Bruger:Metalindustrien/Legestuen/Rød stue

Skabelon:Sources "Paul is Dead" ("Paul er død") er en kendt vandrehistorie som antyder at Paul McCartney fra det britiske rock band The Beatles døde i 1966 og blev erstattet af en look-alike og sound-alike. McCartney er pr. 2006 stadig i live.

Beviserne på McCartneys død består af en række "spor" fundet blandt The Beatles' mange plader. De er blandt andet meddelelser som angiveligt kan høres når en sang spilles bagfra, symbolismer fundet i utydelige sangtekster og flertydig billedstil på diverse albumcovers. Det er ofte uklart om tilhængere spreder historien som en joke eller som en rigtig konspirationsteori. Rygtet har været udsat for omfattende sociologiske eftersyn på grund af at dets udvikling, vækst og tilbagevisning fandt sted meget offentligt, da The Beatles var meget populære.

Baggrund

Rygterne om McCartney begyndte for alvor 12. oktober 1969, da en person ringede ind til Russ Gibb, en radio-DJ på WKNR-FM i Dearborn, Michigan, identificerede sig selv som "Tom" (angiveligt Tom Zarski fra Eastern Michigan University) og bekendtgjorde at McCartney var død. Fred Labour, en studerende på University of Michigan, udgav en undersøgelse af Abbey Road med titlen "McCartney Dead; New Evidence Brought to Light", som specificerede de forskellige "spor" af McCartneys død på Beatles albumcovers, i en udgave af Michigan Daily fra 14. oktober 1969. Terry Knight, en tidligere Detroit DJ og daværende sanger hos Capitol Records, udgav en kryptisk, ildevarslende sang, "Saint Paul", kort efter hans angivelige møde med McCartney i London. Gibb producerede også (med John Small og Dan Carlisle) et timelangt radioshow om rygtet, The Beatle Plot, som blev sendt på WKNR-FM i slutningen af 1969 og siden er blevet genudsendt på Detroit radio.

Snart fandt nationale og internationale medier historien og der opstod en ny "Beatlesmani". Rygtet endte med at blive en hel konspirationsteori.

Historien om det påståede dødsfald

Den bedst kendte teori er, at McCartney sent om aftenen tirsdag 8. november 1966 (en "stupid, bloody Tuesday") efter at have arbejdet med Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band albummet, rasende forlod studiet efter et skænderi med de andre Beatles og kørte bort i sin Austin-Healey. Han så ikke at lysene var skiftet ("He didn't notice that the lights had changed" fra A Day in the Life) da han var optaget af at kigge på den pæne pige der gik på fortovet (Lovely Rita) efter han kort forinden havde været ved at køre hende ned da hun gik over gaden uden at se sig for (kaldet "jaywalking" - Blue Jay Way). Han smadrede derefter sin bil ind i en lygtepæl (man kan høre en bilulykke i "Revolution 9") og efter han omkom i ulykken brændte hans hår og ansigt (har mistede sit hår - "lost (his) hair" ifølge Don't Pass Me By). Han blev erklæret død på en onsdag morgen klokken 5 ("Wednesday morning at 5 o'clock as the day begins" fra She's Leaving Home). Få dage senere blev der holdt et begravelsesoptog (som antydes på Abbey Roads albumcover), med Lennon som præst og graveren Harrison som begravede liget.

Ifølge tilhængere af teorien blev McCartney erstattet af vinderen af en McCartney look-alike konkurrence. Denne look-alikes navn menes at være William Shears Campbell, Billy Shears (navnet på den fiktive leder af Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - en rolle som i virkeligheden blev spillet af Ringo Starr), William Sheppard (baseret på inspirationen for Beatles-sangen The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill), eller en kombination af disse navne.

Folk som studerer basguitar har påstået at der er sket en forandring af stilen og kvaliteten af McCartneys spil mellem de tidlige Beatles-album og de senere. Dette kan forklares ved en faktisk ændring og både stil (påvirket af Brian Wilsons melodiske bas) og indspilningsteknik; før 1966 optog han ofte sin bas live, men omkring det år begyndte han at overspille bassen med Direct Input-teknik, hvilket gav ham en større evne til at skabe melodiske basgange. Derudover faldt ændringen i spillestil, ifølge et interview med McCartney i en udgave af Musician Magazine fra 1988, sammen med en ændring i instrumenter. I 1966 forærede Rickenbacker McCartney en specialdesignet basguitar, og han lod snart herefter sin Hofner gå på pension.

Mange fans er overbeviste om at rygtet var en fupnummer som The Beatles selv iscenesatte, entet som en joke, eller muligvis for at øge deres salg af plader (det oprindelige opkald til Russ Gibb som startede rygtet sammenfaldt med udgivelsen af Abbey Road), selvom dette flere gange er blevet nægtet af alle fire bandmedlemmer.

Størstedelen af historien og rygtets begyndelse er blevet samlet af den amerikanske journalist Andru J. Reeve, hvis bog Turn Me On, Dead Man fra 2004 generelt betragtes som den definitive ressource for information.

