Paul Is Dead

It's been a while guys, and I thank you all for bearing with me. I figured that, in order to bring this thing back up right, I had to create a post that I really cared about, not to mention that would be fun to read. Well, I know that I'm going to satisfy one of those, because I'm about to write about The Beatles. The Beatles, if you didn't know, are something of an obsession to me. They were and are the most amazing band in the history of music, and the lore behind them fascinates me. This leads me into my topic of today: The "Paul Is Dead" myth. This post is going to be a comprehensive analysis of this myth, and hopefully inspire some of you to become bigger Beatles fans than you already are (because you all are, I refuse to believe that anyone is not, to some extent, a Beatles fan. If you like music today, any music, you like the Beatles). Anyways, I will try to abstain from being bias tonight, and just report the "facts" of this myth. I am not going to write a novel, which means I will omit certain aspects where I see appropriate, but if you have questions, shoot me a comment, and I will do my best to answer it (I've been doing a lot of research on this. I'm obsessed alright?!). It's a very spellbinding legend that measures up to the legend of The Beatles themselves, so sit back and enjoy the ride.

The Background:
The origin of this myth is not exactly known, but here's the basic beginning. In 1969, The Beatles released Abbey Road in the United States, the second to last album they would ever release (actually the final album they recorded, but it was released before Let It Be). A few weeks later, a call came in to a radio station in Detroit claiming Paul McCartney was dead. The national and international media got a hold of this news, and soon it was everywhere.

The Myth:
The story that came out of this announcement was that Paul McCartney had stormed out of the studio during a session, and in disgust, sped off in his Aston Martin. Shortly after, he crashed into a lightpole, and was thrown through the windshield of the car. His head was very damaged and his teeth were knocked out. He died from the massive head trauma. The Beatles organized a cover up, holding a Paul McCarney look-a-like contest of sorts. The winner was William Shears Campbell. He looked exactly the same, except for a scar on his upper lip that McCartney did not have. To cover this up, Campbell wore a mustache. The look-a-like replaced Paul in everything. While The Beatles didn't release the information on his death, they did leave clues.

The "Proof":
This section is huge. There is so much information, and I'm going to try and organize it by album. I recommend the Sgt. Pepper's and Abbey Road analysis. That's where the good stuff is. Anyways, I will show visual clues such as album covers, and then lyrical clues. Here we go.

Yesterday And Today


















-Nicknamed "The Butcher Album", the original album cover showed the 4 Beatles with bloody meat and assorted baby doll parts. Two dolls without heads are pointed towards Paul's head, suggesting Paul's death was head related. George is even holding one of the heads over Paul's shoulder. The meat suggests it was a very serious and bloody accident. There is a set of false teeth on Paul's arm as well, referencing his teeth being knocked out. They didn't release this cover however, as it was too much for any of them. They released a more mild version:

-This version was a bit more vague, but it still alluded to his death. The chest Paul sits in is representative of a coffin, and if you turn it on its side, it truly looks as if he's in a coffin. Also, in this picture, you can see the scar on Campbell's upper lip (although not in this picture unfortunately).

Lyrical clues:

-From the song Yesterday: "I believe in yesterday, suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be, there's a shadow hanging over me. Yesterday came suddenly" These words are an admission by Campbell that Paul has been replaced.

-From Dr. Robert: "He does everything he can, Dr. Robert." This says that the doctor Paul was seen by after the accident, Dr. Robert, did everything he could to try and save Paul's life.

Revolver

-Paul is the only member in profile on the cover, and he's looking the other way. This shows that he's not with them anymore.

Lyrical clues:

-In Yellow Submarine: "sky of blue, sea of green in our yellow submarine." The yellow submarine is the coffin, which is buried under the grass, or a sea of green.

-From Got To Get You Into My Life: "I took a ride, I didn't know what I would find there". This is a reference to the fateful car ride. Also, "and then suddenly I see you". This refers to a girl named Rita ("Lovely Rita", Sgt. Peppers), that he was supposedly staring at before he crashed. The myth of the crash is explained further in the Sgt. Pepper's analysis.

