Paul McCartney's first new single in five years reviewed - Days We Left Behind

Daily Star's music guru reviews The Beatles legend McCartney as he looks back on Yesterday with his first new album in five years featuring songs about childhood

15:00, 26 Mar 2026Updated 11:33, 02 Apr 2026

[Paul McCartney's new song has been reviewed]

Paul McCartney's new song has been reviewed(Image: 2026 Mary McCartney)

The Beatles legend returns with The Boys Of Dungeon Lane in May and that album's first single is a stripped back emotional belter reminding the world how to write a timeless classic with the right levels of sentimentality.

Backed by piano and a chiming guitar, on Days We Left Behind Macca sings of smoky bars and cheap guitars musing nothing stays the same / no one needs to cry.

Theres echoes of Johnny Cash in the way a more mature McCartney sensitively sings the chorus, particularly the Man In Black's famed cover of Nine Inch Nails classic Hurt. It also recalls David Bowies Where Are We Now? in the way he intimately pulls the listener in to look back on his life before Beatlemania was even a thing.

The icon has leaned more towards experimentation in recent years, but this beautiful deceptively simple tune is reminder of the power he can wield with melody of the purest kind.

Days We Left Behind is a **** comeback from McCartney whose last album McCartney III saw him record alone in the studio during lockdown.

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Macca began work on the new 14 track LP The Boys of Dungeon Lane five years ago when he met producer Andrew Watt - the man behind Ozzy Osbourne and Rolling Stones albums - for a cup of tea. Their first session yielded the albums opening track, As You Lie There and they continued working between Los Angeles and Sussex over a number of years.

Insiders are calling the new music "his best in years" incorporating bits of Wings style rock, latter period Beatles experimentation as well as classic McCartney pop melodies. Maybe fans will be Amazed.

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