Paul McCartney, pictured here in Paris earlier this month, said he wondered if he was just writing about the past -- but 'then I think how can you write about anything else?'

Paul McCartney, pictured here in Paris earlier this month, said he wondered if he was just writing about the past -- but 'then I think how can you write about anything else?'

 Alain JOCARD

British pop legend and former Beatle Paul McCartney on Thursday released a new single and announced his first album in over five years, examining his life in Liverpool before global stardom.

The 83-year-old, one of the most successful artists of all time, announced the 14-track album titled "The Boys Of Dungeon Lane", taking listeners on a trip down memory lane in the northern English city.

It will include early adventures with his late bandmates George Harrison and John Lennon, prior to Beatles fame, according to the singer's website.

"The Boys of Dungeon Lane is his most introspective album to date and takes the listener back to where it all began," McCartney's website states. 

McCartney named the album, which will be released on May 29, after Dungeon Lane, a place close to his childhood home in the Liverpool suburb of Speke.

It is referenced in the newly released single "Days We Left Behind", which the songwriter described as a "memory song" that inspired the album title.

The record will also feature new love songs and memories of life before the Beatles.

"I do often wonder if I'm just writing about the past but then I think how can you write about anything else?" McCartney said in a statement on his website. "It's just a lot of memories of Liverpool."

"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."

The announcement comes ahead of two live performances in Los Angeles this weekend, his first since the November 2025 finale of his over three-year-long "Got Back Tour".

Formed in 1960, the Beatles -- McCartney, Lennon, Harrison and Ringo Starr -- went on to become the best-selling musical act of all time.

McCartney wrote or partnered with Lennon to write many of their biggest hits, including "Yesterday", "Hey Jude", "Let it Be" and "Yellow Submarine".

Following the band's split in 1970, the Beatles bassist continued writing and performing with hits including "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Live and Let Die" and "Band on the Run".

mp/aks/st

Originally published on doc.afp.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

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