Spor

A Collection of Beatles Oldies

Coveret på opsamlingsalbummet A Collection of Beatles' Oldies viser en bil med forlygter, som angiveligt skulle repræsentere den bil McCartney døde i.

Et andet skjult spor findes ved at forøge de to første bogstaver i 'Oldies' med en (o -> p, l -> m), hvilket giver 'pmdies' som efter sigende skulle stå for "Paul McCartney dies" ("Paul McCartney dør").

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band er det album som, hovedsageligt pga. dets meget detaljerede cover, har de fleste "spor" efter den påståede død.

Coveret til Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Bands

Rygtet vil vide at coveret til Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band viser en gruppe sørgende som står foran en nyligt gravet grav. Rundt om "graven" er der flere symboler, deriblandt en dukke med et revnet hovede som symboliserer McCartneys dødelige kvæstelse; en legetøjsbil på et knæ og en blodig venstrehåndshandske (McCartney er venstrehåndet). Inde i blomsterne som forestiller guitarformen kan man se ordet "PAUL" efterfulgt af et spørgsmålstegn. Endeligt lader McCartney til at være den højeste på billedet, men i virkeligheden var han ikke den højeste, hvilket antyder at personen på billedet ikke er ham.

McCartney is the only person holding a wooden instrument, representing his coffin, and the instrument is the only one that is black, representing death. The instrument is a cor anglais, the only instrument shown on the cover which is not used in a marching band. Paul's "true" instrument would have been the tuba, which is sitting unused at feet of the wax figure of Ringo. McCartney is the only person with a hand over his heart, a religious symbol for blessing the dead. There is also an open hand immediately above Paul's head. In some cultures this represents that the person is dead or about to die. However, these "clues" are likely not deliberate because the shot used for the cover was only one of many taken, many of which feature McCartney as well as the rest of the band standing in different positions and holding different instruments.

"1 ONE I X HE ^ DIE"

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A demonstration of the flipped "LONELY HEARTS" text on the front of the cover of Sgt. Pepper.

If a mirror is laid horizontally across the words "LONELY HEARTS" on the drum on the cover of Sgt. Pepper, the mirror image spells "1 ONE I X HE ^ DIE". This has been interpreted by believers in two ways.

The first is the 1, the "ONE" and the I each represent one of the Beatles, while the "X" signals one is missing. The second interpretation is that the date of Paul's alleged death is given. In this interpretation, the "1" and "ONE" make the number 11, meaning November. The "I" and "X" are taken to represent Roman numerals making the number 9. According to this interpretation, the message is either "11th September, he died" (using the British system of writing dates) or "November 9th, he died" (In 1966 November 9th was a Wednesday, referring to how he died on a Wednesday morning at 5 o'clock) (using the American system). However, the American system was not familiar in the UK, and as the album was by a British band with a cover by a British artist (Peter Blake), it seems unlikely the latter would have been used. Neither date systems would fit with the theory that McCartney died during the recording of Sgt. Pepper's—the album was recorded between December 1966 and June 1967, with an additional session in July 1967.

In both cases, the arrow formed between "HE" and "DIE" appears to point to Paul.

Back cover

On the back cover of Sgt. Pepper, McCartney is facing backwards, supposedly because he was dead and replaced with an impostor in the photograph. Also, George Harrison is pointing to the lyric "Wednesday morning at five o'clock as the day begins" from the song "She's Leaving Home", allegedly a reference to the day and time when Paul crashed and was killed (It should be noted that if this and the "1 ONE I X HE ^ DIE" clue are both to be considered valid, the latter clue could not refer to September 11, 1966, as that date was not a Wednesday.) The words next to McCartney's head are "Without You". Although, George Harrison is not pointing to the clue. He is actually making an "L" for the word "love". The "O" is missing as Paul is faced backwards.

The badge

The inside cover of the Sgt. Pepper album has Paul wearing an emblem on his shirt sleeve whose initials have been suggested to be "O.P.D.", for "officially pronounced dead" or "original paul dead". However, it in fact reads "O.P.P.", and is a badge for the Ontario Provincial Police (or Ontario Police Department, if it is, in fact, a "D" at the end).

A Day in the Life

Lennon's dramatisation of the demise of Tara Browne in the first part of "A Day in the Life" has been suggested by some to be an account of Paul's death. According to this theory, he was driving erratically under the influence of hallucinogenic compounds ("he blew his mind out in a car") and crashed because "he didn't notice that the lights had changed." The line "They'd seen his face before" is suggested to refer to the fact that many of the witnesses of the crash knew what Paul looked like, at least before the alleged disfiguring accident.

According to The Beatles Anthology book, Paul McCartney crashed his moped while riding alongside Tara Browne sometime in early 1966. This left McCartney with a cut upper lip (the scar can be seen on close examination of Revolver-era photos ) that encouraged him to grow a moustache to cover it.

