The marketing campaign for “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane” starts

In mid-March 2026, a small blackbird emoji was added to Paul McCartney’s social media profiles, prompting speculation that it was a clue to his next album.

On March 20, 2026, as part of the “Sticking Out Of My Back Pocket” marketing initiative, which creates theme-based playlists of Paul’s songs, the official Paul McCartney website unveiled a new playlist titled “BIRDWATCHING”, accompanied by the following text:

We’re returning to nature this month with a playlist that celebrates one of the longest-running threads in Paul’s songwriting: a love of birds that has been tucked into his music since the ‘Early Days’.

This new edition of ‘StickingOutofMyBackPocket’ takes flight from Paul’s childhood memories of birdwatching on the edge of Liverpool. As Paul recalled when we asked him in a previous ‘YouGaveMetheAnswer’.

Paul: Birdwatching started in Liverpool, my mum had the midwife’s house on the edge of Liverpool, where we lived. It was where Liverpool just stopped and then became deep countryside, so that was when I had the opportunity to do quite a bit of birdwatching. And now because I live part time on a farm, I’m able to see a lot of birds and I don’t need the Observer’s Book of Birds quite so much as I did back then.

From those childhood skylarks to the birds he sees on the farm today, this lifelong fascination has shaped songs across every era: from the timeless ‘Blackbird’ to ‘Single Pigeon’, the delicate ‘Jenny Wren’, McCartney III’s ‘Long Tailed Winter Bird’, and even the namesake of Paul’s band, Wings.

Paul has also spoken about the symbolism behind these recurring feathered characters. As he explained:

Paul: That really happens because from an early age, I’ve loved birds. I grew up on a housing estate in Liverpool in very ordinary circumstances – but nearby where I lived there were woods and fields, so I used to get out there and always loved it when I saw birds, or their nests, etc. I think one of the most memorable sights was seeing a skylark rising into the sky and singing its sweet song. So, the answer is: I love birds! But, in my songs, they sometimes turn into symbolic characters. There you go!

This playlist brings together those moments; the deep cuts, the classics, and the tracks that reveal just how often birds have perched in Paul’s creative world. It’s a celebration of nature, memory, and the way a simple childhood hobby can soar through a lifetime of music.

On March 22, 2026, an invitation to send a text message to a phone number, illustrated with the same blackbird emoji, was published on Paul’s social media profiles. Clicking on “Text Me” opened WhatsApp with the word “birdwatching” pre-filled. A few minutes after sending the message, users received the following reply:

Birdwatching started in Liverpool, my mum had the midwife’s house on the edge of Liverpool, where we lived. I used to get out there and always loved it when I saw birds, or their nests. I love birds! But, in my songs, they sometimes turn into symbolic characters.

Paul McCartney

On March 24, 2026, another change to Paul’s social media profiles added the phrase “THE STORY BEFORE THE STORY.”

In the early hours of March 25, 2026, Paul’s brother Mike posted a message on X appearing to reveal the title of the new album, “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane“, along with a logo styled to resemble a British street sign. He explained that the logo had been designed by his son Josh, Paul’s nephew.

It was soon discovered that the domain name theboysofdungeonlane.com had been registered. The website only displayed the same logo for the time being and used the blackbird emoji as its icon.

“The Boys Of Dungeon Lane” refers to the childhood years of Paul and Mike in Liverpool. Dungeon Lane is a road in Speke, a suburb of Liverpool, around a 15-minute drive from Paul’s childhood home in Forthlin Road, in the L24 postcode area. Paul often went there to be close to nature and to watch birds.

For Paul and Michael, the best thing about living in Speke was the countryside. In a couple of minutes they could be in Dungeon Lane, which led through the fields to the banks of the Mersey. The river is very wide at this point, with the lights of Ellesmere Port visible on the far side across enormous shifting banks of mud and sand pecked over by gulls. On a clear day you could see beyond the Wirral all the way to Wales. Paul would often cycle the two and a half miles along the shoreline to the lighthouse at Hale Head, where the river makes a 90-degree turn, giving a panoramic view across the mud and navigation channels to the industrial complex of Runcorn on the far side.

[…] Sometimes, how-ever, rather than play with his friends, Paul preferred to be alone. He would take his Observer Book of Birds and wander down Dungeon Lane to the lighthouse on a nature ramble or climb over the fence and go walking in the fields. […]

From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

In 1991, Paul wrote a demo titled “In Liverpool“, which he later performed at “The Liverpool Sound” concert in Liverpool in 2008. The song’s lyrics reference Dungeon Lane:

I spent my early life in Liverpool
Something I’m not likely to forget
People blend with faces
And places that I know, but never met
People blend with places
And faces that I know, but never met

Walking with the boys of Dungeon Lane
Aimlessly towards the cast iron shore
Swapping tales about the Chinese farm
And getting caught

Paul McCartney

Fans then began researching Dungeon Lane and quickly noticed that, on Google Street View, at the junction of Dungeon Lane and Hale Road in Speke, a boy dressed in 1950s-style clothing could be seen running with a sign reading “The Boys Of Dungeon Lane.” Those photos were taken on March 6, 2026, according to pano date resolver.

On March 25, 2026, a photo of a young Paul was posted on Instagram with the caption “Comment 🐦‍⬛ to hear the story before the story…” The image also became Paul’s default profile picture across his social media accounts.

Replying to the post with the blackbird emoji triggered a short 11-second video showing a “Dungeon Lane Café”, with childhood photos of Paul on the walls and crowd noise as the soundtrack. It was soon noted that the video had very likely been filmed at the Regency Café in Westminster, where Paul McCartney had been spotted earlier in March with actor Paul Mescal.

On March 26, user p.s.iloveyoupaul on Instagram posted the photo of a postcard (s)he received from MPL. It features some text written with the handwriting of Paul McCartney:

See the boys of Dungeon Lane
Along the Mersey shore
Some of them will feel the pain
But some are meant for more
Nothing stays the same
No one needs to cry
Nothing can reclaim
the days we left behind

Paul McCartney

On the morning, on the same day, BBC Merseyside posted a teaser for “something very exciting” to happen at 2:50pm UK time in the afternoon, the very first broadcast of Paul’s new single “Days We Left Behind.”

BBC Merseyside host noted that Paul specifically requested the song be premiered on Merseyside Radio “because the song is all about Liverpool, all about his roots, and he wanted the people of Merseyside to hear it before anybody else“.

At 3 PM UK time, the new album was officially announced on Paul McCartney’s official website.