The Paranoid Style Podcast
The Paranoid Style Podcast
The Beatles - Paul Is Dead Pt. 1
This week The Paranoid Style Podcast is suffering from Beatlemania! We're looking into the enduring mystery that is Paul Is Dead. Is it possible that a beloved icon like Paul McCartney could have died back in 1966 and been replaced with a very convincing lookalike? And that the only thing standing between the public and the truth are the cryptic clues left behind by the other band members? From Merseyside to Hamburg. From November 9th to September 11th (No, not that one, but thanks for remembering!). We're dissecting every album from Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band to… well, Sgt. Pepper is as far as we got. That's right listeners… it's a TWO PARTER!! Warning: This podcast may contain singing that is either out of key, off pitch, shrill, warbling, or otherwise bad. Please proceed with caution.
If you have any topic suggestions for the show or any tales to share, please email us at theparanoidstylepod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram @theparanoidstylepod or on twitter @style_paranoid.
Opening theme music provided by Tony Molina. You can hear more of his music at https://tonymolina650.bandcamp.com/
ARK: Hey, Jude!
CCK: …
ARK: And hey listening audience. We know you have a lot of choices when it comes to podcasts, so we appreciate that you have chosen to listen to the Paranoid Style! We are sisters who have a microphone, a middling knowledge of how to use the internet, and a hankering for exploring the odd, mysterious universe that surrounds us. I’m Amanda. And in the mid-90’s I had a doppelganger named Jennifer…
CCK: I’m Christine…
ARK: But in this case, except no substitutions and follow the original Paranoid Style on Twitter @style_paranoid. And now… let’s Get Back to our topic for this episode, which is a theory Your Mother Should Know, Oh, Darling! This story is really Something, a Revolution if you will. So, Come Together to hear the tale that for a while was Here, There and Everywhere. This is a theory that proves Everybody’s Got Something to Hide… Except for Me and My Monkey. Tell me what you know about Paul Is Dead.
CCK: Help! “Paul is Dead” is a conspiracy theory that Paul McCartney, co-vocalist, co-songwriter, and bassist for the English rock band, The Beatles, actually died in 1966, at the height of the band’s popularity and was replaced with a look-alike. Now, I debated how much history we’d actually need for a band like The Beatles, but then I remembered we are very old and the Beatles was still before our time, so for any of our younger listeners out there, who might not be familiar with The Beatles… this is for you!
ARK: Liverpool, an industrial and maritime hub, in Merseyside, England, July, 1957. Then 17-year-old John Lennon, while playing a gig with his band, The Quarrymen, meets James Paul McCartney, 15 years old, and asked him to join the band as a rhythm guitarist. Paul agrees, and encourages Lennon to bring on his friend George Harrison, as lead guitar. George Harrison had to audition twice for Lennon, who was impressed with Harrison’s skill, but felt he was too young, at just 15 years old in 1958. Lennon eventually relented and along with Lennon’s art school friend, Stuart Sutcliffe, on bass guitar, they re-christened themselves as The Silver Beatles. Just a few months later, the silver would be dropped, and the three guitarists and bassist would be known simply as the Beatles.
CCK: Allan Williams, a promoter, and the unofficial manager of the Beatles, booked them a regular gig in Hamburg, West Germany. The band hired drummer, Pete Best, in 1960 and the now five-piece band, left Liverpool for Hamburg, where they were hired to do a 3-month residency at a couple of clubs owned by Bruno Koschmider. The band’s time in Hamburg was cut short, however. Koschmider found out that the band was also playing gigs at a rival club on their nights off, in breach of their contract. He gave the band a one month’s termination notice, and then reported the underage Harrison to German authorities. Since Harrison was too young to be playing in nightclubs, and since he had lied about his age in order to secure entry into the country in the first place, he was promptly deported back to England. A week later, McCartney and Best were arrested for attempted arson. The two young men were in the process of moving their belongings out of the cinema Koschmider had set up for them as accommodations. McCartney and Best claimed that it was dark and so they lit something on fire to see by. There were some reports that this was a rag or tapestry or possibly a condom. They left a scorch mark on one of the walls of the theater and Koschmider had them arrested. Best and McCartney were also deported shortly afterwards.
