiles and chrome instruments and the sounds … It’s probably total bullshit. An imagined memory! And I was a forceps delivery.’ He added, ‘I don’t quite understand what that is. I think they had to pull me out with some pliers.’
The album’s title refers to a birdwatching spot near the council house where his family moved in 1950. ‘Rows and rows and rows of council houses,’ McCartney said. ‘But they were great council houses.’ The upgrade to an indoor toilet was a marked improvement. He described the album as an opportunity for storytelling, without any conscious decision to revisit the past.
McCartney also spoke about how he imagines the reactions of his former bandmates, particularly John Lennon, when writing songs. ‘I can gauge John’s reaction: that’s good, stick that in,’ he said. The febrile times of his youth, he noted, mirror our own, giving him ‘every hope that we’ll get through’.
The album is rich with sonic details: skylarks, train whistles, the sound of a bus braking. McCartney described these as ‘linguistic hardcore’, the sounds that unconsciously bed the ear. Despite the nostalgia, he remains focused on the present, saying, ‘I don’t particularly know what’s going to come out’ when he writes songs.