This is where it really starts getting good.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The cover:

Click on this picture for a bigger one, cause you'll need it.

-First off, everyone appears to be standing around a grave, possibly mourning.

-Look at the Beatles behind the drum. 3 of the Beatles look very sad, like they're mourning, but Paul has almost a smirk on his face. He's also the only one facing forward, the other 3 are turned sideways. He also looks like a cardboard cut-out while the other 3 look 3-D. It also appears that Ringo and George are supporting him; holding him up kind of.

-The yellow flowers at the bottom are in the shape of a left handed bass guitar. This is meant as a tribute. It's shown as one would play it left handed, and Paul was the only left handed member of The Beatles. There are also 3 sticks representing its strings. Bass guitars have 4 strings, but there are only 3 sticks for the 3 remaning Beatles.

-The doll on the bottom right with the striped T-shirt has a white car on her lap with a blood red interior. She also has what looks to be a bloody glove next to her, possibly a driving glove.

-Under that doll, there is a vase with yellow flowers. It eerily resembles a car going over a cliff with a trail of flames.

-Below the "T" in "Beatles" is a statue of the Hindu God Shiva "The Destroyer". Its hand points directly to Paul.

-The little TV behind the doll of the child is off, signifying the "blackout" of his death to the public.

-Paul is the only one holding a black instrument, which signifies death (black comes up a lot more). He is also holding an instrument not used in a marching band. His tuba, that he would have played, is sitting below the wax figures feet to the left.

-There is an open palm above Paul's head. A hand over someone's head is a religious symbol for blessing the dead. The hand belongs to Stephen Crane, an American writer that died at 28, the age Paul died at.

-Paul looks taller than the rest of The Beatles, even though they were all 5'11". This may suggest that this man was, in fact, an imposter.

-This one takes some work: If you place a mirror horizontally through the center of "LONELY HEARTS" on the drum, it reads "1 ONE 1 X HE DIE". Three ones and an X, which crosses out the "one" that was Paul. "HE DIE" represents, obviously, that one of them has died. Between the words HE and DIE is an arrow that points to Paul, indicating that he is the one who has died.

The inside of the record:

-On Paul's left arm is a patch that appears to say O. P. D. (Officially Pronounced Dead).

The back cover:

-Paul is facing the opposite way, his back to us, suggesting both that he is not a part of The Beatles anymore, and also that it is, in fact, an imposter.

-Paul is above the others, appearing almost to be rising.

-On the actual record (which I have by the way), George is pointing to the lyric "Wednesday morning at five o'clock as the day begins" from the song She's Leaving Home, which is a reference to the date and time of Paul's death. Also, directly next to Paul's head read the lyrics "without you" from "Within You, Without You", an appropriate place for it.

-George's hands make the letter "L", John's the letter "V", and Ringo's "E", with only the "O" missing from L-O-V-E. Paul represents the "O" in 2 ways: There is a void or hole where Paul is, and Paul is the only Beatle with out an "O" in his name.

Lyrical clues:

-From Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: "Let me introduce to you the one and only Billy Shears". Paul's replacement is signing, and introduces himself (His full name again is "William [Billy] Shears Campbell"). Also, when he says his name, it sounds like "Billy's Here", which is another indication that Paul has been replaced with this guy.

-From A Day In The Life: "He blew his mind out in a car, he didn't notice that the lights had changed". A more detailed account of the accident, alleging that he was perhaps under the influence of drugs. The first portion of this song was an account of his death. "They'd seen his face before" refers to the fact that many of the witnesses of the crash knew what Paul looked like, but couldn't make him out after the disfiguring accident. We also have the lyrics "Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords" which sounds like "Nobody was really sure if he was from the house of Paul."

-From Lovely Rita: "When I caught a glimps of Rita". Rita, a meter maid, was apparently what distracted Paul's eyes from the road, causing him to crash.