ARK: John Lennon would return to Liverpool shortly after that, but Sutcliffe stayed behind with his German girlfriend, artist and photographer, Astrid Kirchherr. It was Kirchherr that would take the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles. And it was Kirchherr that ended up inspiring what would become the Beatles signature mop-top look. At Sutcliffe’s request, Kirschherr cut his hair into the “exis” style that was very popular in the German 1950’s youth movement. Exis was short for existentialist. George Harrison soon followed, and although Lennon and McCartney originally liked to rib Sutcliffe and Harrison about their new styles, they would eventually also come to sport the haircut that would later become synonymous with The Beatles. Unfortunately, Pete Best’s curlier hair was not compatible with the new look the rest of the bandmembers were sporting. Stuart Sutcliffe decided to leave the group in the summer of 1961; he had been awarded a scholarship to the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg, where he would focus on his painting. He gave his bass guitar to McCartney, who would take over the instrument in the band. Less than a year later, Stuart Sutcliffe would be dead of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 21.
CCK: Back in England, the Beatles played several shows around Liverpool. In February 1961, they played their first show, as the Beatles, at Cavern Club. And it was at one of their Cavern Club lunchtime shows where they would first meet a man named Brian Epstein. Epstein’s parents owned the North End Road Music Store, known as NEMS, and after they put their son, Brian, in charge, it became one of the biggest music outlets in Northern England. Epstein after catching the lunchtime show was immediately taken by the group. He would become a regular fixture at their gigs. Epstein reached out to the band’s former booking agent and manager, Allan Williams, with whom the band had a falling out over an unpaid commission that Williams thought he was owed. Epstein wanted to make sure that Williams had no lingering business ties with the group, as Epstein was interested in managing them. Williams confirmed he had no ties but offered the following words of advice to Epstein: “Do not touch them with a fucking bargepole, they will let you down.”
ARK: Despite the warnings, Brian Epstein signed a five-year contact with the group. And it was Epstein that would secure the band’s first recording contract. Producer, George Martin signed the Beatles to EMI’s Parlophone label. It was during the recording of their first record, “Please Please Me” when the concerns about Pete Best’s drumming was becoming an issue. And for that record, they actually did use a studio drummer to record, but eventually, Pete Best was dropped entirely in favor of Ringo Starr, a drummer from another band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, that the Beatles knew from various gigs both in the UK and in Hamburg. And there you have it. The indisputable line-up of The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.
CCK: The Beatles are commonly considered the most influential band in pop music history. Their arrival in America in 1964 started what was referred to as the British Invasion, a swell of interest in rock and pop musicians, as well as some cultural attributes, from the United Kingdom. When The Beatles appeared for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show, 73 million viewers tuned in, about 60% of the country’s television sets. According to the Nielsen ratings, the show had the largest number of viewers that has ever been recorded for an American TV show at the time. But the British Invasion of America seems downright quaint compared to the phenomenon known as Beatlemania. Beatlemania was a hysterical fanaticism among the band’s young, mostly female fans. It was marked by frenzied, high-pitched screams, tears, and fainting, not to mention a deity-like worship of the boys in the band.
ARK: The Beatles eventually had to be escorted in and out of their concerts in armored vans to keep them from being ripped to shreds by the hordes of adoring admirers. After their tour of the United States in 1965, which included their infamous show at New York’s Shea Stadium for a crowd of 55,000 people, it became clear that it was no longer about the music. How could it be when no one, including the band on stage, could possibly even hear the music over the shrieking fans. Lennon had remarked that their live show experience had become “bloody tribal rites”. The Beatles made the decision that they would no longer tour after 1966. Or could there have been another reason why the touring ended… dot, dot, dot…
CCK: Proponents of the Paul is Dead theory can agree on the point that this was one of the biggest cover-ups in music history, and that it involved the cooperation of John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and manager Brian Epstein, as well as a handful of other people that were part of Paul McCartney’s life, like his family and girlfriend at the time, Jane Asher. But, if it’s true, then where it all begins is a source of much debate. It could have been a moped accident that McCartney had in December 1965 or car crash in January 1967. There are some that are unsure of the actual nature of McCartney’s disappearance, only that it occurred sometime between September 11th, and November 9th, 1966. But let’s cover some of the actual events that spurred some of the belief that Paul McCartney’s life was cut tragically short, and then covered up.
