Boys of Dungeon Lane listen-along
As You Lie There: I admit, the spoken word intro (hi, Royston Ellis?) made me laugh (fondly). Loved Paul tearing off the mask of the unsettling, acoustic balladeer in favor of just screaming. A true binary Frankensong. Copyright of the Paul McCartney stalker theme held in perpetuity by Mike McCartney.
Lost Horizon: come on, as if anything can get lost inside the loving hoarding memory of Paul M.! Musically, the song made me want to move! Be on the road! The lyrics made me go 'whatever you say, old man' (once more, fondly), but I LOVED the repetition of "that sound." Fuck Madeleines: this man is a musician!
Days We Left Behind: that sweet melody. The guitar plucks. From the start, this is finally real Paul, the princess peeking out of a song as delicate and pretty as the curtains in the window (you know which ones) (copyright Mike McCartney)
Ripples in the pond: a weird one! With Paul showing off his opaque lyrics writing talent. I loved the quick skips of "let's carry on makin' ripples in the pond" and the uplift in "my love just grows and grows"! But I'm confused by the sudden switch to the anthemic and cosmic stadium crowd chorus slash bridge. The ending startled me in the best way. Paul, you made me laugh again.
Mountain Top: ✨"or do you want to...stay?!"🌈 This silver sprite wishes to take you to the clearing where the old stinkorns grow! The beginning was a bit too cute for me, but the ending absolutely saved this one. Be mad more often, Paul! I loved the solo, too
Down South: yes. Just yes. This one spoke straight to my heart and made me feel all warm and a bit choked up. Yeah, this one's for George, and how: the simple, strong, non-showy guitar strumming, the cheeky "oh yeah," the solo! A musical tribute as well as lyrical. Paul's vocal is the best I've heard in ages, and the lyrics are so good and genuine. "It was a great way to get to know you." I could see Paul sing this to George, trying to make him smile.
We Two: Come onnn, this is for John. Musically, this made me think of John's "Woman"--the steady beat, the warm bass, the strangely unfinished feel to the melody, the echoing promise in the end: John's "I love you now and forever" and Paul's "Over, over again, I'll fall in love with you" (the repetition emphasized by a loop--like Finnegan, let's begin again?)
Come Inside: Professing to be an open book while wrapping himself in the most slick and crackless musical arrangement so far, that's our Paul. The song reminds me of "Save Us" from New, with its driving guitar and falsetto-ish harmonies--he does sound young! Handclaps I hear you.
Never Know: BIG fan of the angelic vocalizing in the background, and his voice in the verses is 🔥hot! The disconnect between the desperate lyrics and the stubbornly upbeat music in the refrain drives me nuts, but that's the Binary for you. Yes, this is 'the beatley one' complete with recorders and looped guitars. Since Paul's mind is an open book why not share my reading: he's trying to process the breakup of the band, but can't commit to the raw pain of it, which gives the ending a glittering disaster kind of vibe.
Home to Us: Just because this song will stick in mind for the rest of the day doesn't mean I have to like it!
Life Can Be Hard: I have weakness for falsetto Paul twirling in time with his whimsical melody, his voice front and center, easy tapping rhythm, strings dancing around him like fireflies. The traipsing waltz middle-eight made me think of "We Can Work It Out."
First Star of the Night: Keep whispering to me, you old, old man. Broken as it is, I love his vocal, and also the soothing melody, the soft instrumentation. I haven't been in full tin hat yet during this post, so here goes: I can see this being about Linda or his mother. Just, the nighttime calming vibes, and the lyrics about "her" looking down on him and comforting him from afar.
Salesman Saint: Everyone wonders who the Salesman Saint is; surprise, it's two people! The Binary got us again! About the song, I think this is as close to Paul's personal mantra as we're ever going to get. "They couldn't take anymore, but they had to (pause) carry on." It's the music that moved me, though: the trumpet in the beginning, and even more the big band fragments sounding from the radio summoned in the lyrics. Paul never let go of this part of his musical upbringing. They couldn't take it from him if they tried.
Momma Gets By: Tin hat is on again, exercise caution. As a song praising a woman, even his mother, for sticking with her husband despite (cough) everything, this would be unpalatable to me. And chances are Paul did like to glorify women in this way—strong, together, shouldering the load, "she had the woman thing down," etc.
However, this all turned around for me when Paul sings: What are his silly faults compared to what she feels inside? — hanging on to that high note, and then landing gracefully on She loves him/ She loves him/ with all her heart and soul. Because, I mean, come onnn. It's so West Side Story. And we know Paul knows a thing or two about staying with someone who's difficult and troubled, right?
Back to the lyrics: She doesn't care/ She's got her own philosophy of life/ It wasn't too long ago that she agreed to be his wife/ And even though he's complicated/ She takes it in her stride/ What are his silly faults compared to what she feels inside?. Yeah.
And look, his songs are never about just one thing. I absolutely see this as a story about a couple that's a little like his parents, and also as his romanticizing of women's "strength in suffering" in general, and probably also his nth song in praise of carrying on and bearing it, but it's also about him and John. Once you get married, that's it, you see.
(ETA one day later--because I fear I didn't express myself clearly! When I said the song turned around for me in that particular place. it wasn't just because I thought: oooh, it's about John! It was more that, to me, it suddenly sounded like he knew the feeling he was singing about, knew it exactly, like the blue hole, and that's how he reached this place of glowing vulnerable empathy (and regret?) that I found really moving. (And yeah, my mind went to his marriage with John, but where his mind was--who knows.) Yesterday I listened to Momma again, and the next song that came up was "Maybe I'm Amazed." I was not surprised.)
Musically, this song was the equivalent of being held and rocked and told it's all right. Probably too sweet for most, though again: Paul's old man falsetto voice, I'm into it! The swell of strings in the end was possibly a step too far, but you know what, it worked in the moment.
Phew, what a ride!
Favorites: Days We Left Behind, Down South, Life Can Be Hard
Overall favorite: Down South by a mile! Days We Left Behind batting its eyelashes in second.
