Paul McCartney's Fake "Death"
In 1969, Russel Gibb, a Detroit radio DJ, announced that Paul McCartney, one of the Beatles, had died and that there was "evidence" throughout songs and artwork of the Beatle's albums. Newspaper and TV reporters picked up on this and the news spread like wildfire across America.
Here was the Alleged Rumor: The actual story of McCartney's death says that he was involved in a car accident, apparently ‘He hadn't noticed that the lights had changed,' around 5 am on Wednesday morning. He died from head wounds so severe that his teeth were knocked out, rendering dental records to identify the body useless. This is to explain why the public didn't know that Paul had died for some three years and The Beatles were able to hide his death. Soon after the death, a Paul McCartney look alike contest was held, but the winner was never announced. The winner was a man by the name of William Campbell. He was given plastic surgery to complete the replication of Paul. Except they failed to fix a scar on his upper lip. Campbell was the stand-in for Paul McCartney in all photos there after.
But, of course, McCartney is alive and after the Beatles broke up, went on to Wings and now has an orchestra. Here are some of the clues the Beatles used to make people believe this rumor:
Yesterday and Today Album
The album cover for "The Beatles Yesterday and Today," which is better known as the "Butcher Album," is very rare. In fact is was never sold in stores. This version only went out to record stations as a promotional album. Capitol records received many complaints and an alternate cover was produced. The original cover itself contains many clues. Notice the set of teeth of Paul's right arm. They are to signify that Paul's teeth were knocked out in the car crash, making it impossible to use dental records for identifying the body. Also notice, George is holding a doll's head next to Paul's head. This shows that Paul was decapitated in the accident. Overall, the meat and body parts are supposed to represent the horrible nature of the car accident. Further more, there are a number of lyric clues on the album. In the song ‘Yesterday,' the line "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..." This could be said to mean Paul is no longer himself, or he is not who we think he is. In another song contained, ‘Dr. Robert,' "He does everything he can, Dr. Robert..." This to could be that Dr. Robert did everything he could to save Paul's life after the accident.
The Revolver Album
Later the album "Revolver" was released in August of 1966, and once again there are clues that Paul is indeed dead. It starts with the album cover. As you may have noticed, Paul is the only Beatle not facing forward, which could mean the he is not ‘one of them' anymore. Further, the song ‘Taxman' contains the lines "If you drive a car *Paul*," which reinforces the fact that Paul died in a car accident. Later in the song we hear "If you get too cold *Paul*," possibly because bodies become cold after they die. By now, you may really be wondering if the guy who played with the band "Wings"and the "Beatles" is really the Paul McCartney. But wait, there is more...
The White Album
One of the classic Beatle albums is the ‘White Album' which has a story in itself. But once again, there are numerous clues that lead us to consider that Paul is really dead. If you turn to page 7 of the CD booklet, there is a small picture of Paul dancing. If you look closely you can see what appears to be two skeletal hands reaching for him. The lyrics also have a few fascinating clues. First in the song ‘Glass Onion,' sings "Looking through a glass onion." A glass onion is a term for a coffin with a glass top. Furthermore, the verse "I told you about the Walrus and me- man. We are as close as can be-man. Well here's another CLUE for you all, the Walrus was Paul." First he says was, which would mean Paul isn't anymore, and the clues given in the Magical Mystery Tour say that the Walrus means death. Also in the beginning of ‘Revolution #9' the line "Number nine, number nine..." is repeated a number of times. When played backwards it says "Turn me on dead man, turn me on dead man..." Also, there are nine letters in the name McCartney, which as we know is Paul's last name. Next in the song ‘Don't Pass Me By' the song "You were in a car crash," yet another reference to the car crash. It goes on to say "...and you lost your hair." Another reference to head injuries.
Magical Mystery Tour Album
The Magical Mystery Tour album has many evident clues, that almost anyone automatically notices and others that take a little bit more investigation. On the cover, Paul is dressed as a Walrus, which also has been know to be a symbol of death, but has not been specified where that is believed. One fact though is Paul, the walrus, is the only one dressed in black, and obvious symbol of death. If you look inside the CD booklet, there are also a number of references to Paul being nonexistent. First, on page 2, Paul's magicians hat is pulled down over his face, hiding his face because it is not really him. You also note that Paul's magic hat is the only one with a black flower on it. If you flip a few pages ahead to pages 4 and 5, and look at Ringo's drum, it read "Love the 3 Beatles." Notice on the back cover, if you turn it sideways, the people in white all spell out ‘RIP," which as we know means Rest In Peace. Then we observe that at the end of ‘I am the Walrus' we hear "Bury me, bury me, bury my body" and then "Paul's untimely death." Both these are heard if you listen closely to the speaking in the background at the end of the song. Also in the chorus of the song "goo goo goo joob," which are said been said to be the last words of Humpty Dumpty before he fell and cracked his head. If you skip forward a few songs on the album to ‘Strawberry Fields Forever,' at the very end of the song, when it fades back in, John Lennon says "I buried Paul." The Beatles Anthology #2 states that John Lennon really said "Cranberry Sauce." But if you listen to the first version, you can clearly hear the phrase "I buried Paul." In the track ‘All You Need is Love,' we hear John Lennon at the end, sing "Yes he's dead... we love you yeah, yeah, yeah."
