Weird facts - Daft Stories

...the so-called clues are too weird for words, with none of it being medically binding in the slightest.

Yet, there is that one interesting video where 'Paul' looks rather shocked at the suggestion he might not be real...

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Well, that concludes my Beatlemania Month of May! Thank you so much for everyone who has stopped by, read and rated everything. I promise to catch up with return ratings within ... more

THE BEATLES CONSPIRACY: PAUL MCCARTNEY IS...DEAD?

WHERE THIS FITS INTO MY BEATLEMANIA MONTH OF MAY:
No true music legends would be complete without a bizarre conspiracy theory...right?!

Part fact, part fiction - hope this suits this category well!

(Please note: None of the song lyrics included here belong to me...not one of them, so please don't sue me!)

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No matter how true they are or are not, many people do enjoy a read of a conspiracy theory or two and I am without exception; I've always been intrigued by the unsolved mysteries of the world, especially that of Anna Anderson and Marilyn Monroe.

Yet, being a new found Beatlemaniac (with emphasis on the maniac part), I was shocked to learn that the man I went to see live in the early part of this decade could well have been an imposter. Yep, apparently, Sir Paul McCartney isn't Sir Paul McCartney; he is an imposter as such who was created by the band after a bizarre twist of fate, very early one Wednesday morning...

AS THE STORY GOES (warning: moderately heavy use of satirical devices and some of the greatest song lyrics known to men and women)
It had been a long and exhausting night for the fab four; they'd been in the studio, working their butts off, trying to craft tracks worthy of their next album. Yet, the pressure was getting to all of the members, even the most placid of the band.

After a somewhat heated confrontation with song writing partner and cynical buddy John Lennon, Paul McCartney had had enough. Tired and frustrated, he rushed out to his Austin-Healey car before speeding down the road, away from the recording studio as the other band members looked on in shock.

November 9th 1966. It was Wednesday morning at five o'clock as the day began; Paul became distracted by Rita, a meter maid. By his 'own' admission, he was very much a ladies man in his younger days, especially throughout his turbulent relationship with actress Jane Asher. So when the lovely Rita signalled for a lift, the Beatle couldn't help himself. He stopped the car and let her ride with him but at first the young lady didn't recognise exactly who was driving the car. Like most girls at the time, when she realised that it was THE Paul McCartney, she became hysterical, screaming and flinging her arms all over the Liverpudlian. However, she wasn't the only one to become distracted; the driver failed to notice that the traffic lights had changed...

As the car came to a screeching halt, the ear piercing sound of the car crash echoed all around. Rita had died instantly. Paul's head had magically rolled off his shoulders and ended up washed up on a French beach.

Ok, so, in all seriousness, 'Paul' was apparently decapitated as a result of the accident, hence why there are indeed no medical or dental records available, and it's not been for the lack of trying on the behalf of the fans. As the morning papers didn't come on that same Wednesday morning, the band never confessed to Paul's death. Instead, they vowed to carry on like never before and find an exact clone of McCartney to take the co-lead position in the most famous song writing tangent of all time.

BUT WHO COULD POSSIBLY REPLACE THE PAUL MCCARTNEY?! (seemingly quite a few people, actually!)
If the remaining three band members had any hope in convincing the general public that the poser was in fact the original McCartney, or trying to avoid the questioning of his identity in the first place, it was essential to find someone that not only looked like him but perhaps even managed to muster a millimetre of the talent Paul had.

The first of the claimed imposters is a bloke called William Campbell, or as he is known on the Sgt. Pepper's album, the one and only Billy Shears. Although no evidence of such a contest has been reported form the years of 1966/67, William apparently won a Paul McCartney look-a-like contest the Beatles held shortly after the band member's death. You can see him on various inserts, including the pull out poster in the White Album.

The picture itself is quite dubious; this guy is nearly a spitting image of Paul, just that he's wearing glasses. Apparently taken before his gruelling hours of plastic surgery, most peoples have rubbished this photo of being a William Campbell who resided in Canada, working for the Police force in Ontario. This dude apparently had a Scottish accent, so had to completely change his tone before learning how to play the bass guitar left handed! He was already a master at playing the right handed bass instrument, but obviously, it would take a lot of time to perfect the instrument left handed.

