References in song
The Beatles were said to have been referred to the death a number of times in song, including the following:
- The opening words of Got To Get You Into My Life: "I was alone, I took a ride, I didn't know what I would find there".
- The line "He didn't notice that the lights had changed" from A Day in the Life.
- The opening line of She's Leaving Home, which highlighted the moment of the accident: "Wednesday morning at 5 o'clock as the day begins".
- The suppression of the story in the news found its way into Lady Madonna: "Wednesday morning papers didn't come".
- At the end of Strawberry Fields Forever, Lennon can be heard muttering "cranberry sauce". This was misheard as "I buried Paul".
- "Bury my body" and "Oh untimely death" appeared in the radio feed towards the end of I Am The Walrus, taken from a BBC production of King Lear.
- At the end of I'm So Tired, John Lennon mutters "Monsieur, monsieur, monsieur, how about another one?" When played backwards, this was interpreted by some as "Paul is dead, man, miss him, miss him".
- "I'm sorry that I doubted you, I was so unfair/You were in a car crash and you lost your hair" - from Ringo's Don't Pass Me By.
- The line "Find me in my field of grass" in Mother Nature's Son was taken as a reference to a cemetery.
- There is the sound of a car crash, followed by an explosion, in Revolution 9.
- The same song, when played backwards, is said to contain the repeated phrase "Turn me on, dead man".
- "And so I quit the police department", a line from She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, supposedly referred to William Campbell's alleged former career in Ontario, Canada (see the Sgt Pepper visual clues on the next page).
This is just a taster. Particularly in the case of Revolution 9, there have been a huge number of interpretations, hidden meanings and fanciful explanations, many of which deserve to remain in the minds of the beholders. In short, any mention of death or cars in Beatles songs (Eleanor Rigby and Good Morning Good Morning proved particularly fruitful) can be shoehorned into the myth.
A number of visual clues were also said to be found in the group's record releases.
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
[singlepic=7,200,,,right]
- The front cover spells the word 'Beatles' in flowers. Some, however, took this to say 'Be at Leso', a reference to the Greek island the group were considering buying (actually called Leslo).
- An arrangement of yellow flowers below this is of a left-handed bass guitar, the instrument most associated with Paul McCartney. Some saw the flowers as spelling out the name 'Paul'.
- A toy Aston Martin car sits atop the rag doll on the right hand side of the cover.
- If a mirror is placed horizontally across the middle of the Sgt Pepper bass drum, so it bisects the words 'Lonely hearts', the phrase "I ONE IX HE DIE" can be seen. This was taken to mean "11 9 HE DIE", a reference to the supposed date of death, 9 November. Another interpretation of this is that "1 ONE 1" represents the three other Beatles, and the X represents the dead McCartney. A diamond symbol between HE and DIE points upwards to McCartney.
- The album cover shows an open hand above McCartney's head, which in some religions is a symbol of death, signifying that someone will die or has recently died.
- At the bottom of the image is a statue of the Hindu god Shiva, the destroyer. His hand is pointing directly at McCartney.
- The gatefold sleeve shows McCartney wearing a badge on his arm appearing to say OPD. This actually said OPP, and stood for Ontario Provincial Police, though some people took it to mean "officially pronounced dead".
- Original pressings of the album had the lyrics of the songs along with a photo of The Beatles. In the photo George Harrison's thumb points to the line "Wednesday morning at five o'clock," the alleged time of Paul's death.
- On the rear cover McCartney has his back to the camera, suggesting that he is hiding his identity. Turning one's back is said to be a symbol of death in certain cultures.
Magical Mystery Tour
The original Magical Mystery Tour double EP (and LP in the US) was released with a booklet. This contained a number of cartoons, song lyrics and photos from the film.
[singlepic=14,200,,,right]
- The front cover spelt the word 'Beatles' in stars. Held up to a mirror, this reveals a telephone number, 2317438, said to have belonged to a London mortuary.
- A number of photos in the booklet show McCartney without shoes, said to signify death: people tend to be buried without them.
- McCartney is shown in military uniform in one picture, behind a desk on which sits a sign saying "I was".