The gibberish at the end of the song on the original UK LP and eventual CD edition of the album, the so-called "Inner Groove", when played in reverse has been interpreted as, among other things, "Will Paul be back as Superman?". The commonly accepted interpretation however is "We'll fuck you like a superman", as described by Paul McCartney in his biography Many Years From Now. Other suggestion were "..And we'll all be back here soon", and "Yeah, we're all looking at you Superman".

Other lyrical clues from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Paul's Fixing a Hole contains lyrics that may refer to his alleged fatal head injury: "I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in, and stops my mind from wandering", which led many believers to the conclusion that Paul's accident happened during a rainstorm. Others interpreted this line to be a reference to his fans weeping for him.

Paul's Lovely Rita contains "...I took her home, I nearly made it..." which has been interpreted as hinting to Paul's failure to reach his destination due to the crash. It has also been suggested that Rita was a hitchhiker whom Paul picked up on the night of his alleged death.

Harrison's Within You Without You has the lyrics "life goes on within you and without you" and what could be interpreted as the sounds of weeping near the end.

Also, if one listens closely to the end of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise), between the drawn out lyrics, hearts and club, it sounds as if someone in the background is screaming, "Paul is dead! He's really really dead!", but it's just John asking "Paul, could you hold my guitar for me?" .

Summary of the clues from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

All these morsels were concocted together into one more-or-less cohesive tale: that the real Paul was killed in a car crash on Wednesday, November 9, 1966. He was replaced by a Canadian policeman named either William Campbell or Billy Shears, who had undergone plastic surgery in order to effect a perfect likeness, and who had previously won a Paul McCartney look-alike contest. The letters "OPD", appearing on a costume in a photograph on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, were interpreted variously as standing for "Officially Pronounced Dead" and an indication that Billy Campbell had worked in the Ontario Police Department. (The badge on Paul's arm in the Sgt Pepper's album is that of the Ontario Provincial Police, which was given to him by a Canadian fan. The badge does not contain the lettering "OPD" but rather "OPP".)

Also on Sgt. Pepper, "Billy Shears" is the name of the lead singer for the fictional Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band that the Beatles were originally planning to "play" on the album. Though this concept was largely discarded, the end of the title track includes a lyric referring to the "one and only Billy Shears", played by Ringo Starr, who sings the lead vocal on the next song, "With a Little Help from My Friends."

Magical Mystery Tour

Cover of Magical Mystery Tour

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Magical Mystery Tour

The Walrus

The Beatles are dressed up as four different animals on the album cover: a rabbit, a hippo, a bird, and a walrus. McCartney is depicted as the walrus (although some have suggested he is in fact the hippo). Some claim the depiction of a walrus is an ancient sign of death, ranging from ancient Viking to ancient Greek to ancient Inuit, but no evidence for such claims has ever been produced.

The phone number

When the cover is held in front of a mirror, the word "BEATLES" becomes a telephone number (often said to be 231-7438 when held in front of a mirror or 531-7438 when held upside down, but many others are suggested). Upon dialing the number, the story goes, the listener would hear the message "you're getting closer", receive information about Paul's death, win a trip to his grave, or even talk to him in the afterlife. Similar to 867-5309, the numbers were frequently called by curiosity seekers, causing much annoyance for their actual owners. It should be noted that these telephone numbers did not relate to British telephone numbers of the time.

Inside sleeve

The fifth magician: The inside sleeve of the album states, "Away in the sky, beyond the clouds, live four or five magicians..." If the magicians are taken to represent The Beatles themselves, then the fifth magician could be interpreted to be Billy Campbell, Paul's replacement, if not early members Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best, both of whom are often referred to as being a "Fifth Beatle", or more likely George Martin, their producer, who is usually called "The Fifth Beatle." In the movie, the five magicians are played by The Beatles and Mal Evans. The fifth magician referred to was actually "Magic" Alex Mardas.
I Am the Walrus: The only song title to have a subtitle is "I Am the Walrus". Lead vocals in the song are by John Lennon, so it is curious that underneath the title are the words "No you're not!" said Little Nicola. The theory is that John is the walrus, since he is singing, but because in some sailing cultures walruses represent a death symbol, it can't possibly be John, since it is Paul that is dead, not John. Further proof comes later in the White Album when in the song "Glass Onion" we hear the lyrics: "Now here's another clue for you all, the walrus was Paul." However, in the song "God" on John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Lennon sings, "I was the walrus, but now I'm John."

The booklet

The booklet that accompanied Magical Mystery Tour contains a number of scenes from the film which are suggested to contain clues.

The first shows McCartney dressed as an Army sergeant with a card on his desk that says "I WAS", suggested to indicate that the man WAS Paul. The card is actually the original British war poster on which the Uncle Sam "I Want You!" poster was based, and says "I you WAS". Paul is also seated beneath a pair of crossed flags, as they would appear on the grave of a military serviceman.

Shortly after this, there is a black-and-white fisheye lens image of a dinner party. If the viewer holds it sideways and squints, it appears to be the image of a crushed skull.