In spite of the fact that there was no such thing as a Paul McCartney look-a-like contest in 1966 or 1967, there could have been one in 1965, in America. A man called Keith Allison had a brief brush with fame after winning the teen magazine competition but there have never been confirmed reports that he was the imposter that took over as Paul McCartney at the height of the bands fame.

Phil Ackrill, the final significant Paul imposter, was apparently dubbed 'Faul' by John. Clever play on words there. Anyway, the ginger haired guy from little known band, the Bonzo Dogs, had a starring role in the bands film 'Magical Mystery Tour' as he sung the aptly titled song 'Death Cab For Cutie', thought to be a subtle hint to fans that the cute member of the band was no longer with them. From several bizarre pictures that cropped up, there are resemblances between the two men; they have similar face shapes. Then again, it was clear that the guy needed some degree of cosmetic treatment before he could be considered a true contender for the new Paul McCartney crown. As he was already a musician himself, he already knew how to write songs and everything so he is perhaps the most likely of the suspects to have taken over from the original band member, if you believe the hype.

YEAH BUT - IF THE DISGUISES WERE THAT GOOD - HOW DID THE PUBLIC FIND OUT ABOUT IT?
On October 12th 1969, Russ Gibb, a DJ on a Detroit, Michigan radio station, received a phone call from a local student, called only by his first name of Tom, who claimed to have found a series of uncanny clues in both the Beatles music and artwork that all pointed to the idea that Paul McCartney was in fact dead. To try and prove his point, Tom urged the DJ to play the bands 1968 song 'Revolution 9' backwards. The results were astounding.

Where the song played normally said the chorus like part of 'Number 9', when played background, a slightly distorted yet understandable 'turn me on, dead man' lyric replaced this. Many fans were shocked and the news soon spread like wild fire when a New York DJ, Roby Yonge, reported the news himself. Soon, the story became an international news sensation with many followers of the band seeking evidence themselves.

However, you could say that the following evidence points to the notion that it all did get a bit out of hand...

CLUES THAT SUPPORT - AND IN TURN DEFY - THE THEORY
There are three main areas of significant clues that do support the idea that Paul McCartney could in fact be dead. Together, they paint a rather interesting, if not bizarre, conspiracy theory that many are still trying to prove. However, as entertaining as some of these concepts are, many can be horribly disproved later on...

The Music:
Many of the most convincing artefacts come from sometimes hidden yet cryptic messages in many of the bands songs.

'Yesterday', the 1965 smash hit written by 'McCartney', tells the tale of a man who isn't 'half the man he use to be' with a shadow hanging over him. It could mean both a guilty conscience on the part of the perpetrator, as well as a warning to the fans that nothing is as it seems within the band. Many believe that the song 'In My Life' taken from the Beatles' 'Rubber Soul' album is an ode from John to Paul, stating how much he did indeed miss his song writing companion and close friend.

The next album, 'Revolver', released in the same year in which Paul was reported to have died, is riddled with fascinating and exceedingly peculiar double meanings. In the smash hit 'Eleanor Rigby', written by Macca, it is widely known that, although the Priest in the song is called Father Mackenzie, he was originally dubbed Father McCartney. However, the band agreed that this would cause Paul's father too much embarrassment but was this just a cunning story to cover their tracks?

'Love You To', a track primarily written by George Harrison, includes the lyric 'A lifetime is so short, a new one can be bought' which could be blatantly telling the fans that Paul is indeed gone and that people who may have spread the message of his untimely passing have been paid off so that the secret stayed just that, not to mention the 'buying' of a new lead Beatle. Ringo's vocal performance tells a story of life beneath the waves, a common euphemism for death whilst the final track on the album, 'Tomorrow Never Knows', describes how 'ignorance and hate may mourn the dead'. Could this be ignorance on the part of the unsuspecting Beatlemanics who didn't know that one of their idols was in fact dead?

'Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band' is perhaps labelled as the most important album the band released musically. Yet, in turn, it holds many clues of Paul's so called death. The introduction in the first song to the 'One and only Billy Sheers', could be directly telling the fans to embrace the new Paul without thinking twice about the stories, once they were uncovered of course. 'She's Leaving Home' also includes the immortal story of a person leaving Wednesday morning at 5 o'clock, the time in which Paul was meant to have passed away.