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Band Album
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" contains more clues than any other. It is loaded with them, and are best seen if you have the actual cover to the album or CD. If you don't have one, try to find one because this is when Paul may really be dead. It all begins on one of the most interesting covers I have seen. But more than that, there are a number of indications that have been presented, some are a bit of a stretch. But here are 3 that I find to be the most convincing. First, if you look below the "T" in the Beatles, there is a statue of the Hindu God Shiva, also known as "The Destroyer." It's hand points directly to Paul. If you look just above that, you will notice that the Beatles standing behind the drum in the center. The are all standing sideways except for Paul who is facing directly forward. John, Ringo, and George look three dimensional, while Paul looks like on of the cardboard cutouts. The last clue that is very intriguing, you will need a small mirror, or the bottom of a CD will work. Place it perpendicular to the center of the drum, so that you split ‘Lonely Hearts' in half. Now read the combined writing of the drum and the mirror. It says " 1 ONE 1 X HE ^ DIE. "1 ONE 1" equals three, the three Beatles that are left. The ‘X' crosses out Paul because he's no longer there. Also, the arrow between ‘He' and ‘Die' points directly to Paul. It is hard to believe that these were mere coincidences, but even with that, there are more. Many of the clues are contained in the vinyl copy of the album, which had the lyrics printed on the back, layered over a picture of the Beatles. For those of you with the CD, that picture is on pages 12 and 13 of the CD booklet. First of all, Paul is facing backwards, to signify that he is an imposter. Paul, George and John were all about the same height, but in the photo Paul appears higher than the other two, potentially meaning that he is ‘rising up,' ascending if you will. On the back of the vinyl album, where the lyrics are printed, the words "Without You" are coming out the side of Paul's head, from the song title "Within You, Without you." Also notice that George's thumb is pointing to the lyrics "Wednesday morning at 5 o'clock," the time of Paul's death. Another interesting sign, is on the inside of the gatefold of the album, or on page 10 and 11 of the CD booklet. The Fab Four are seen sitting facing the camera, and you will notice the patch on Paul's left arm, that says OPD, which also stands for Officially Pronounced Dead, like D.O.A., Dead On Arrival. The Beatles claim that the patch says O.P.P., which they say stands for ‘Ontario Provincial Police.' An interpretation is that William Campbell, Paul's replacement, was once a police officer in Canada. The lyrics to ‘She came through the Bathroom Window' explain this from the album Abbey Road. Within the lyrics are some of the most revealing clues that can be found. It begins with the first song on the album, ‘Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' where they sing "Let me introduce to you the one and only Billy Shears." As mentioned in the begging ramble, Paul was supposedly replaced by William Campbell. Billy is a nick name for William. Further, Billy Shears is a play on words. Billy Shears, or BillyS hears which could be Billy is Here, as though they were introducing William to the world. Following that, the song ‘With a Little Help from my Friends,'the second line sings "What would you think if I sang out of tune." Billy Shears has never sung with the Beatles before, and might sing out of tune because he is so new. In the song ‘She is Leaving Home' the verse "Wednesday morning at five o'clock" as mentioned before, is when Paul's accident happened. Song ten, ‘Lovely Rita' explain why Paul crashed, because "When I caught a glimpse of Rita" he wasn't paying attention to the road. Another hint to this point is in the song ‘Day in the Life' which sings "He blew his mind out in a car, he didn't notice that the lights had changed." Paul was looking at Rita, and ran a light causing him to crash, and die. The clues are rampant among the covers, inside cover and the lyrics of Sgt. Pepper lead us to believe that Paul McCartney could be six feet under. But of course the clues don't stop there... that would make it no fun.
Abbey Road
Another classic Beatles album, has to be Abbey Road, due to the symbolism of the cover and the clues contained in it. In the procession across the street, John represents the Preacher. Ringo represents a Pall Bearer. George is the grave digger in his working clothes. Paul has no shoes on, which is a sign of death in the mafia, and his eyes are closed, both are representative of a corpse. Notice that Paul is smoking with his right hand, but Paul is really a lefty, unless it is William Campbell. Another well known clue, is the VW bug that is parked on the left side of the street has a license plate that says ‘28IF.' Paul would have been 28 when this album was released, if he would have lived. Also the licence plate says ‘LMW' which stands for ‘Linda McCartney Weeps.' Another noticeable vehicle is the ambulance or morgue wagon that is parked on the right side of the street. The lyrics clues are also very revealing. Take for example in ‘Come Together' it sings "Come together right now over me." This could mean over Paul's grave. Another reference to there being only 3 Beatles left is the line "One and One and One is Three." The last clue, that was, mentioned earlier is in ‘She Came in Through the Bathroom Window' which sings "So I quit the police department and got myself a steady job." William Campbell is explaining that he was a police officer, and it also explains the OPD patch from the Sgt. Pepper's Album.