In a scene in the middle spread, Paul is not wearing shoes, as further alluded to on the cover of the Abbey Road album. His shoes are next to Ringo's bass drum, which says "Love The 3 Beatles". The multi-exposure image of George Harrison shows a head-on car collision about to occur in the upper corner. In another page featuring a still from the dancing scene, McCartney wears a black carnation while the other three Beatles wear red ones. Paul's explanation for this is that they had run out of red ones, although he is clearly handed a bouquet of red carnations in the scene.

Lyrics from Magical Mystery Tour

Blue Jay Way

The George Harrison track, "Blue Jay Way", may be heard as a eulogy to Paul (with the lyrics "please don't be long, please don't you be very long, please don't be long, or I may be asleep..."). Also, some have claimed that when the chorus is played backwards, the following phrase is said, "He said 'get me out'. Paul is what is. Paul is Hare Krishna it seems. Paulie is bloody". The song is actually about George waiting for Derek Taylor to help him move into his LA home on Blue Jay Way on a foggy day.

Your Mother Should Know

According to The Beatle Plot, reversing this McCartney song produces the words "Why doesn't she know me...I shed the light...dead." It may also suggest "Why does she know me?".

I Am The Walrus

The John Lennon track "I Am The Walrus" allegedly implies that McCartney died on a "stupid bloody Tuesday"; if we are to believe that McCartney died "Wednesday morning at five o'clock", as in "She's Leaving Home" from Sgt. Pepper, this could translate to be Wednesday morning UK time, while it would still be Tuesday evening in the U.S. West Coast. The chant at the end of the track, played backwards, seems to reveal "Paul Is Dead, Paul Is Dead..." And when played forwards to the end, contains a portion of a BBC radio broadcast of King Lear which mentions, "O, untimely death!" John had simply turned on the radio while recording and the "King Lear" bit was a coincidence. Also, right at the end, if reversed a voice allegedly says, "Paul is dead, his head off lies with his spirit." In the middle of the "I Am The Walrus" music video, John seems to point at something in the road. As everyone looks, you see Paul nodding his head when he sees, then you see a white car (possibly an Aston Martin) driving by 3 stone walls.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Some believers have interpreted what is generally agreed to be Lennon saying "cranberry sauce" at the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever" to in fact be "I Buried Paul". In his book Summer of Love, producer George Martin confirms John was indeed saying "Cranberry Sauce, my mother made it for me." Lennon has also gone on record via radio shows to confirm he said "cranberry sauce." The Beatles Anthology Volume 2 CD, as well as some bootlegs, includes alternate takes of the song which also confirm this.

The movie

In The Beatles music video for "Your Mother Should Know", all band members can be seen in white suits walking down a staircase. Each band member has a red rose in their jacket pocket, except for Paul who can be seen with a black rose in place of a red one. The black rose is supposed to symbolize death, in reference to the "Paul is Dead" rumor.

Yellow Submarine album

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Yellow Submarine

A small number of alleged clues have also been found in the Yellow Submarine album. The following list does not include alleged clues found in non-original songs on the album.

Cover of the Yellow Submarine album

On the cover of Yellow Submarine, all the cartoon characters are pointing towards Paul, who is at the top of the hill in front of the group. John Lennon is holding his hand up over McCartney in what has been interpreted as a sign of benediction or the devil's horns. Many of the other characters are showing the same gesture.

Lyrics from the Yellow Submarine album

George Harrison's "Only A Northern Song" contains the lines "If you think the harmony, is a little dark and out of key, you're correct, there's nobody there". Believers have interpreted this as George alluding to the fact that he and Paul would often harmonise together on many of the group's songs, but now that he's gone ("There's nobody there") the harmony isn't working out.

The White Album

Due to the minimalism of the cover, almost all of the alleged clues on the so-called "White Album" are found in the lyrics, many by playing the music backwards, or in the images of the accompanying poster found in the original vinyl release. There is however a Paul is Dead clue that can be found on the original poster that came with vinyl copies of the White Album up through the 1980s. In one of the photos, Paul is standing in what appears to be a subway or train car, possibly dancing, and there is a streak of bright light that looks like a skeleton's arm. Another famous clue from the poster, concerns a small black and white picture that looks like a passport photo. It's Paul McCartney... but not quite. This man is wearing conservative eyeglasses, has short hair and somewhat different features. He appears to be dressed unfashionably, hardly McCartney's style, and looks nervous, like an immigrant. This is said to be the man who replaced Paul in the Beatles; a picture taken before plastic surgery. The man in the picture, seems to be about as old as McCartney was when the album came out, the reasons why Paul would put such a small, strange photo on the poster only added fuel to the conspiratorial fire.

