Paul McCartney went back to Liverpool for something new to say
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Boys of Dungeon Lane, McCartney's collaboration with producer Andrew Watt, arrived when McCartney was 83 and and he came out swinging: the opening track greets listeners with a dissonant, unresolved guitar chord that sets the album's tone. Harmonic instability runs through the entire record: chromatic mediants, deceptive cadences, and persistent pedal tones prevent even the most nostalgic songs from settling into comfort.
The album's lyrics focus on McCartney's pre-Beatles Liverpool youth, territory unfamiliar even to long-time fans. The songs pay deliberate sonic tribute to specific Beatles recordings: Mellotron strings echoing "Strawberry Fields Forever," a backwards laugh tape loop answering "Tomorrow Never Knows," a first-ever McCartney/Starr vocal duet so close in timbre the two voices are nearly indistinguishable.
Songs discussed:Paul McCartney – "Mull of Kintyre"Paul McCartney – "As You Lie There"The Beatles – "Blackbird"The Beatles – "Helter Skelter"The Beatles – "You Nev...
Boys of Dungeon Lane, McCartney's collaboration with producer Andrew Watt, arrived when McCartney was 83 and and he came out swinging: the opening track greets listeners with a dissonant, unresolved guitar chord that sets the album's tone. Harmonic instability runs through the entire record: chromatic mediants, deceptive cadences, and persistent pedal tones prevent even the most nostalgic songs from settling into comfort.
The album's lyrics focus on McCartney's pre-Beatles Liverpool youth, territory unfamiliar even to long-time fans. The songs pay deliberate sonic tribute to specific Beatles recordings: Mellotron strings echoing "Strawberry Fields Forever," a backwards laugh tape loop answering "Tomorrow Never Knows," a first-ever McCartney/Starr vocal duet so close in timbre the two voices are nearly indistinguishable.
Songs discussed:
Paul McCartney – "Mull of Kintyre"
Paul McCartney – "As You Lie There"
The Beatles – "Blackbird"
The Beatles – "Helter Skelter"
The Beatles – "You Never Give Me Your Money"
Paul McCartney – "Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey"
Paul McCartney – "Band on the Run"
Paul McCartney – "Live and Let Die"
Paul McCartney – "Mountaintop"
The Beatles – "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"
The Beatles – "For No One"
The Beatles – "Because"
The Beatles – "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
The Beatles – "Octopus's Garden"
Paul McCartney – "Down South"
The Beatles – "Two of Us"
Paul McCartney – "We Two"
The Beatles – "Strawberry Fields Forever"
Paul McCartney – "Never Know Those"
The Beatles – "Tomorrow Never Knows"
Paul McCartney – "Salesman Saint"
John Lennon – "Working Class Hero"
John Cougar Mellencamp – "Small Town"
Paul McCartney – “Home to Us” (with Ringo Starr)
Paul McCartney – "The Days We Left Behind"
The Beatles – "When I'm Sixty Four"
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