Paul McCartney’s Mystery Chord Sparked His New Album, and He Still Can’t Name It

McCartney demonstrated the chord on Instagram and asked followers to identify it, saying he still doesn't know its name.

Paul McCartney has shared a video demonstrating the unusual guitar chord that served as the creative starting point for his new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, produced by Andrew Watt. Playing the chord on an acoustic guitar, McCartney broke down its notes and walked through the three-chord sequence it eventually became, while admitting on Instagram that he still has no idea what the chord is actually called.

 

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A Wacky Chord and a Cup of Tea

The story begins at Watt's studio in Los Angeles, during the pair's first meeting. McCartney arrived, had a cup of tea, and started talking about his songwriting process. As he described it in the video: “Sometimes I like to start the idea for a song with a wacky chord — a chord I don't know. Sometimes that inspires me and gets me into a song.” Watt lent him a left-handed guitar, and McCartney found the chord almost immediately.

According to the album's press release, McCartney “happened upon a chord that even he — the world's most successful living songwriter — didn't recognise.” Rather than stopping to figure out what it was, he kept moving, changing one note, then another, until he had a three-chord sequence. Watt suggested they record it on the spot, and that session produced the album's opening track, “As You Lie There.”

Breaking Down the Notes

In the Instagram video, McCartney identified the notes of the original chord as D, C, Eb, and B. From there, he changed the B to an A and then to a G, creating the three-chord progression that opens the record. “So it became a three-chord sequence,” he said, strumming through it several times for viewers.

Music theory-minded listeners have weighed in with their own interpretations. One reading puts the chord as a Cmmaj7/D, resolving through Cm6/D to G/D. Another frames it as a D13b9, moving to D7b9 before landing on G/D. McCartney himself has not settled on either answer, posting to Instagram simply: “What is it? Do you know the wacky chord?”

Album Reception and a Notable Endorsement

The Boys of Dungeon Lane has landed to broadly positive reviews, with four- and five-star notices appearing widely. Among those responding to the release was Taylor Swift, who wrote on Instagram that she's “Never not inspired by this eternally exceptional artist.”

What we know

• Paul McCartney's new album is titled The Boys of Dungeon Lane and was produced by Andrew Watt.
• The mystery chord was discovered during McCartney and Watt's first meeting at Watt's studio in Los Angeles.
• McCartney identified the chord's notes as D, C, Eb, and B, then changed the B to an A and then to a G to form a three-chord sequence.
• The session that produced the chord also yielded the album's opening track, “As You Lie There.”
• McCartney posted the chord demonstration on Instagram and asked followers to identify it, saying he still doesn't know its name.
• Taylor Swift responded to the album's release on Instagram, writing that she's “Never not inspired by this eternally exceptional artist.”

The take

McCartney has spoken for decades about approaching songwriting through instinct rather than formal theory, and this episode fits squarely in that tradition. His early work with the Beatles was famously built on feel and experimentation; he and Lennon often couldn't read music in the conventional sense, yet produced some of the most harmonically sophisticated pop of the 20th century. The idea of deliberately seeking out an unfamiliar chord as a creative trigger is a technique with deep roots in rock and pop composition. Producers like Rick Rubin have long encouraged artists to work from discomfort and surprise rather than muscle memory, and Watt, who has revitalized late-career records for artists including Ozzy Osbourne and Eddie Vedder, has built a reputation on exactly that kind of spontaneous studio chemistry. What's notable here is that the chord's unresolved identity became a feature rather than a problem. McCartney leaned into the mystery, and the fact that he's still publicly asking fans to name it weeks after the album's release is a savvy piece of engagement that keeps the conversation alive. For a legacy artist releasing a new studio record, that kind of organic curiosity-driven promotion is worth more than most conventional rollout strategies.

Why it matters

For Classic Rock fans, this story is a reminder that McCartney's creative instincts remain genuinely active, not ceremonial. The chord anecdote illustrates how a single unplanned moment in a first studio meeting shaped an entire album's direction, which is the kind of origin story that gives a record real texture. It also underscores the value of pairing legacy artists with producers willing to capture spontaneity rather than polish it away. The Boys of Dungeon Lane arrives as evidence that McCartney is still finding new musical territory worth exploring.

What's next

The Boys of Dungeon Lane is out now, with “As You Lie There” serving as its opening track and the first recorded product of the McCartney-Watt collaboration. McCartney's Instagram post asking fans to name the chord remains active, and the broader conversation around the album's reception continues to develop.

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