Lyrics from The White Album

Glass Onion

On The Beatles, Lennon's track "Glass Onion" has lyrics that read "...here's another clue for you all...the Walrus was Paul" (a back reference to "I Am The Walrus" from the previous Magical Mystery Tour album). Also, he states, "I told you 'bout the 'Fool On The Hill', I tell you, man, he's living there still", interpreted as claiming Paul remains on the hill where he was buried. It is also said that a 'Glass Onion' is a term used to describe a coffin with a glass top, or looking panel, though it is actually a slang term for a monocle. The lyrics "Looking through a glass onion" suggest that Paul would have been buried in such a coffin.

The "Paul is Dead" rumour started October 12, 1969. Since "Glass Onion" was recorded on September 11, 1968, reports that The Beatles made this song in response to the rumours are unlikely.

I'm So Tired

Similar reversals of "I'm So Tired" allegedly revealed "Paul is dead, man. Miss him, miss him, miss him!" (or sometimes, "Paul is a dead man. Miss him, miss him, miss him!") near the end and "I wish I were not a Beatle!" from the line "...should I call you but I know what you would do", taken to mean that with the death of his friend, the singer (John) wishes to quit the band. To those of this who believe at least one other member of the group was in on the hoax, it has been noted that the gibberish John speaks to attain this backwards message could easily have been conceived and practiced in advance and then recorded.

Revolution 9

In probably the most talked-about clue, the words "number nine, number nine" on the track "Revolution 9" seem to become "turn me on, dead man, turn me on, dead man" when played backwards. This could be interpreted as a response to the line "I'd love to turn you on" from "A Day in the Life".

The track also includes other alleged clues, such as the sound of a car crashing, and comments by John Lennon which seem to indicate what McCartney was "doing" before he "died"—for example, one forward-playing comment goes "who can tell what he was saying...his eyes was on fire", while another comment goes "Yoko, you better go to see he's dead" (although this line has also been interpreted as "…so the wife called, and we better go to see a surgeon..."). One comment played backwards yields "get me out, get me out!". Other things heard backwards are the sounds of a raging fire, an ambulance arriving at an accident, and the sounds of a funeral choir. Amongst playing the song in reverse, in the end as the fire is heard, reversing the line said before reveals the phrase, "There were two, there are none now" (one of the clearer messages). Moving forwards, another crackling sound (representing fire) is heard, followed by the phrase "ooh, death" (when played backwards seems to say "Paul is doomed").

When the words "…you become naked…" are played backwards, they seem to become "Satan look at me", which could refer to Paul having to confront Satan after dying.

In the most overt clue of all, a man's voice, presumably John's, seems to declare "Paul died", to which a crowd erupts in chaos (and some applause). The shouting at the end of this song when played backwards sounds similar to "Where's my Paul?"

Toward the middle of the song, Lennon can be heard to be shouting "Right! Right! Right". By shifting the music completely to the right speaker, new dialogue can be heard during the "crackling fire" part of the song mentioned above. Lennon can be heard to say "Paul, Paul, we called for a doctor, but you went to the dentist instead... because you were only a set of teeth man..."

There is another reference to the alleged time of death considering the numbers after the songs "Revolution 1" and "Revolution 9". Considering the information already given (McCartney "died" on 11/9) could indicate why Hey Jude 's B-side version of "Revolution" was released again on the Past Masters album.

Cry Baby Cry

At the end of the song Paul laments "Can you take me back where I came from? Can you take me back?"

Don't Pass Me By

Ringo's track "Don't Pass Me By", has lyrics that read, "I listen for your footsteps but they don't arrive", and later, "I'm sorry that I doubted you...I was so unfair. You were in a car crash, and you lost your hair..." ("Don't Pass Me By" was actually written some time around 1964) The end of George Harrison's track "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" has Harrison seem to be calling "Paul, Paul, Paul..."

Abbey Road

Abbey Road was the last album recorded by The Beatles (though Let It Be was released later). The total number of alleged clues on this album is rather small in comparison to their earlier works.

Cover of Abbey Road

The front cover of Abbey Road is said to be a representation of Paul's funeral procession. Lennon is the clergyman or priest (sometimes interpreted as God) (dressed in white), Starr the funeral director, mourner (in black), or pall bearer (formally dressed), McCartney represents the corpse (bare feet, closed eyes, holding a cigarette or "coffin nail" in his non-dominant hand, and walking out of step with the others), and Harrison the grave digger (denim working clothes). Additionally, McCartney's cigarette is in his right hand; the "real" Paul is left-handed. However, just because he is left-handed doesn't necessarily mean that he would hold his cigarette with his left hand; also, the cigarette would not be visible if it were in his left hand, so this may be an element of design. Also, the pavement behind them is in shadow and the one in front is in sunlight, a possible allusion to Paul's ascension to heaven by 'crossing into the light'. In reality, this is just because they were given only ten minutes to shoot the cover, and the sun just happened to be in that position at that moment. It is also known that images tend to look better when illuminated from behind the photographer.

The license plate

The license plate of the white Volkswagen Beetle reads LMW 281F. Some said that LMW stood for "Linda McCartney Widow (or Weeps)", while others said that LMW stood for a phrase such as "Left Me Waiting" or "Lost My Way"—in reference to a heated argument over which route through the city could be negotiated fastest, and the winner, arriving at the destination, wondered what was keeping Paul, this allegedly being the main reason for George Harrison's song, "Blue Jay Way".

