Paul McCartney has a new single out. It is a light, uptempo ballad, typical of most of his works. What is different is that the song lays all the cards on the table with open sadness. The title is Days We Left Behind, and it is in a very personal, reflective mood.
Paul opens the song with these words: “Looking back at white and black/ reminders of my past/ smoky bars and cheap guitars/ but nothing built to last/ Nothing ever stays/ nothing comes to mind/ no one can erase/ the days we left behind.”
He sings it with a tenor that is not as vibrant as before and that hints of struggles with some notes.
Still, I do not think Paul has done anything as heartfelt or as affecting as Days We Left Behind. He is facing a mirror, polished and bright, and he is asking us to also take a look. At him first. Is this Paul? Then at ourselves. What has happened to me?
There was a time in my life when I thought I would never get old. Become an adult, perhaps. But old? Not on your life. Likewise, my music idols. Well, maybe Frank Sinatra, maybe because he was from a long-ago time. But never anybody who did rock and roll. I saw them all as Peter Pans who would be ageless, forever young.
But like death and taxes, aging is inevitable. So, it happened. Age crept up little by little over the years and last Thursday, June 18, a milestone I never imagined would happen, came about. Paul is now 84 years old. The cutest Beatle of them all is old!
Old? Maybe. But this is old as a great artist is. Or I should say as a musician is. It is often said that musicians stay young longer than other people. That is why we see them teaching and performing well into their 80s or more. Now looking at what Paul is up to, I say there is truth to that saying.
Days We Left Behind is the first track out of McCartney’s new album, for which he wrote 14 new songs and played every instrument. The title is “The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” and the black-and-white cover art is a simple street sign.
Dungeon Lane is a street in Liverpool near where Paul and the three other Beatles, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, grew up. They were the boys of Dungeon Lane. They passed the street while riding the bus to school, while going home for dinner after hanging out. Maybe also during that crucial time when they, 14-year-olds with cheap guitars, finally got together.
The producer is Andrew Watt, who is best known for his work with Post Malone. That means he is young. And with almost a reverent touch he led Paul through tales set against the soft rock melodies reminiscent of Wings and the Beatles. Why, the album even includes a duet with Ringo. Titled Home to Us, this is the very first ever for these Dungeon Lane Boys. Remember Paul mostly sang with John.
The word around is that Paul is thinking of touring again soon and may include stops in Asia. Maybe he can bring Ringo along. That would be nice. Maybe we can have the chance to laugh together when he changes When I’m Sixty Four to When I’m Eighty Four.
Imagine, he thought then that 64 was old. But who cares? Age is really just a number, and he will always be the cutest Beatle.
