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![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ErZ82FQ2Z5Ezox4Gcsg9v4.jpg\")
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McCartney performs at the O2 Arena during his Got Back world tour, December 18, 2024. (Image credit: Jim Dyson\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The legendary bass<\/a> player will release the record May 27. Its title references Speke, Liverpool, where McCartney grew up \u2014 and several of the songs revisit moments from those early years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The album\u2019s opener recalls a teenage crush on a neighbor named Jasmine that never quite blossomed. \u201cShe did knock on the door once, but I was on the toilet,\u201d McCartney laughs.<\/p>\n But some memories cut deeper \u2014 particularly those involving his former bandmates.<\/p>\n Lead single \u201cDays We Left Behind\u201d looks back on McCartney\u2019s early adventures with John Lennon and George Harrison, long before the three would change popular music forever.<\/p>\n \n With George Harrison as the Beatles perform at the London Palladium, October 13, 1963. (Image credit: Edward Wing\/Daily Express\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cI still get a little bit emotional talking about John and George,\u201d McCartney admits.<\/p>\n One memory behind the song involves a youthful hitchhiking trip he took with Harrison. At one point the pair caught a ride on a battery-powered milk delivery truck as they headed \u201cdown south.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere was the driver\u2019s seat, a battery, and a passenger seat. George got the battery,\u201d McCartney recalled (via The Guardian<\/a>). \u201cHe had jeans with a zip on the back, and they connected with the battery. Later, at a B&B, he showed me the big zip burn!\u201d<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n When McCartney later told the story to Olivia Harrison, she remembered hearing a similar version from her husband \u2014 though with a different culprit.<\/p>\n \u201cShe said, \u2018Yeah, George told me that story about you getting your zip stuck in the battery,\u2019\u201d McCartney said. \u201cI maintain it was him.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul McCartney – Days We Left Behind (Lyric Video) – YouTube Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n The past isn\u2019t only present in memories on the album. It also surfaces in the music itself.<\/p>\n The record features a duet between McCartney and fellow Beatle Ringo Starr \u2014 the first collaboration<\/a> between the two surviving members of the band on one of McCartney\u2019s solo releases.<\/p>\n McCartney has paid tribute to his former bandmates before, including performing at the 2002 Concert for George at Royal Albert Hall. And Beatles history has continued to echo into the present through projects such as the band\u2019s AI-assisted 2023 single, \u201cNow and Then.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWhy am I doing all these songs about memories? Well, it\u2019s where your big bank of information is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Paul McCartney<\/p>\n Memories of McCartney\u2019s family also play a role on the album. His mother died while he was still a boy, leaving him and his brother, Mike McCartney, to be raised by their father.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never written about my mum and dad before,\u201d McCartney explains. Reflecting on the turmoil of today\u2019s world led him to think about his parents\u2019 experiences during World War II \u2014 his father a firefighter, his mother a nurse.<\/p>\n \u201cImagine any minute now you\u2019re expecting bombs to fall,\u201d he says. \u201cI wondered what that would do to you.\u201d<\/p>\n Even the album\u2019s creation began with a moment that felt almost accidental. It\u2019s McCartney\u2019s first record with producer Andrew Watt, known for his work with Ozzy Osbourne<\/a> and the Rolling Stones<\/a>. Their collaboration began five years ago over a cup of tea, when McCartney \u2014 casually strumming an acoustic guitar<\/a> \u2014 stumbled upon a mystery chord that sparked the opening track, \u201cAs You Lie There.\u201d<\/p>\n The album sessions were completed between legs of McCartney\u2019s Got Back Tour.<\/p>\n![\"British](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/9gnjdFngo6kB4hP4H83PpY.jpg\")
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