ARK: The first real crash occurred in December 1965 while McCartney was home visiting his family in Liverpool. He and his friend, Tara Browne, an heir to the Guinness fortune, went out for a late night moped ride. McCartney would tell the story that he looked up to admire the full moon, and the next thing he knew he was on the pavement. When they got back to Paul’s cousin’s house, she called up her friend who was a doctor. When the doctor came to the house, he may have already been into his holiday cups, as Paul would later say that it was this experience that inspired lyrics for his song “Rocky Raccoon”, specifically the line: “Now the doctor came in, stinking of gin. And proceeded to lie on the table.” Rocky Raccoon is a song credited as a Lennon-McCartney song, but Paul wrote the bulk of the lyrics… allegedly. Also, because this research has started to make me a crazy person, I actually looked up the moon phases for December 1965, and it does appear to match the story that Brian Epstein would later share that this happened sometime in Mid-December.
CCK: Come on you crazy bitch, why don’t you make a nice bird house out of these popsicle sticks, while I take over for awhile. The result of that moped accident was a Paul McCartney whose face had been slightly altered.
ARK: Convenient!
CCK: He had chipped his front tooth, busted his lip open and the stitches that were administered by a drunken physician would leave him with a scar. A scar that he was self-conscience about and so decided to grow a mustache. Just a little over a year later, there would be a second accident associated with McCartney. In January 1967, Paul McCartney’s custom mini cooper was involved in an accident on the M1 motorway outside London. However, Paul was not driving his car, he wasn’t even in the car at the time. McCartney was partying at his house with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones and it was decided that the party should be moved to Jagger’s place in Herfordshire. While McCartney and the Rolling Stones piled into Mick Jagger’s car, they had another party goer, Mohammad, follow behind in McCartney’s vehicle. I did not include Mohammad’s sur name, cause quite frankly, I saw some variations, but the young man was a Moroccan exchange student and personal assistant to gallery owner and socialite Robert Fraser. At some point he fell behind the rest of the convoy and ended up crashing the Mini. Mohammad was taken by ambulance to treat his injuries. But, that car was custom and highly recognizable, so it wasn’t a big leap to some witnesses that Paul McCartney of the Beatles had crashed his car and was taken to the hospital.
ARK: Surprisingly enough, the suspiciously hardline stance that came from within the Beatles camp that Paul was definitely not dead did not make things better. The next month The Beatles Book Monthly magazine, in their Beatles News section, included a little eighth of a page box copy titled “FALSE RUMOR”, which read as follows:
FALSE RUMOR: “Stories about the Beatles are always flying around Fleet Street. The 7th January was very icy, with dangerous conditions on the M1 motorway, linking London with the Midlands, and towards the end of the day, a rumor swept London that Paul McCartney had been killed in a car crash on the M1. But, of course, there was absolutely no truth in it at all, as the Beatles’ Press Officer found out when he telephoned Paul’s St John’s Wood home and was answered by Paul himself who had been at home all day with his black Mini Cooper safely locked up in the garage.”
ARK: How to light a fire under a conspiracy theory in two easy steps. Step 1. Start denying stuff before anyone really starts asking about it. I mean, there may have been a handful of people at this point that were questioning what happened that night, but it was surely not yet the juggernaut that it would become. And Step 2. Lie. One of Paul’s Mini Coopers may have been locked up safely in the garage, but one them was almost certainly crashed on the side of the M1. Of course, their motivation for a smoke screen may have been about the fact that most likely, one of the reasons they had Mohammad drive separately from everyone else was that he was the party wagon. He was responsible for driving all the drugs from one house to another. If they were stopped by police, none of the famous people would be caught with contraband.
CCK: There may have been rumors flying about Paul since 1965, and especially after that False Rumor piece in the Beatles Monthly, but this theory was truly given new life on September 17, 1969, in the United States. Specifically, in Des Moines, IA, in the student newspaper of Drake University, the Drake Times-Delphic. One of the paper’s editor, undergrad, Tim Harper, published the story on the front page of the paper with the headline, “Is Beatle Paul McCartney Dead?” Tim Harper was just 19-years old at the time and he admitted that he didn’t even own a Beatles record, but he heard the theory from a fellow editor at the paper, Dartanyan Brown. The article is brief and contains many of the same erroneous claims that still persist today, but it was also the first time someone officially published their doubts about the real Paul McCartney.