'Within You Without You', another Harrison classic, also contains many mysterious clues that all tie in with death theory. 'Never glimpse the truth' and 'if they only knew' stand out as some of the most obvious of the words. Lovely Rita is a cheeky rhyme of a meter maid, but how fictional was she? 'Paul' admits in the song that he 'took her home' and 'almost made it'. Very strange indeed...

Yet, the final track on the album is the one that really clinches the idea of a car crash. 'A Day In The Life' partly chronicles the design of a car crash in which the driver 'blew his mind out' in, because of not noticing the lights had changed. It was explained by the band as being a song about a friend of theirs who had passed away in a car crash - a convenient cover story for Paul's mishap or not?

There are many more that followed in the aftermath of Sgt. Peppers. The transcript from the play 'King Lear' at the end of the song 'I Am the Walrus' is very creepy; it tells of the only death scene, which just happened to be on the radio and recorded during the final mixing of the song. Weird.

Then, of course, there is the famous debate of the whole 'Cranberry Sauce' issue from 'Strawberry Fields Forever' which does, sound in its own unique way, a bit like 'I buried Paul'. The significance of Strawberry Fields, as well as the idea of the Walrus being Paul (a walrus apparently being a sign of death in some country or another...this has never been confirmed) is revisited in the track 'Glass Onion' from 'The White Album'. 'Get Back' also talks of a person who has in a way outstayed their welcome - perhaps the newest band member?

However, some of the most significant and intriguing ideas come from the art of back masking, a feature the band made famous in their B-Side song 'Rain'. When you reverse the 'Let it Be' lyrics in the song of the same name, you get a odd twist of 'he's dead'. You think that's unexplainable, on another track from the White Album 'I'm So Tired', John repeats the idea that Paul is dead with a chorus of 'I miss him!'.

As you can tell, many of the musical clues are a bit inconclusive. First of all, some of the reported lyrics from 1965 and from the album 'Revolver' were recorded before Paul was meant to have died! Then, the so called subliminal messages are only what a majority think they are; the whisper in 'Let it Be' is very random and questionable. However, those weren't the only set of clues found by the conspiracy theorists...

The artwork:
There are many ways in which artwork involving the Beatles could denote the possible demise of the cutest band member. The best publicised of these is indeed the Sgt. Pepper's cover. First of all, it appears to be a funeral type scene which could induce a double meaning in itself. Personally, I see it as the band burying their old style of music but many believe that the small, four stringed left handed guitar at the bottom right of the cover does spell out 'Paul'. However, it was apparently a last minute feature by the record label Emi. The Madame Tussards type figures of the four band members are all donned in black, like their original outfits, but could it be the mourning of the late Beatle? Also, 'Paul' had an open palm above his head. This is seen on many album covers, including the 'Magical Mystery Tour' official soundtrack as an Indian symbol of death...

The original 'Let It Be' album cover features the heads of all four band members. Yet, whilst John, George and Ringo's all feature a white background, Paul's is red. Could this be a possible sign of a head injury? The third Anthology album has three recent pictures of the said band members but McCartney's is the picture from the 'Rubber Soul' album cover - before his apparent death. The 'Very Together' Canadian album also sticks with the theme of the original three members, featuring a blown out candle. It's important to remember that this was released at the height of the hype in 1969 so it possibly just a cynical twist by the band to mock the believers.

Yet, the 'Abbey Road' cover is perhaps the most noteworthy of all the bands album covers. It features a bare footed Paul McCartney, and the other three band members in which many believe to be a funeral procession; John is the Priest, Ringo the mourner dressed again in black and George the grave digger. To further add to the conspiracy, Paul is out of step with the rest of the band, his cigarette is in his right hand although he is a leftie and the line of cars is in direct succession with Paul's head. That apparent blood stain on the road couldn't have helped matters either. Hmmm...the back cover features a freaky looking ghost - was Paul still haunting the band?

But the madness didn't just stop at the bands album cover releases. Oh no, in fact, it spread all the way into their music videos and movies. 'Strawberry Fields Forever' includes the lyrics 'nothing is real' and every time John sings them, a picture of Paul's head pops up! Trust me, I nearly jump out of my skin every time that happens! The first and second time it's funny, but after that it begins to get rather creepy...The b-side to that track, 'Penny Lane' includes the almost fatal cock up of Paul handling his guitar...in his right hand! The real Paul is a well known leftie and with this mistake being on being both this music video AND on the Abbey Road cover, could this be one of the most significant things in the case of the Paul is Dead theory?