The last part of the license plate, 281F (with the "1" interpreted to fill in for an "I"), suggests Paul would have been 28 if he had not died. It should be noted at the time of the album's release, September 26, 1969, McCartney was in fact 27. However, in certain Asian dating systems, life begins at conception, so by that definition he would have been 28. The Beatles' interest in Buddhism and Hinduism is considered the link to this system. The actual car was a 1968 Volkswagen Beetle owned by a resident of one of the flats across the street from the studio.

The other cars

The car visible on the road that The Beatles are crossing is driving down the road (cars drive on the left on British roads) in perfect line with Paul, alluding to his vehicle-related death and reminding us that it happened some time ago. In reality, this car just happened to be on the road at the time of shooting, as Abbey Road is an active street. Many other shots of the same scene were taken, many of which do not feature this particular car. The police vehicle, officially present to stop traffic while the photo was being taken, supposedly represents either the officers who responded to the accident, the hearse, or allude to William Campbell's previous profession (see "The Badge" in Sgt. Pepper's).

Back cover

On the back cover, a strangely configured and placed "3" in front of the Beatles name seems to indicate three "remaining" Beatles. Also, the name Beatles has a crack running through the letter S, making it imperfect. There is a chip in the letter "O" in "Road", again supposedly because Paul was the only one in the group without an "O" in his name. Some claim that a profile of McCartney's face can be seen in the image of the girl in the blue dress, while the shadows on the wall just behind her form a skull.

Poster

One of the many posters advertising the release of Abbey Road simply featured four candles in a holder. Three of these are lit, while the second from the left is recently extinguished. This is very clearly a humorous allusion to the "Paul is Dead" rumour by the Beatles themselves.

Lyrics from Abbey Road

Come Together

"Come Together" contained several alleged clues in the lyrics. "He got hair down to his knee" is taken by believers to refer to the false claim that hair and nails continue to grow after death. "He wear no shoeshine" is taken to refer to Paul being barefoot on the cover. "He got toe-jam football" is taken to refer to rugby, a sport Paul liked to play. "Toe jam" is a slang name for the dirt that gathers between the toes of unwashed feet. "He got monkey finger" allegedly refers to the thin frail fingers of a dead body. "One and one and one is three" allegedly refers to there being only three "remaining" Beatles. "Got to be good looking" is believed to refer to McCartney as the "cute" Beatle. "'Cause he's so hard to see" supposedly refers to the faded memory of someone who is now gone. "Got to be good looking 'cause he's so hard to see" could also depict the fancy tuxedo placed on men in the coffin. "Come together right now over me" supposedly refers to the scene over McCartney's grave as the mourners come together.

Additionally, the song's chorus when played in reverse is supposed to become "Heave ho...and now...Oh, thank the smoke"; interpreted to mean that they were lifting Paul's crashed car but thankfully the smoke obscured their view of Paul's body from the inside.

She Came in Through the Bathroom Window

"She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" contains the lines "And so I quit the police department/and got myself a steady job". This is taken by believers to be a reference to McCartney's supposed replacement William Campbell and his previous job as a policeman in Ontario.

Let It Be

Let It Be, the end product of the "Get Back" sessions, was the final album released by The Beatles. Again, the total number of alleged clues on this album is relatively small.

Cover of Let It Be

On the cover of Let it Be, Paul appears to be singled out from the other Beatles in two ways. First, he is facing forward while the other Beatles are looking to the left. Second, Paul is the only Beatle whose face is not in front of a white background. What's more, said background appears to be blood red.

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Let It Be… Naked

When the album was remixed into "Let It Be... Naked" Paul's picture is still facing a different way than all the others, even with a new picture for George added, and the background is still different, a white background for Paul with a somber black for the rest. This is because the pictures are merely negatives of the original cover's pictures, so McCartney's is naturally lighter than the rest because he had the darkest background of the original photos.

Lyrics from Let It Be

The lyrics from McCartney's piece "Let It Be" include "I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me". This has been interpreted by believers to signify Paul meeting his mother Mary, who died when he was 14, in heaven.

When the chorus of "Get Back" is played backwards, it seems to become, "I need some wheels. Help me! Help me! Help me!", referring to Paul's car being damaged beyond repair in the crash. [1]

Anthology

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Anthology 3

On the cover of the third volume of The Beatles Anthology, - (Compiled in 1996) The Let It Be cover is shown, but Paul's face is covered by a picture of him from the Rubber Soul cover, this may be an admission by the remaining Beatles.

Lyrics from the Anthology

At the end of an alternate version of A Day In The Life (Volume 2, Disk 2, Track 5), The music finishes and Paul is heard to be saying "You see the worst thing about doing something like this is at first people are a bit suspicious, like.. you know.. what are you up to?"

Explanations

The following is a list of some of the more common explanations for some of the alleged clues.

