This week on "That Time..." we will go over a celebrity death hoax conspiracy that is still talked about 50 years after it originally made headlines. If you are new to my blog, heyo! My name is McCartha - a nickname that I got from my obsession with the subject of today's post. I am so excited to write about it as, the "Paul is Dead" conspiracy theory is what made me fall in love with Paul McCartney eight years ago. It's weird.
Disclaimer: This is all for fun. None of what I say in this post should be taken seriously. I do not believe the theory. I just find it funny and love discussing it. By no means do I mean harm to anyone by posting this.
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| Paul McCartney performing at the Cavern Club. |
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| George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and John Lennon |
McCartney was the band's bassist and half of the songwriting duo, Lennon-McCartney. He penned some of The Beatles' most notable songs, including "Let It Be", "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and "Hey Jude". Despite being one of the most successful bands of all time, The Beatles would disband in 1971, following the tragic death of their manager, Brian Epstein. It seemed that Epstein, who had discovered the band in 1961, was the glue that kept the band together. After his death, the band members' friendships began dissolving, which led to McCartney retracting from publicity which is what may have ignited the flames of the conspiracy.
So what is the "Paul is Dead" theory? The conspiracy gained traction in October 1969, following the release of The Beatles' album, Abbey Road. Why? I have no idea, but as a proud member of The Beatles' fanbase in 2020, I can confidently guess that fans got bored. We have social media today, and we still get bored enough to create the McKanye diaries and my personal creation, Daul McGrohl.
The theory is that McCartney allegedly died in a car crash on November 9, 1966, and to prevent the world from complete chaos - because Beatlemania was that insane - The Beatles and MI5 allegedly hired a McCartney look-alike to play the role of McCartney. The alleged "Faul" (fake Paul) is named William Shears Campbell, also known as Billy Shears. Yes, the Billy Shears mentioned in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. That is the short version, but I'm not here to tell you the short version and end it there. We're going through the mania of the theory and some of the alleged evidence.
On October 14, 1969, Fred Labour published an article in The Michigan Daily, which was a satirical review of Abbey Road. Labour stated after the fact that he invented a lot of the alleged evidence he wrote about in his article. You can read the full article here. I am not going to mention anything from this article but thought I'd include it incase anyone was curious and wanted to check it out.
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| The Beatles' Abbey Road album cover. |
Let's start with Abbey Road. As you can see above, the cover shows the four band members crossing a street. It's one of the most iconic album covers of all time. Seems simple enough, but it actually caused quite a stir. The belief it the cover portrays a funeral procession. Lennon in all white, leading is the heavily figure. Starr in a basic black suit is the undertaker or pastor who oversees the funeral. McCartney being barefoot is the corpse. Harrison in all-denim is supposed to be the gravedigger. Then if you look at the license plate of the white Volkswagen Beetle behind them, it reads LMW 28IF which people believed to mean "Linda McCartney weeps" meaning McCartney's wife, Linda mourning his death and "28 if" meaning McCartney - who was actually 27 at the time - should have been 28 years old. Another piece of alleged evidence is the fact that McCartney is out of step with his band members and he - who is left-handed - is holding his cigarette with his right hand.
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| The Beatles Abbey Road back cover |
If you are very into cryptic/subliminal messages every piece of alleged evidence on this cover could convince you that the conspiracy is real. I added the back cover of Abbey Road because between the woman's back and "Beatles" people have said that shadow looks like a skull. Do with that, what you will. I see it, but some people who I've showed it to have shrugged it off.
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| The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover |
Another album cover that has alleged evidence is the Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band cover. Above McCartney's head is an open palm, which people believe is a priest blessing the dead musician. While Lennon, Starr and Harrison are standing facing McCartney with their shoulders towards the viewer. McCartney is standing straight facing the viewer. He is also holding a black cor anglais - woodwind instrument. Besides the doll on the right side of the band is a driving glove, which people believe alludes to McCartney's alleged death in a car crash. On that same doll's lap is a small white toy car. If you hold a mirror through the middle of "Lonely Hearts" it reads "11/9 HE DIE" in roman numerals. The guitar made of yellow flowers at the bottom only has three strings, which symbolizes that McCartney is the missing string. It also looks like a "P" from it's angle. The former fab four are wearing their signature dark suits - funeral garb - and looking down distraught at the red flowers spelling out "Beatles". The belief is this cover represents a funeral.
Something that I haven't seen pointed out, but I want to mention is the fact that "Beatles" is spelled out in red flowers when usually, "The Beatles" logo is in white. They could have done it in white flowers. Red sometimes signifies blood and death.
A poster for Sgt. Pepper's, is one of the Beatles' most iconic photos. On McCartney's arm is an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) patch, but from the angle, the photo was taken, it looks like it says OPD for "officially pronounced dead".
