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Monday, 1 September 2008
Paul McCartney is Dead
Mood:  quizzical
One of the principal effects of the Beatles' decision not to play any more concerts after 1966 was that the public had a vital dimension to their hero worship snatched away.  Sure, the Beatles were in the studio making their finest records, and could be glimpsed occasionally emerging bleary-eyed from some session or other.  But it wasn't the same.  The Beatles weren't visible any more.  They couldn't be monitored like before.  And that is how, towards the end of the Sixties, the rumor began to spread, in all its absurd, malevolent glory, that Paul McCartney was dead.  Or to be perfectly precise, that Paul McCartney had been killed in a car crash in November 1966.  The implications of this were fairly obvious, such as who exactly was that playing the terrific bass lines on 'With a Little Help From My Friends' and 'Penny Lane,' and how come his mysterious successor had a dead ringer of a voice?  Assuming that Paul McCartney is still very much alive, which seems like a pretty sensible assumption to make, an analysis of the so-called 'proof' of his untimely demise will give some idea of not only the frightening intensity of Beatlesmania, but also the lunatic edge of the Sixties.  The story was supposedly started in America by a college paper.  Pretty soon it made a local radio station, and on the basis of the no-smoke-without-fire rule spread across the States.  The car crash story started when it was discovered that an accident of the kind described in the rumor had taken place around the time specified.  One of the two fatally injured passengers was a young man with dark hair.  He had been disfigured beyond all recognition.  Another fact which lent credence to the rumor was that The Beatles had held a McCartney look alike competition in 1966.  This now took on a vaguely disturbing angle – were they in fact searching, under the guise of a good natured contest, for a replacement for their dead bass player?  It seemed plausible at the time, especially when it was discovered that no announcement had ever been made regarding any winner of the contest.  The story circulated that a young Scotsman named William Campbell had replaced McCartney and had been playing on recordings by the group since 1966.  their retirement from concert appearances meant that nobody could twig that it was a bogus Paul. In the crazy logic of the best rumors, the treasure hunt did not end there.  For the story went that The Beatles were so contrite at having duped their fans that, towards the end of the Sixties, they began to put clues on the sleeves of their albums and into their lyrics.  These clues, whendeciphered and compiled, added up to indisputable proof that Paul McCartney was dead.  That was the theory. the 'clues' started as far back as the song 'Yellow Submarine'.  Dating from the year 1966, this song is a shadowy undertones of possible death mentioned in the grooves - its childish ditty format is reckoned to mask one of John Lennon's most enthusiastic drug songs.  As regards the Paul rumor, the story had it that at one point in the song Lennon shouts out 'Paul's a queer', the object being to instigate a smear campaign against McCartney so that fans would not feel too bad when they learned that he was actually brown bread. Two more clues in the lyrics of songs fuelled the rumors.  One is fairly obvious - the line in 'A Day in the Life' which runs 'he blew his mind out in the car.'  It is now widely believed that this refers to Tara Browne, the heir of the Gu9inness fortunes, who died in a car crash just before recording for the song commenced.  The other clue is more obscure.  apparently there is a spoken line in the lengthy fade out on 'Strawberry Fields Forever' which goes 'I buried Paul.'  Others have argued that it is Lennon saying 'Cranberry sauce.'  This, on the face of it, seems more likely.  However, there remains the possibility that, having sung all the words to 'Strawberry Fields,' he is in fact complaining to the other Beatles, 'I'm very hoarse.'  The remainder of the evidence lies in the sleeves of the LPs released by The Beatles between the years 1967 and 1969.  The first one of these, 'Sgt Pepper's lonely Hearts Club Band,' boasts an impressive pop art mural of celebrities and statesmen, with the four Beatles at the front of the throng.  Look closely and one can see a 'wreath' of flowers arranged in the shape of a bass guitar.  Squint at the flowers and they appear to read PAUL?  this was taken to mean a question mark hanging over McCartney's existence.  the raised hand at the back of Paul's head on the front cover is supposedly an Indian death sign.  But for proof positive, eager theoreticians gestured excitedly to the inner sleeves - there was the reputedly alive 'n' kicking bassist wearing a badge with the damning initials OPD.  Could this mean anything other than Officially Pronounced Dead?  Yes, it could also stand for Ontario Police Department, where he was given the badge.  The rumor mongers were not deterred.  All the walrus symbolism of the 'Magical Mystery Tour' LP was taken to mean a death obsession, for no other reason than that a walrus in Alice in Wonderland killed a few oysters.  But, there again, was a raised hand between McCartney's head.  Twice, in the accompanying booklet.The transitional Yellow Submarine soundtrack album fared no better.  Yet Paul was seen with a hand raised abhove his head.  However, it was the cover of Abbey Road that sent the really inventive scandal hunters into paroxysms of creativity.  The Four were crossing Abbey Road in north London in what appeared to more sensitive eyes to be a mock funeral procession.  John Lennon, at the head of the procession and dressed in white, was the preacher.  Ringo, lagging behind but still smartly attired, was the mourner.  George, in casual clothes and languishing at the back, was the gravedigger.  And Paul was the corpse.  Look - not only was he quite clearly dead, he was also not wearing any shoes.  And everyone knows that most countries bury their dead barefoot.  A volkswagen parked in the middle distance was taken as an important clue.  Its registration number reads in part, 281F.  Keen - but erroneous - mathematicians calculated that Paul's age in the year Abbey Road's release would have been 28 IF he had lived.  Actually being of 1942 vintage, Paul would have been 27.  But then it was remembered that the Beatles were heavily into Eastern mysticism, and those religions believe that everybody is born one year old.  Suddenly it made sense.  Ironically, the treasure hunters missed the most blatant and irrefutable clue of all.  During the fade out of 'Back in the USSR', the first song on the 'White Album', John Lennon can be heard quite clearly speaking the words, 'Ere, Yoko, 'ave this bass.  Paul won't need it where he's going.'

Posted by alhakeem15 at 12:01 AM EDT
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