'The Magical Mystery Tour' added to the notion of the impostor not being left handed; again, 'Paul' smokes a cigarette and drinks beer in his right hand. Of course, this could be disparaged and replaced with the common sense value of him actually being allowed to use both hands! But, the theory could be supported in the movie further by the fact that during the final scene, the performance of 'Your Mother Should Know', Macca is wearing a black carnation - the typical colour connotation of death - whilst the other three members are wearing red ones! Whilst Paul's famous cover up story has always been that there wasn't four red carnations but a black on instead, that's incredibly difficult to believe; you pop down to your local shop and it's unlikely that they'll ever have seen a black carnation, let alone sold one!

There are several in the animated film 'Yellow Submarine'. The most important of these are to do with the initial accident; there is a scene in which several road signs flood the screen, shortly after a biker is shown with tears rolling down their cheeks. Could this have been a reference to the passing motorists that saw the accident? During the 'Eleanor Rigby' performance, there is a shot of a grave stone with the name 'William' sprawled across it - perhaps as a reference to William 'Billy Shears' Campbell? It is also number 49 - could it be that Paul has four letters in it and McCartney has 9? That's a bit odd...

There are a couple to mention from 'Help' but you can almost immediately rubbish them before that movie was shot way before he was meant to have died.

Visually, there have been many more to add to the speculation that Macca did die in 1966. However, some of them are bordering on ridiculous and whilst I'm not saying that of all of the ones mentioned that they are all perfectly sane, these to me are the ones that stand out as being rather intriguing.

Appearance:
As stupid as this might sound, this is actually the most controversial of all three areas to prove. Many sources claim to have 'proof' of Paul's change in face shape and even height which undeniably conclude that he was replaced within the band. Yet, it is important to remember that there are other factoids that are defiant that these pictures have been dramatically altered just to prove the bizarre and far out musical and art work related features.

Heading back to the experimental world of Sgt. Peppers, it seems as if the music wasn't the only thing different about the band; McCartney's face had magically grown longer! I know it may sound really hard to believe but there does seem to be a significant lengthening to his general face shape and chin. Where as he had a roundish heart shape head before, it was definitely longer on many images I looked up. He looks a lot thinner too and wait, are those scars on his EARS?!

Apparently so. If the theory is correct, the images of Billy Shears from the White Album poster are in fact the new Paul before his facial work. Although the pictures do look a lot like Paul, there are said to be several, minor details that could prove the theory to have some proof to it. For example, there are some deep, scar like marks that could only appear after extensive plastic surgery on the ears and around the eye area. Whilst this might indeed be just a progression of age, there are some rather bizarre pictures of a really shiny Mr. McCartney that emerged in the 1970's and 1980's. Could it just have been a hot day or was his face actually melting?

Whilst I was scrawling my way through numerous pictures online, I did notice that in fact, Macca did look rather odd in the promotional videos for the double A-Side singles of 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane'. So, being the good little reviewer that I am, I seeked the videos online - and to think you terrible people made me watch them!!!

Anyway, enough of the fake melodrama, what the videos did show me was in fact a much clearer perspective on some of the images I saw. Whilst the pictures depicted a man who was rather long in the face, in fact rather sickly, the videos were a little less extreme. His nose also didn't look quite a thin and pointy either, which was one of the details that I had taken particular note of when I'd first seen the clues.

You can draw two conclusions from this; one, in fact, the videos have been edited at a later date once the theory began getting popular. Or, the pictures could have been doctored in order to prove the theory originally - take your pick!

But the height issue is the one I would really like to say to ignore; many people do say that on the 'Sgt. Pepper's album cover, Paul does look taller than John and George, who are both about 5 foot 11 inches like the original Beatle. Yet, if you notice, in fact the other two members do have their heads slightly on one side and Paul is stood up incredibly straight. Many pictures on some websites have purposely picked pics that are bias and support the theory to extreme levels which is always worth remembering.

One theorist suggests that in terms of appearance, it lies with the band members taste in women as opposed to his physical appearance. Despite their somewhat rocky romance that has been well documented throughout their musical career, 'Paul' and actress lover Jane Asher were engaged. She had apparently been paid off not to reveal the death of her partner.