- Ringo's drum head, in a still from the I Am The Walrus sequence, appears to say "Love the 3 Beatles". Next to the kit are McCartney's boots (as on Abbey Road, he is barefoot), covered in what appear to be blood stains.
- A still from the Your Mother Should Know sequence shows all four Beatles in white suits, dancing. McCartney is the only one to have a black carnation in his lapel; the others all have red ones.
- A cartoon of Paul labelled 'The Fool on the Hill' shows him with a crack in his head.
Abbey Road
[singlepic=13,200,,,right]
- The cover of Abbey Road is said to make reference to a funeral procession, with John Lennon dressed all in white as a priest; Ringo Starr in a black suit as an undertaker; McCartney being barefoot, as many corpses would have been buried; and George Harrison following as a gravedigger. McCartney was also out of step with the others, with his eyes closed.
- In the same picture, McCartney is holding a cigarette with his right hand. However, it was well known that he was left-handed, suggesting that an impostor was in his place.
- A Volkswagen Beetle car in the background has the numberplate LMW 28IF. LMW was taken to mean 'Linda McCartney weeps', and 28IF was interpreted as referring to Paul's age if he had lived. However, at the time of Abbey Road's release in 1969 he would have been 27, rather than 28.
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Related articles:
- I'm So Tired
- My Mummy's Dead
- Mixing: Good Morning Good Morning, Only A Northern Song
- The Abbey Road cover photography session
- What's The New Mary Jane
I have decided to offer my 64 minute audio analysis of the PID mystery as a free download.
Visit http://www.Paul-Is-Dead.com and ENJOY!
You know what, Doctor Lev from paul-is-dead.com is dead!
When you take the first and last letters of his name and put them together, they spell Devd!
And v ist an ancient way of writing the letter a in India. So it really is "Dead".
Scary, eh? Probably he died years ago and was replaced by an cyborg. I'll be back with more clues soon...
Doctor Bur - Nice call with Doctor Lev. Also, if one rearranges those letters, one could come up with "rode clot." This, obviously, is a reference to as Paul rode down the road and had the accident, he might have lived had his blood clotted and he not bled to death. Oh, this doesn't use the "v". I figure that was included just to confuse us, so I ignored it. By the way, if we take your name backwards, it is "rub rot cod." Which, I'm sure, indicates that if one were to try to rub what would be in Paul's cod piece, it would be found to be rotted. Hummmm... clotted and rotted rhyme. Are you two in league with one another? Are you two really the same person? Are you really alive?
people are absolutely crazy
Hindu god Shiva, the destroyer. HER hand is pointing directly at McCartney.
Not too important for Beatles fans maybe, but George would have known that it should be HIS hand...
He would have, but I was ignorant. Thanks for the correction, and apologies to Shiva.
So was Paul dead?..because I've heard about this theory...yet was it true?
This site is awesome! how can I learn more?
After investigating this thing for days & days & days, I'm still fascinated with it. This theory is new to me. But it would explain the music change in late 60's, their spiritual quest for truth in India & the dark & meaningless lyrics (which seem to either point @ Paul's death or nothing @ all. There is a lot of deliberately mis leading info on the web, yet there are some books on the topic. The "nay sayers" have nothing to say about the Italian Wired Magazine reports which conclusively showed that Paul of 1966 & Paul of today are different people completely.
That Wired article doesn't really "conclusively" prove anything - just reports as fact a study written by a couple of scientists, which may or may not have been peer reviewed. I haven't seen the original study but I'd like to read it.
The Wired article is outlined here (apologies for the insane anti-Jewish stuff at the end - I don't condone any of it, though it does say something about the type of person who believes in these mad conspiracy theories). There's a bad translation of the original article here, and another outline of it here.
Having read the reports, I don't think it's conclusive at all. There's some hearsay, some analysis of photographs clearly taken at different angles (though the similarities between the pre- and post-1966 pictures are more remarkable than the almost imperceptible differences). I don't know about the dental work, but I'd imagine records of any work done would still exist - he did need some work after the moped accident, after all. And the claim that the DNA test may have been done by an impostor is laughable - why give credence to someone in Germany with an axe to grind and possibly an eye on a lot of money (sadly the imposter bit is blithely reported as fact in the Wired article). I'd like to read the original report, because the Wired analysis doesn't seem particularly good.