-From Good Morning, Good Morning: "Nothing to do to save his life" "You are on you're own, you are in the street". Another set of references to the car accident. "People running around, it's five o'clock". Another reference to the time of his accident. "Watching the skirts, you start to flirt, now you're in gear". Refers to Rita and driving a car.

Magical Mystery Tour

-In the booklet, which I do not have a picture of, there is a picture from the movie. In the movie, Paul was an Army sergeant, and in the picture, he's sitting under a pair of crossed flags, as they would be on a military grave. In one picture, Paul is not wearing shoes (see Abbey Road). His shoes are next to Ringo's bass drum, which reads "Love the 3 Beatles". Another picture shows a car right before it is going to crash, and another shows Paul with a black carnation flower while the other 3 have red ones.

Lyrical Clues:

-Around the 3:13 mark of All You Need Is Love, you can clearly hear "yes he's dead".

-At the end of Strawberry Fields Forever, around the 3:57 mark, John's distorted voice says "I buried Paul".

The Beatles [The White Album]

-In the packet, there is a picture of Paul dancing. If you look behind him, you can see what appears to be two skeletal hands reaching for him. (I have this booklet if you want to see it, it's eerie, this is the image they put out with the album).

Lyrical clues:

-From Glass Onion: "here's another clue for you all, the Walrus was Paul" (a back reference to "I Am The Walrus" from Magical Mystery Tour). This says the walrus WAS Paul as if he's no longer around. Also, he states, "I told you about the Fool On The Hill, I tell you, man, he's living there still". This says that Paul remains on the hill where he was buried. Also, "Glass Onion" is a term used to describe a coffin with a glass top, or looking panel. The lyrics "Looking through a glass onion" suggest that Paul would have been buried in such a coffin.

-From I'm So Tired: "Paul is dead, man. Miss him, miss him". At the end of this song, this is played backwards. If you play this song backwards, it says these words clearly.

-From Revolution 9: Played forwards: "Number nine, number nine", but backwards it says "Turn me on dead man, turn me on dead man". This is pretty clear if you hear it. Also, within the backwards audio of the song, there are the sounds of a car crash, people screaming, and sirens from ambulances.

Abbey Road

What I'd like to finish with is one of my 2 favorite parts of this myth (the first being the Sgt. Pepper's cover): The Abbey Road cover.

-All 4 of them are walking across Abbey Road, but Paul is out of stride with the rest of them. He is leading with his right foot instead of his left like the rest.

-What they are wearing is representative of their duties in the funeral procession: John is in all white: God. Ringo is in all black: Preacher. George is in dirty blues: Grave digger. Paul is in a tuxedo: Corpse.

-Paul is barefoot and has his eyes closed, both representative of the deceased.

-Paul has his cigarette in his right hand (he's left handed remember).

-The car in the background looks to be headed straight for Paul. It's also in the right lane, not the left.

-The license plate over George's shoulder says 28IF. Paul would have been 28 when this album was released.

Lyrical clues:

-From Come Together: "Come together right now over me". Over Paul's grave.

This, my friends, concludes the analysis of the "Paul Is Dead" myth. While it has some stretches, there really are too many coincidences for it to just be a coincidence. In my opinion, it was a hoax orchestrated by The Beatles themselves. They would have done that, that's just the people they were. Sgt. Pepper's seems like it was all planned out, and Abbey Road seemed to be playing on the myth, as it was around when they were recording this album. But who knows. Perhaps Paul is dead, and we've been duped for almost 50 years. Either way, The Beatles are fascinating, and this is just one crazy layer of the glass onion.

It's been 'A Hard Day's Night', but 'I Want To Tell You', 'It Won't Be Long' before 'I'll Be Back'. 'I'm So Tired'. 'I Should Have Known Better' 'Yesterday', 'Because' 'Tomorrow Never Knows'. 'Here Comes The Sun', but 'I Feel Fine'. I'm off for 'Golden Slumbers', and while 'I'm Only Sleeping', I can't wait for the 'Good Day Sunshine'. So 'Hello, Goodbye', 'Good Night', 'The End' .