Paul McCartney Debuts New Song “Days We Left Behind” on Saturday Night Live

Paul McCartney helped end the Saturday Night Live season on their finale over the weekend playing three songs from his extensive solo catalog including the debut of “Days We Left Behind”.   The song is the first single from his new album to arrive at the end of the month, ‘Boys of Dungeon Lane’.  McCartney was in better voice than recent years and the song benefitted from the light frailty present. 

The other two songs “Band on the Run”, and “Coming Up” were a bit rougher vocally especially since it’s easy to compare to their 50-year old recordings.  Yet, it’s more about his status as a survivor, continuing his long career into his 80s and willingness to put himself out there to share his art. “Coming Up” was cut off at the end of the show but it can be found in full on NBC’s Peacock streaming service. 

Rumors were swirling about a possible appearance from Ringo Starr, his Beatles bandmate since the two share vocals on McCartney’s latest single, “Home to Us” but that wasn’t to be.  Instead, Chad Smith from The Red Hot Chili Peppers filled in on drums – Abe Laboriel Jr., Paul’s normal drummer was absent.  Ingrid Michaelson added backing vocals to all three songs – her first time playing live with Paul.  “Days We Left Behind” used her and guitarist Rusty Anderson’s backing vocals to round out the sound of the song better live. 

Paul also appeared in a couple of skits – the monologue where there was confusion between Chad Smith and host Will Ferrell looking alike -Paul played like he couldn’t tell the difference.  The Mac man also played a funny car mechanic in a later skit.   Paul had been a guest several times on Saturday Night Live in the past and was great in his skits. 

After the show's broadcast, McCartney played The Beatles' classics, "Help!" and "Drive My Car".