One last thought: if anyone has been impersonating McCartney since 1966, I bet they're absolutely terrified of the massive fraud they've been perpetuating upon various parties (not least EMI and its shareholders) for many years being discovered. Also, anyone with inside knowledge of the fraud would be looking at prosecution too (accessory to a crime). It simply doesn't stand up.
Gabriel: I was alive when this occurred. I remember it vividly. You can forget all about this "conspiracy." It was totally contrived. In fact, I met (and discussed this with) Russ Gibb, the DJ who "broke" the story. Please, please don't spend another minute on this. It's not true.
If you hold that Life magazine cover up to the light, the auto for the advertisement on the other side of the page goes right through Paul's chest.
Whether he is dead or not, it's still a really fun conspiracy to research. Those who go on saying "he is!" or "He isn't!" are simply crazy. No one knows the truth, and he himself said "I will not ruin that fantasy for those who are piecing together the clues."
Are you serious? Of course we know the truth - he's clearly alive!
As typically cynical kids growing up in New York, we had little interest in the details of the death story, but we were wild about playing the turntable backwards and hearing things like "hah hah Paul is dead" (where forwards it plays "everybody smoke pot" in "I am the Walrus.") We admired the backwards technology of the messages, which were -- by the way -- absolutely clear, despite what some claim. We also thought it was a fantastic, clever prank. We assumed at the time it had to be Lennon's doing, since he was openly fooling around with stuff like that. Even the vocals at the end of "Rain" are backwards. We also were amused that the CIA was wasting time playing Beatle records forwards, backwards and even sideways (according to Newsweek, as I remember).
I was always disappointed that Lennon and McCartney would both treat this as someone's illusion, when someone with access to master tapes had to spend a good deal of time doing this. Vinyl records still exist, turntables still exist, and anyone who wants can still go and listen to an entire, clear, soap opera about Paul's "death" on Revolution 9 -- backwards.
Note to the above: actually, I have no way of knowing that every pressing of the record was the same, so I can only say what was on MY copy. I gave up vinyl over 20 years ago, despite the fact that it sounded a lot better than CD's.
The backwards messages that people claim are in there are very vague. The line in I Am The Walrus is "everybody's got one" which backwards says "no tog sydobyreve".
Btw, I had both formats and CDs sounded a lot better than vinils.
In order to believe the Paul is dead story - you would have to subsequently believe that all Paul McCartney work done after 1966 was done by the substitute for the real Paul. This would include all his Pepper work, Mystery Tour, White Album, Let It Be and Abbey Road and all his solo work.
You would have to believe that John Lennon had a bitter feud with someone he knew was a stand in.
In the end you would have to agree that the Paul replacement was actually more talented than the original Paul - thus Paul's death was a good thing.
Still it is fun to research. I was a teenager when it all came out in the '60s and we loved it.
Your right about every assumption one would have to make if they believed in Paul's death. the thing is Faul is much more talented, the group did feud often, the group began breaking apart after Paul's death. Faul & John went on to do solo work knowing that Beatle Mania was dying away. John got together with Yoko because he was not afraid of a break up from a band which in which he truly just, quit trying. John put most of his creative efforts into trying to right the wrong of Paul's death cover up in the lyrics and album art. John was killed for planning to uncover the scheme in 81'(according to some sources)
OK, with that last comment you've clearly lost the plot. Not only is it an enormous leap of imagination, it's also a highly offensive suggestion.
Maybe the prank was aimed at the distaff audience, for many of whom Paul was a heart-throb. After all, even to a bunch of boys who liked the music, "Paul McCartney" was just a name, like "John Paul Jones" became a name for John Baldwin of Led Zep, or "John Denver" became a name for John Henry Deutschendorf, Jr., or "Taylor Dayne" became a name for Leslie Wunderman, and so on and so on.
"Paul McCartney" could have been "James Bond," for all we cared -- a virtual identity being fulfilled by some biological person at any given moment. What actual person was making that great music wasn't worth debating, and as Robert observed, the music got noticeably better as the 60's rolled on.