ARK: Or was it the first time that someone officially exposed the cover-up? Either way, it caught fire and was spreading fast, especially for the analog times. Within just a few days other college newspapers were reprinting the story, which then lead to an increase in calls to radio stations across the country requesting Beatles songs, and more information about the death rumor. One Detroit disc jockey called Apple Records in London in inquire about Paul’s death; a publicist for the band roundly denied it. But, one of the station’s listeners, Fred LaBour, a student at the University of Michigan was inspired by the rumor. LaBour was assigned to write a record review of Abbey Road, which had just released about a week before, instead of turning in a standard review, he published a story title, “McCartney Dead: New Evidence Brought to Light” in the Michigan Daily newspaper. The paper had sold out in a matter of hours, and he reminisced about walking home from campus that day and hearing Beatles music coming out of “every single apartment and house…”
CCK: And it was LaBour’s take on the Paul is Dead theory that would explode beyond school newspapers and college campuses. Both Time and Life magazines would cover the story, and it was even discussed on the nightly news of all three major television networks.
ARK: And poor Fred LaBour. He hadn’t meant to send this rumor so far and deep out into the world; maybe it would’ve gotten there eventually from the Harper story, but it was LaBour that would be invited to participate in a television special with attorney F. Lee Bailey conducting a mock trial in which he would cross examine expert witnesses on the Paul is Dead theory, including LaBour. Wracked with nerves, he eventually approached Bailey at a pre-show meeting and confessed that he had made the whole thing up. Bailey told the young man that they needed to fill an hour of television, so it was best that he just go along with it. And he did, although, by this time the public interest in the story had started to wane, so the program was only aired once on November 30, 1969 on a New York city local station. And while it’s certainly true that LaBour did make up several of the details that would come to be associated with the theory, he did not invent this theory himself, nor did Tim Harper or Dartanyan Brown at Drake University. This was a story that was already circulating amongst people, and even two years before all this occurred. So, let’s continue forward with what we have, surely some of it will be claims from creative college kids, but some it will not have a reliable origin point. One thing we do know is consistent throughout this tale. Paul is dead.
CCK: I don’t think we should get too bogged down in the other theories about the nature of Paul McCartney’s premature departure; like the alleged kidnapping plot which would have you believe that both Paul McCartney and manager, Brian Epstein, needed to be replaced by doubles. Or that perhaps McCartney never died, but simply removed himself from the spotlight through the employment of up to three different lookalikes. We’ll mainly focus on the theory that I think most PID believers seem to adhere to, although even this theory splits itself into two different camps. The September 11th camp
ARK: Never forget.
CCK: And the November 9th camp.
ARK: Always remember.
CCK: Not appropriate.
ARK: Let’s go with the September 11th-ers first. This theory is that Paul McCartney’s death occurred after The Beatles played what would be their last live show ever, in August 1966, and they all went their separate ways for a few months to recoup or work on individual projects. Lennon headed for West Germany to film his scenes in the Richard Lester film, How I Won the War. Harrison left for India with his wife, Patti, to take sitar lessons with Ravi Shankar. Apparently, no one knows or cares what Ringo Starr was doing at that time. And finally, Paul McCartney decided he was going to take a solo road trip across France. And it was here, right outside Outreau, that McCartney crashed his Aston Martin in a fatal accident.
CCK: Once the other Beatles and their manager receive the news of Paul’s death, Ringo heads to visit John, under the guise of curing his friend’s loneliness. Brian heads to Paris to meet up with Paul. George is still stuck in India. But, was this group reunion really about missing each other after just a couple of weeks? Or was this about identifying a body and planning next moves? Whatever you believe, the official story out of the Beatles camp was that Paul McCartney, still totally alive, left France and headed to Kenya for a safari with his friend and Beatles roadie, Mal Evans, and girlfriend, Jane Asher. Of course, at this time, Asher was just finishing up a run in William Shakespeare’s A Winter Tale in Scotland and London and then went on to do the film version as well. But Mal Evans was definitely there and was very verbose about his time with Paul in Kenya. He even wrote a column about it for The Beatles Monthly.