Another piece of evidence from Sgt. Pepper's is the album's back cover. McCartney is the only member with his back turned to the viewer. It allegedly signifies that he is set apart from the other three band members, due to him being dead. Another clue on this back cover is Harrison is pointing to "Wednesday morning a 5 o'clock" a lyric from "She's Leaving Home" which alludes to either when McCartney allegedly had the accident or when he was officially pronounced dead.
If you have seen any of The Beatles' films you may have noticed in Magical Mystery Tour, during the "Your Mother Should Know" segment, all four Beatles are wearing white suits. Lennon, Starr and Harrison have red flowers on their lapels, while McCartney has a black one. Why is he the odd ball out? And why is it black? Black flowers sometimes mean death. This one needs some explaining.
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| Allegedly a photo of William Shears Campbell also known as Billy Shears |
Above, I have included a photo of McCartney that people believe is actually the imposter, Billy Shears. Little is known about Shears. Only that he was an orphan from Edinburgh and he appeared on the band's radar when he won a McCartney look-alike contest.
The evidence becomes more cryptic when you look at some of the songs. As I have been unable to play any of the songs backward myself, I don't trust all of these pieces of evidence as much as the album covers. With that being said, I will include the song evidence I find most compelling.
Allegedly in "Revolution 9" off of The Beatles' infamous White Album, the opening lyrics "Number nine, number nine" when played backwards sound like "turn me on, dead man". That is often the most cited piece of evidence in support of this theory. Staying with the White Album, if you play the transition between "I'm So Tired" and "Blackbird" backwards, you can hear Lennon, allegedly saying "Paul is dead, man, miss him, miss him". Changing gears a bit, in "Strawberry Fields Forever", Lennon is saying "cranberry sauce", but that is contested because it also sounds like "I buried Paul".
Some people believe the opening lines of "A Day in the Life" references the accident that allegedly took McCartney's life. Lennon sings: "I read the news today, oh boy / About a lucky man who made the grade / And though the news was rather sad / Well, I just had to laugh / I saw the photograph / He blew his mind out in a car / He didn't notice that the lights had changed / A crowd of people stood and stared / They'd seen his face before / Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords". However, the true story of these lyrics is the tragic death of Tara Browne, who was a friend of Lennon.
Now that we've gone through most of the evidence throughout The Beatles' time together, let's go to something that came out after the breakup that people sometimes point to. In the opening verse of Lennon's song "How Do You Sleep?" from his album, Imagine, he sings "those freaks was right when they said you was dead". People see this as Lennon confirming that McCartney is infact dead, but when you listen to the rest of the song, it's just an attack at McCartney. I, and most people, interpret it as Lennon either meaning he thought Paul had died emotionally - which goes back to McCartney pulling back towards the end of The Beatles and technically being the member who ended the band. It also could mean that Lennon felt that McCartney was dead to him because of the animosity between the former best friends and band members following the breakup. Fortunately, they did rekindle their friendship before Lennon's tragic death in 1980.
McCartney poked fun at the conspiracy theory when he released his live album Paul is Live in 1993. The cover shows McCartney on Abbey Road with his dog, Arrow who is the offspring of his beloved dog, Martha. As you can see, he is holding the leash with his left hand and his right foot is held out, mocking the Abbey Road cover. He is also wearing shoes. The Volkswagen Beetle's license plate now says "51IS" because McCartney was 51 years old when he released this album.
In 2007, the music video for McCartney's song "Dance Tonight" was released. The video starred Natalie Portman as a ghost and Mackenzie Crook as a postman. I am bringing this video up, because the last shot is the postman's van seeming to have crashed into some shrubbery on the side of the road and the van's door is open and the vehicle is abandoned. Some people believe this is an allusion to McCartney's alleged death. The imagery in the video of ghosts, also helps fuel that belief.
All four former Beatles, have stated that they found the theory ridiculous. However, despite finding it "insane", Lennon did say it was great publicity for Abbey Road.
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| McCartney and his wife, Nancy Shevell |
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Wow!!! I love how thorough you are writing this. You kept me wanting more. You truly are an amazing writer. You actually had me going back and forth at the pictures to see the things you pointed out. Great job! BRAVO!
ReplyDeleteWhat does the opening verse refer to on SGT Pepper? 'It was twenty years ago today' It can be interpreted as the age Paul would have been when SGT Pepper was released .
ReplyDeleteSgt. Pepper's came out in '67. Paul would have been 25. The "It was twenty years ago today" verse refers to the following "Sgt. Pepper taught his band to play". I believe it's just establishing when the fictional Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was founded. It would have been '47, two years after WWII ended, but I don't think that matters. They may not have put too much thought into it.
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