The clue about Paul holding the cigarette in his right hand despite his left-handedness is a common one. In the Penny Lane music video, he is handed his bass and fiddles around with it until he turns it left-ways. People thought that meant an impostor was in his place and was about to hold it right-handed until he remembered not to. If the impostor was right-handed, how does he manage to spend his life being left-handed and being as musically talented as Paul using his weaker hand? Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't smokers hold their cigarettes in their weaker hand anyway so they can use their good hand?
I was a smoker for a long time. I used both hands. I had to train my left hand to be corrdinated (i'm right handed) while smoking. Faul, or False Paul was a better musician than Paul Mc. He would have been able to train himself to play a guitar left handed flawlessly in a matter of a year or so. We can train ourselves to switch hands to accomplish any thing (with time). I had to learn to play a base guitar right handed because I couldn't change the strings around (it wasn't mine).
Nonsense. McCartney is one of the great bass players, and not too shabby a guitarist either. Do you really think it would take "a year or so" for a right-handed person to play Blackbird flawlessly with the guitar round the wrong way? Wouldn't any of the studio staff have thought it was odd that this imposter was essentially re-learning his instruments during The Beatles' creative peak? None of it stands up.
The only thing more stupid than believing Paul is dead is arguing about it.
Interesting day the 9th of November 1966.
Wikipedia references the Biography by Barry Miles(co-owner of the Indica Gallery) that claims Paul returned to Heathrow on the 9th. Of course, that's not possible. He was in Africa.
Also, it is widely written that John and Yoko met for the 1st time at Indica gallery on nov 9th, the night BEFORE her show opened. Strangely enough, International Times Magazine(printed out of the basement of Indica)advertises her show opening on the 8th. Meaning that John must have met her the night before on the 7th. This is the same day John flew home from spending six weeks Almeria. "Hi Cyn...Hi Jullian...well see you guys later... I'm going out."
If only the excerpts from Mal Evan diary would shed some light on this date. Oops, this part of the diary has never been released. All we are told is "Mal writes extensively about Sergeant Pepper sessions". I'd love to see what he wrote.
And let's not forget what Paul said on the Howard Stern show. He said that John and Yoko had met nearly a year earlier. Makes sense. The 1st place I'd go after being in Spain for 6 weeks would be to go see my mistress.
And the Walrus was Paul!
Right, it is frequently ignored in compilations about the myth. Of course it looks like a John's joke, in Glass Onion there is the line: "Well, here's another clue for you all: The walrus was Paul". Any clearance to this?
I'm old enough to remember all this when it was happening...listening to the DJs speculate on Paul's mortality.
It freaked me out -- even as a youngster (seven at the time).
Today, I read all of this with a smile. Conspiracy theorists have their field days with PID rumours, JFK assassination, Pearl Harbor, and 9/11.
But, either it was contrived by the Beatles themselves (and perhaps Brian Epstein), or we're all just reading into things.
Let it go. Paul is very much not dead.
Epstein died in 1967 and the rumour circulated of Paul's demise after the release of Abbey Road in late 1969.
Yeah...I've thought about that. But some of the "clues" would've preceded Epstein's death. And a few have suggested that, if the PID ruse was contrived by the Beatles, Epstein was not above such a concept. They wold have had to continue "planting" clues after his death. But, as mentioned, I don't believe it was intended. And Macca's very much alive anyway.
PAUL IS NOT DEAD!!!!
John lennon would never white sgt.pepper´s and white album and abbey road by himself, 28if is a wrong evidence, paul was 27 in 1969(Abbey Road year), he only got 28 in 1970, he was born in 1942. there are a lot of pictures in "whith the beatles" session photos that paul holds the cigar with his right hand. Paul is alive, how can you explain that his voice after 1966 and before 1966 is the same.
If you still have any doubt about that wacth a youtube video called Paul is not dead, or go to http://www.paulisnotdead.com and http://www.tlcgraphic.com/paul.html
Relax, the whole point of the article is that the story is nonsense. I don't think anyone really ever believed it anyway.
thank you joe, Paul is not DEAD!!!