The accident itself

There is no evidence of any sort of car crash in which Paul was involved. However, during the first week of January of 1967, Paul's custom-made Mini Cooper was wrecked by a friend on the M1 Motorway outside London. Paul was also involved in a moped crash on December 26, 1965 which resulted in the scar on his lip that believers tend to attribute to plastic surgery "William Campbell" underwent to look like Paul. The scar can be seen on promotional videos for the "Paperback Writer"/"Rain" single, made shortly after the crash, in May 1966. According to McCartney, the presence of a scar on his lip was an impetus to grow a moustache to hide it; at about the same time the other three Beatles grew moustaches as well—in time for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

At the time of his 1965 moped crash, McCartney was riding along with Tara Browne, a Guinness heir. Browne was killed shortly thereafter in a car crash, and it is this incident that is the source of the "He blew his mind out in a car..." reference in "A Day In The Life."

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

On UK pressings of the Sgt. Pepper album, when compared to the US pressing (on which most 'visual evidence' is discovered), the lyrics are printed in a manner off-set from the US version. Hence, in the UK (and possibly the rest of Europe as well), George's hand does not point at the "Wednesday morning at five o'clock..." lyric and neither is Paul's head next to the "Without You" lyrics. Some of those who believe "Paul is Dead" was a hoax pulled by the Beatles themselves have interpreted this to mean that it was manufactured for American audiences only.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Many people who don't believe in the "Paul Is Dead" myth think that the capitalized letters in the title were a deliberate reference to LSD. However, this has been denied by all four Beatles.

Although, in 2004, Paul later revealed that this song was in fact about LSD, as well as "Day Tripper". He also admitted to various other references such as "Got to Get You into My Life" about searching for Marijuana. (http://www.ethicsscoreboard.com/liars/0406_liars.html) (http://www3.whdh.com/features/articles/entertainment/DBM368/)

Magical Mystery Tour

Given which animal replaces which Beatle in the music video for "I Am The Walrus", it seems that the Walrus is actually Lennon, as the Walrus replaces Lennon at the piano. Also, the hippo, the rabbit, and the bird are apparently McCartney, Harrison and Starr, respectively. Also, after leaving the Beatles, Lennon said in one of his songs ("God") that he was the Walrus ("I was the Walrus, but now I'm John"). In a 1980 interview with Playboy, Lennon stated that at the time he wrote "I Am The Walrus", he was unaware that the walrus may have been a symbol of death.

The White Album

The comment "Paul died" from Revolution 9 is, in fact, "All Right".

Abbey Road

The "LMW 281F" licence plate cannot possibly refer to Linda McCartney, as she only met Paul in 1967.

The cigarette that believers said was in the wrong hand (his right) was actually in the correct hand—the hand in which Paul would have carried it. Paul is left-handed only when playing. In everything else, he is right-handed. (Ringo was afflicted oppositely: he was left-handed but played right-handed.) In a photo taken in 1964, Paul is holding his cigarette in his right hand which proves that there was no mistake on the cover of Abbey Road.

Other references

Longtime "Paul Is Dead" expert Joel Glazer wrote a 1977 treatise which included a theory suggesting John Lennon's love of wordplay and clever studio editing may have been responsible for the more bizarre clues in later albums. However, after Charles Manson claimed The Beatles were putting hidden references to an upcoming racial war in their albums, the band members may have chosen not to reveal the joke at all.

During the Magical Mystery Tour film, Vivian Stanshall of the Bonzo Dog Band performs a song entitled "Death Cab for Cutie", a satirical song about a fatal car accident. Paul was known as—and even described himself in an interview as—"the cute one".

Lennon joked about the rumour in the years following its initial growth and, in his solo years, referred to it in his vengeful song to McCartney entitled "How Do You Sleep?" from the 1971 Imagine album, commenting "Those freaks was right when they said you was dead."

McCartney also parodied the rumour with the title of his 1993 live album and tour, Paul Is Live, the cover of which is a replica of the Abbey Road cover with the "LMW 281F" license plate changed to "51 IS", 51 being McCartney's age at the time of the album's release. Also, he appears with his shoes on and holding, by a leash in his left hand, one of the puppies that his sheepdog Martha gave birth to, hinting to the fact that Paul appeared barefoot and holding a cigarette with his right hand on the original cover.

On the DVD extras for the seventh season of The Simpsons, there is a recipe for lentil soup (read by Paul, referenced in the episode in which he appears) which concludes with the words "Oh, and by the way, I'm alive."

In a 1987 edition of American Top 40, host Casey Kasem revisits the "Paul Is Dead" era as a related story to the Bananarama song "I Heard a Rumour", which was ranked in the Top 10 at that time. Kasem reviewed the better known clues. The following year, Dick Clark featured a similar story on "Rock, Roll and Remember". His playing of the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" with the backwards track of John Lennon allegedly saying "I buried Paul" immediately at the conclusion of the song led to this version being released on certain Beatles compilations.

