Paul McCartney was—and I use the past tense—one of the two greatest songwriters of the era that comprised the apogee of pop music. (The other was John Lennon; I’m excluding Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell as were folkier). Sadly, he’s still making music, and, save for George Harrison, each of the Beatles immediately lost their touch after they went solo.
Here’s a McCartney song touted in the NYT as the “What’s New” in music we should pay attention to. It’s from a new album he’s releasing in May. Their blurb:
Paul McCartney, ‘Days We Left Behind”
“The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” to be released May 29, will be Paul McCartney’s first solo album since 2020; it’s named after a Liverpool street in the neighborhood where he grew up. In “Days We Left Behind,” a cozy ballad carried by acoustic guitar and piano, he sings about places and memories as both fragile and lasting; he mentions Forthlin Road, the street where he lived and wrote early songs with John Lennon. “Nothing stays the same,” he muses, but he also insists, “No one can erase the days we left behind.” His voice is shakier than it once was, only making things more poignant.
Listen for yourself. Yes, his voice is shaky, a mere shadow of his voice from the Sixties. Worse, the song is lame in both melody and lyrics, though the melody is worse than the lyrics, which are at least tolerable (I give them below).
I realize that Macca was made to create music, and probably can’t stop doing it. And this song is still better than a lot of the dreck that passes for pop/rock music these days, but compared to the earlier McCartney, well, it’s sad. If you leave the video on, you’ll see a horrific AI-generated video in which all four Beatles are stuck in.
Lyrics:
Looking back at white and black
Reminders of my past
Smoky bars and cheap guitars
But nothing built to lastNothing ever stays
Nothing comes to mind
No one can erase
The days we left behindSee the boys of Dungeon Lane
Along the Mersey shore
Some of them will feel the pain
But some were meant for moreAnd nothing stays the same
No one needs to cry
Nothing can reclaim
The days we left behindWe met at Forthlin Road
And wrote a secret code
To never be spoken
I stand by what I said
The promise that I made
Will never be brokenNothing ever stays
Nothing comes to mind
And no one can erase
The days we left behindIn the skies the skylarks rise
Above the sounds of war
Since that day I knew they’d stay
With me for evermore’Cause nothing stays the same
And no one needs to cry
And no one is to blame
For the days we left behind
The days we left behind
Hmm, I think it’s an ok song, and I think it’s appropriate that, at this point in his remarkable life, he lay down quiet, introspective, and acoustic tracks such as this.
Regarding George, I feel that when he ran out of Beatles songs (almost all of them appeared on All Things Must Pass) his songcraft and arranging skills plummeted precipitously. His output improved starting with his ’79 LP, but it took Jeff Lynne to really bang him back into shape.
But I’ll always love all four of them, of course!
I agree, the context of his career means evaluating the song a little differently than if Joe Schmoe from the backwoods just uploaded it.
I saw a Joe Rogan clip where Rick Beato demonstrates how quickly AI can create a fictional artist, then create the lyrics, music, and singing, which sounds quite good. I’m curious what the AI would come up with if asked to create an undiscovered Beatles song.
Even demigods get old. He’s done so much, let him play, no harm done even if the miracles are no more. We’ll love him forever listening to the masterpieces of the past
I like it, and I am impressed he can still put stuff out there.
Post-Beatles, all 4 did good music, music that will last forever, but the secret sauce that they had as a group was that they pushed each other to make the greatest pop music ever.
Thanks for calling my attention to it! I had no idea Paul had a new album coming out. I looked it up on iTunes and listened as pure audio with good headphones instead of watching that video, and I like it. It’s a little somber and nostalgic, not as upbeat and transformational as Paul in his prime with the Beatles (which is a very high bar), or as replayable as his better Wings songs, and you can definitely hear his advanced age in his voice. But few popular music artists are able to keep creating at even this level into their 80s. I’d put it in the top 10% or so of popular music coming out today.
Abysmal? Even what you described is far from that. Reflective and elegant would be a better description. I would prefer to hear it in the context of a whole album and I’d be interested how you feel once you’ve heard it in that context. Also trying to find a comparison between this and She Loves You considering all the time that’s passed seems pointless. For some of us older fans it’s still Paul guiding us into the next phase of life and in a way most of us can’t do.
Reflective and elegant? This son is far from that. And I did not compare it to She Loves You, did I? Of course this is a matter of taste. I am an older fan and I thought the song was mediocre. So be it.
And just FYI, Ringo has a new album coming out on April 24 (his 22nd studio album, plus his recent string of EPs). My fave LPs of his are Ringo, Time Takes Time, and Choose Love.