How dumb can u guys be? people have done the research and his voice is the same as please please me thru abbey road...same voice same paul.
LONG LIVE THE BEATLES
Rey whole Paul is Dead thing is yet another joke, something that is funny to see if the "clues" are legit. We all know Paul is alive. It's a hoax that was create by a drunk college kid. What's more shocking to me is that it got so much attention.
Not sure who you're addressing as "u guys"; clearly, nobody on this site is at all convinced.
Have you guys not seen the show Rain? they sound JUST like the orginal Beatles WITHOUT lipsynching. No I don't think he is dead, I just think people should take this less seriously and stop being so insulting to those who want to learn about this. I picked this as a school project and I can't even fathom why everyone would be so rude. Just please consider all possibiltys before being so rude.
I agree with you.I also saw pictures of him holding the cigar with his right.But that has absolutely nothing to do with this pathetic rumor.And he was 27 in 1969. I do know one thing though, that he was in a moped accident, but he did not die.
You know, the thing that I always thought was the stupidest was the whole "backmasking" thing. I mean, is it even possible for ANY phrase to sound "naturally" sung or spoken when played both ways? It's impossible even for a guitar ("I'm Only Sleeping"), which is a much simpler sound than a voice, to sound natural when played backwards.
Luckily, nobody who actually uses his or her brain actually thinks Paul is dead.
No it's not. People heard what they wanted to hear, and made clues to fit. I might hear Go Sens Go, or this site rules, but You might hear Football's lockout is still going. It's all bull****
From Wikipedia:
The backwards playing of records was advised as training for magicians by occultist Aleister Crowley, who suggested in his 1913 book Magick (Book 4) that an adept "train himself to think backwards by external means", one of which was to "listen to phonograph records, reversed."
The Beatles were quite smitten with this guy and his ideas, enough so to put him on the cover of Sgt. Pepper.
This is really cute!
I also was smiling the whole time I was reading this.
Paul is alive. It's fun to pretend to be one of those people that think he's dead and research all the things put out there though.
I Think we need ot remember they were a bunch of young guys whos ambitions were to get rich. if someone thought i was dead and it made me money i would make an effort to keep that thought going and have a laugh with it, wouldnt you ?
Yes. Of course he died. There just happened to be a secret car crash with only secret-keeping people involved, and The Beatles just happened to unanimously agree to cover it up, flawlessly. Then they just happened to find a look-alike that could play bass and guitar left-handed, sing like Paul, and make epic music. Then they all decided to give clues on his death, after covering up his death so well, in album pictures and music.
That totally happened.
No see, after the Beatles collectively sold their souls to the devil in '63 to become world famous and rich beyond their dreams, they had no choice but to follow Satan's orders. When McCartney tried to renege, he was 'removed' in a mysterious car crash and a replacement was forged in the fires of hell. When you are pyschically connected to the powers of darkness your secrecy is assured.
...Or, like, Manson seemed to think, Revolution 9 is actually a reference to Revelation 9 in the King James Bible which discusses four angels with the hair of women and breastplates that sound like the thunder of an army of horses (electric guitars). So the Beatles are angels or demons or some type of supernatural beings (or maybe even aliens from another planet/universe/dimension).
..or they were just 4 extremely talented musicians who had an amazing chemistry when playing together and they peaked creatively and productively at the right time...nah (who would ever believe THAT?)
The fun never ends, does it?
I was perusing through a (vinyl) record store in Tucson, AZ the other day and ran across an album I have never seen before, (Live in) Knebworth 1990.
I was stunned to see the artwork on the front cover. So, of course I had to add it to my new clues section... ; )
Check it out:
http://homepage.mac.com/doctorlev/newclues.htm
Doctor Lev
"However, a couple of relevant incidents did take place. On 26 December 1965 McCartney crashed his moped, resulting in a chipped tooth (seen in the videos for Paperback Writer and Rain) and a scar on his top lip, which he hid by growing a moustache."
As the promos were shot in may 1966, do you think it really possible that Paul McCartney walked around with a chipped tooth for 6 months, and the only evidence he had one shows up in a promo film, and not anywhere else? 6 months with a chipped tooth? Unless of course the tooth chipped off all that time later.