Yet, lovely Linda emerged on the scene shortly after the supposed accident and turned Paul's head. Soon, Macca ended the engagement he had with Jane and entered marital bliss with his American wife - awww!

But why would Paul have worked so hard over the years to build a strong - if sometimes testing - relationship with Asher if he had no intentions of marrying her? How curious...

SO - AFTER ALL OF THAT - THERE MUST BE SOME TRUTH TO THE 'PAUL IS DEAD' THEORY, RIGHT?
You have to admit - whether you are completely for or against the idea that Paul McCartney was replaced by an impostor in 1966 - there are a lot of rather curious pieces of evidence that could amount to a very solid theory...

Many of the music clues, as creepy as they are, do sum up to be a very vivid picture of an abrupt car crash and death. When combined, it is hard to deny that they would be put their accidentally. It would have to be a major coincidence otherwise! 'Revolution 9' backwards could possibly give you a nightmare. Forwards it could have the same affect on many but in reverse it is exceptionally scary; the chants of 'GET HIM OUT!' and the screeching sounds are spine chilling.

It was widely known that both 'Paul' and John loved experimenting with mixing tracks and demos - so what better way for Lennon to reveal his song writing partners death in the form of music? That way, it would take a lot of working out by the dedicated Beatlemaniacs and could be disparaged anyway as being utter garbage by everyone involved. Simple!

The artwork, as overly suggestive as it is, does imply a great deal in the way of Paul's death. Why a black carnation during the 'Your Mother Should Know' performance? Why wasn't he wearing any shoes on the Abbey Road cover? And who - o why - was he facing backwards on the Sgt. Pepper's back album cover?

BUT LETS THINK LOGICALLY FOR A MOMENT...
The last one is actually fairly easy to explain; it isn't Paul McCartney on the back of the 1967 album. It's in fact one of the bands producers dressed up as him. You see Macca was in America for his then girlfriend Jane Asher's birthday and they needed to get the images all sorted out. Simple.

The other works of art could easily be explained as just that; works of art are never meant to be explained. I must say that I do think people went too far in looking for clues, particularly with the lyrics. I've picked the ones that I feel are the most significant rather than some of the more ambiguous, ridiculous ones but even then you could still say that the ones mentioned above are rather weird.

And then there's my issue with the 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane' videos; if this man was really under going several cosmetic procedures, why would there be so many up close and personal shots on his face? And why are people attempting to uncover clues from songs, films and album covers made years before his alleged death? That is definitely desperation on the part of many if you ask me.

WAIT BUT SURELY THERE'S NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE, RIGHT?
Of course not, and that's what makes the 'Paul is Dead' theory so much fun! Paul DID have a minor motorcycle accident on Boxing Day 1965 in which he chipped his front tooth and had to have stitched in the top of his lip. Hence the moustaches over the Sgt. Pepper period of their careers when the band kind of did everything in unison; so that he wouldn't feel so insecure about his appearance.

The proof of Macca's mishap lie in the promotional videos for 'Paperback Writer' and it's B-side 'Rain'. If you look, you can see that his front left tooth has been diagonally sawn in half. Ouch! These videos - although transmitted in the May of 1966 - were shot shortly after the accident so do mean that this accident has a certain amount of accuracy to it.

In 1967, McCartney custom made Mini Cooper crashed on the motorway. Many though the singer was hurt during the crash but he in fact wasn't involved at all and it was a year after the alleged incident occurred.

CONCLUSION - DO I HONESTLY BELIEVE THE HYPE?
I would love to sit here right now, put my hand on my heart and say that I do truly believe it's a bunch of tripe. Yet, I do love a good conspiracy theory and think this ranks up there with some of the most intriguing and downright bizarre of all time.

Do I honestly believe Paul McCartney died in 1966? No. Somebody, somewhere, from bitter ex-wives to greedy 'friends' of the band by now would have come out and said that it was a fake Macca still raking in absurd amounts of money after all these years. Plus, many of the so-called clues are too weird for words, with none of it being medically binding in the slightest.

Yet, there is that one interesting video where 'Paul' looks rather shocked at the suggestion he might not be real...

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Well, that concludes my Beatlemania Month of May! Thank you so much for everyone who has stopped by, read and rated everything. I promise to catch up with return ratings within the next few weeks.

I hope that you enjoyed the show! 

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