Internet

With the advent of the Internet, the "Paul is Dead" rumours have found new life. Several websites have sprung up claiming that photographic evidence proves that the Paul McCartney before and after late 1966 couldn't be the same man. Some of these new theories postulate that Paul was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan, the Illuminati, or even the other Beatles. It has also spawned ridicule and parody, including a 1994 Usenet piece entitled "Everyone BUT Paul is Dead"[2],

Satiric references

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Batman #222 (June 1970). Art by Neal Adams.

The June 1970 issue of the DC Comics title Batman parodied the rumour with a story entitled "Dead...Till Proven Alive" in which it is rumored that "Saul" from the band The Oliver Twists was deceased and replaced with a double. Also, the cover of the album that Robin is holding in the comic's cover (after which the story was named) seems to be a play on the back cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (in which the seemingly deceased member is facing backwards, like Paul was).

The "Dirk is Deaf" theory [3] uses similar 'clues' to prove that Dirk McQuickly, the "Paul" character within The Rutles, was hit by an ice cream truck, resulting in his deafness. The Rutles' movie All You Need Is Cash also parodies the theory directly through the 'Stig is Dead' theory (referring to the "George" character), and subsequent attempts by Barry (the "Ringo" character) to start his own 'Barry is Also Dead' rumour.

When Paul played on Saturday Night Live in 1993, Chris Farley said to McCartney in a skit, "Remember when you were in The Beatles and you were supposed to be dead, and there were all these clues and everything and everyone thought you were dead... That was a hoax, right?" to which Paul replied, "Yeah. I wasn't really dead."

When McCartney guest-starred on The Simpsons in "Lisa the Vegetarian", he claimed there was a vegetarian hidden message in "Maybe I'm Amazed". Indeed, over the closing credits the song played and with a backmasked lentil soup recipe. At the end, he says "Oh, and by the way, I'm alive." Additionally, in "D'oh-in In the Wind", a psychedelic version of the regular theme is played during the credits, over which Homer says: "I buried Flanders!"

In John Safran's Music Jamboree, there was a segment about the conspiracy, followed by a mock George Harrison-is-dead conspiracy, after his death in 2001, using clues like the Time article detailing his death. At the end of the segment the text "Did you know: Ringo Starr and John Lennon are the only surviving members of The Beatles" appears on screen.

The Onion's Our Dumb Century collection includes a headline from December 1980 that reads, "New album clues reveal that John Lennon is dead."

The band SR-71 released a song called "Paul McCartney" on their debut album Now You See Inside which references that Paul is dead.

The Union Underground wrote a song called "Turn Me On, Mr. Dead Man", a reference to the "Revolution 9" clue "Turn me on, dead man".

Five Iron Frenzy's "Get Your Riot Gear", from their Quantity Is Job 1 EP, contains the backmasked message "Brad is dead. Lets kill Brad." The next song on the album, "The Untimely Death of Brad", tells a story about a false rumor that their trumpet player has died.

The band Game Theory released a song called "Turn Me On, Dead Man" on their album Lolita Nation, also a reference to the "Revolution 9" clue "Turn me on, dead man", that features reversed humming and guitar playing.

In the film Sleepless in Seattle, Tom Hanks' character, Sam Baldwin, comes home to find his son, Jonah, listening to an album and declaring "Dad, this is incredible. If you play it backward it says "Paul is Dead"." It is conceivable that the director, Rob Reiner, inserted this scene due to having his interest piqued in Paul is Dead affair after his This Is Spinal Tap, which parodied The Beatles, among other bands.

See also

• Elvis sightings
• Culture jamming

References

• Patterson, R. Gary. The Walrus Was Paul: The Great Beatle Death Clues. Fireside Publishing, 1998. ISBN 0684850621.
• Reeve, Andru J. Turn Me On, Dead Man: The Beatles and the "Paul is Dead" Hoax. AuthorHouse Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1418482943. (Revised and Updated version of a book originally issued in 1993)

External links

• Officially Pronounced Dead? Website that offers over 330 clues.
• Who Buried Paul McCartney? Dutch Documentary by Wouter van Opdorp explores the true story behind the Paul-is-Dead tale
• Turn Me On, Dead Man by Andru J. Reeve ISBN 1-4184-8294-3 is often cited to be the most thorough investigative account of the rumour.
• Hints of What Was There asks, "given all the 'Paul Is Dead' clues, is there another interpretation?"
• The 365 project have a 40 minutes audio recording of a 70´s radio programme dedicated to the subject containing most of the allegations.
• Paul Is Dead rumour including audio clippings
• More on the Rumour
• Photographic analysis of Paul before and after his alleged death
• Paul is dead FAQ (rec.music.beatles)
• IMDb entry on "Paul Is Dead", the German film based on a boy 's finding out about the rumor and search for the murderer
• Paul Is Dead - 1969 Report - Beatles A 1969 late-night radio broadcast on WABC in New York City, in which the DJ describes "something strange going on about Paul of The Beatles."