:desrever lla netsil tsuJ
evoL rebmemeR
)tuO dnA nwoD er'uoY nehW( uoY sevoL ydoboN
:nehT
revo gnitratS )ekiL tsuJ(
mmmmmmmmmmmm :retehgoT
.sdneirf ym daed si yentraCcM luaP semaJ
.ti tuoba stbud oN
Question:
In the collage on the White Album, there is a photo of a strange man wearing glasses and bearing a moustache, with a faceless expression. This is said to be the only surviving picture of William Campbell before his plastic surgery.
As we all know, it is not Campbell, nor was there ever a McCartney lookalike contest.
But who is this strange man?
its interesting to note that of all the little clues on beatles albums and songs,nobody points out the back of the magical mystery tour album.Hold the back cover in front of a mirror and the number 3 appears. pretty cool.meaning that there were only 3 beatles left at that time. obviously paul is alive!
Paul McCartney is clearly still alive and I think he is the greatest and most influential song writer of the 20th century. The question in my mind is did the Beatles have a running joke in the albums from Sargent Pepper to Abbey Road where they depicted Paul as dead and inserted clues in those albums. They deny ever doing that but looking at the artwork on Abbey Road and Sargent Pepper as well as many lyrics in the later Beatles' songs, I lean towards the fact that they did use "Paul is Dead" as a theme. To me it is probable that they denied this once people were taking it too seriously and thought Paul really did die.
If Paul was not replaced in 1966- he grew 2 inches taller, his shoe size grew, the natural part in his hair changed sides, his eyes changed color, his earlobes became unattaced, his head shape got longer, when playing guitar or bass he looks at his hands a lot more (pre 66 he didn't look much), plays a lot more piano, although left handed plays drums with right handed setup (just like ringo (who is lefthanded), but ringo is a RARITY- most left handed drummers play a left handed setup) and....drumroll...
he stopped writing great songs like 'yesterday' probably the most covered song in history, 'michelle' etc
Paul may not be dead, but IMO he was replaced. It was a fraud, the clues were deliberate - meant to create the illusion of a 'hoax' They had the expectaton of disclosure and a slap on the wrist. but Faul was SO good the fans refused to accept the truth.
Right, and that's the ONLY reason they don't believe it
FINALLY someone with a sane mind who knows how to read all the little signs - Paul is clearly dead, you've proven it again!
And of course this Faul-guy didn't do anything great - just Sgt. Peppers and many tracks on the and the cover concept FOR the White Album.
And the "terrible" Magical Mystery Tour is another prove that the real Paul had nothing to do with it!
Seriously, are YOU serious??
He stopped writing great songs? What do you call Blackbird, Hey Jude, Mother Nature's Son, Let It Be?
Oh come on, have you chowder heads listened to beattles music?, its simple bubble gum pop!, and wings was just.....awful!, You dont think that with all the power and knowledge M15 has they couldnt teach faul to at least look like he was playing left?, watch some videos and you will clearly see Faul pretending to play along!, hes pretty good at air guitar, but not perfect, watch him playing above the ed sullivan theater on letterman video on you tube, its supposed to be live!, there is no way hes playing!, his fingers arent even on the right notes for christ sake!, he is no better then milli vanilli, and dont forget my number! Faul the imposter!
I don't think Paul is dead, but I do think the Beatles were behind the hoax. So many clues were quite a stretch, but a few were just too blatant to ignore. I'm guessing they all had a laugh and started dropping clues around Peppertime, and by the time Abbey Road was about to come out no one had caught on yet. I can imagine them laughing hysterically when the hoax finally came to life in '69. It was probably Ringo's idea.
Hahaha you are probably right in all senses even that it was maybe ringos idea
It is futile to speculate about whether someone is dead or alive, when we do not know about such things as life and death. Who is to say you are not alive? Can you prove that you are? Can you be sure that you are alive on the premise that you can think? I think not, but what do I know, or anyone else? Having said that Faul is certainly a good satirical impressionist of James Paul. Whether that be a fictitious entity or otherwise.