Some fifteen months since closing out Saturday Night Live‘s 50th anniversary special with a memorable Abbey Road medley, Paul McCartney returned to the iconic show with a performance of the lead single from his upcoming album, as well as a Wings classic.
From his The Boys of Dungeon Lane LP, the legendary Beatle opened with the mellow “Days We Left Behind” that addresses his childhood memories in and around Liverpool.
About the song, the now 83-year old singer/songwriter said “I was thinking just that, about the days I left behind and I do often wonder if I’m just writing about the past, but then I think how can you write about anything else?” “It’s just a lot of memories of Liverpool. It involves a bit in the middle about John [Lennon] and Forthlin Road, which is the street I used to live in. Dungeon Lane is near there. I used to live in a place called Speke, which is quite working class. We didn’t have much at all, but it didn’t matter because all the people were great and you didn’t notice you didn’t have much.”
His first full length since McCartney III (2020,) The Boys of Dungeon Lane is McCartney’s 18th solo album.
In between touring dates for his acclaimed Got Back tour, Paul worked on new collection – that also contains tracks “Salesman Saint” and “Home to Us,” his first duet with Ringo Starr – with producer Andrew Watt.
McCartney’s second SNL performance was of “Band on the Run,” the Grammy-winning title track of Wings’ 1973 album, and like in “Days We Left Behind,” Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers sat behind the drum kit.
The subject of the Wings documentary Man on the Run, McCartney debuted on SNL in 1980, a year before that group disbanded. During SNL‘s 40th anniversary special in 2015, McCartney played “Maybe I’m Amazed” from his debut solo LP and sang a condensed version of the Beatles’ “I’ve Just Seen a Face” with Paul Simon.
As the credits rolled on SNL‘s 51st season final episode, the show seemed all but wrapped up when McCartney had a surprise encore quickly rejoining the band for “Coming Up,” from 1980’s McCartney II.
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: The_Admiralty