ARK: There are some other details we can discuss about the safari trip, but instead let’s just jump over to the other theory date, November 9, 1966, because the overview of what happens next is similar in both schools of thought. Part of the reason I think this theory tends to be favored over any of the earlier dates, is this has the added tragedy of being directly related to The Beatles and what the band was going through at this time. At around midnight on the 9th of November, The Beatles, John, Paul, George, and Ringo, all very much alive, are in Abbey Road Studios, which was then still known simply as EMI studios. They were just beginning to work on what would be there 8th core studio album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Things were not going well, especially between the band’s song writing backbone, Lennon and McCartney. The two had spent most of the early morning hours fighting with each other. Lennon felt that they should be using their existing platform to say something important, “more Bob Dylanesque” allegedly in his own words. McCartney’s stance was that they were a rock and roll group and should stick to the radio hits that had gotten them this far. At around 5am, MCCartney had enough, and he stormed out into the rainy morning and sped off in his Austin Healy.
CCK: About an hour later, the three remaining Beatles also exit the studio, just in time to be confronted by an unmarked, black van and a stern-faced man who flashes an official badge indicating he is from MI5, the United Kingdom’s Security Intelligence Agency. The man identifies himself as simply Maxwell and tells the Beatles that Paul McCartney has been involved in a serious accident. As Maxwell drives the three remaining Beatles about three miles up the road he tells him that officers at the scene of the accident spoke with a young woman in a blue dress named, Rita, who insisted that the dead man that had been driving the white Austin Healey was Paul McCartney. Rita’s story was that she was walking I the rain when the car approached her and offered her a ride. She accepted and once she was in the car, she realized who the driver was and she came over with a case of beatlemania. Wildly grabbing at the man and crying; he lost control of the car and smashed into a large, parked truck. Rita was able to pull herself out and go get help, McCartney was trapped inside and in terrible shape.
ARK: when Maxwell and the Beatles arrived at the scene, McCartney’s body had been removed from the car. The top of the singer’s head had been cleaved off, one of his eyes was missing, almost all his teeth had been knocked out except for two molars which were sticking out through his cheeks. Maxwell, the MI5 agent, carelessly makes the comment that the teeth kind of make McCartney look like a walrus. John Lennon, furious at the agent’s uncouth remarks starts screaming, “No! I am the walrus! I am the walrus!” The body identified; Maxwell takes the three Beatles to a MI5 safe house. After several hours and several phone calls taken by Maxwell in another room, he tells the remaining three band members that Her Majesty’s government is concerned that announcing Paul’s death will cause a rash of suicides among the UK’s youth and possibly even worldwide.
CCK: It was not unheard of, when silent film star, Rudolph Valentino died, several despondent fans died by suicide, and there was a riot outside the funeral home where his body was being held. And as far as I know there wasn’t even any affliction known as Rudophmania.
ARK: Yeah. It is not difficult to see how that decision would be made that the news of McCartney’s death must be delayed as long as possible. Lennon figures he has about 50 or more songs that are at least partially written by either Paul or himself. Lennon figures he can finish the songs and they’d have a catalogue of records for at least a few more years. Shortly after, their manager announces to the media that The Beatles will no longer tour. Everyone agrees to the plan; The Beatles would continue as a band. Maxwell, representing MI5, let’s everyone know that disclosing any part of the plan to anyone will result in a death more gruesome than McCartney’s. Done. I love it when a conspiracy Comes Together, right now, over tea.
CCK: I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party… But, what about that huge Paul-shaped hole in the middle of the band? Surely someone would notice…
ARK: Oh, yeah… I’m So Tired…
CCK: It’s ok. Agent Maxwell has this covered. MI5, being an intelligence aka spy agency, they have expert plastic surgeons on their payroll. With the right person to start with, someone with a close enough resemblance to Paul, they can nip/tuck him to a close enough double. And where to find such a person? Dick Clarke’s American Bandstand TV show and Tiger Beat Magazine. The TV show and the magazine co-sponsored a Paul McCartney look-alike contest in late 1965. So, in theory they had several contestant entries to choose from. Although, the actual winner of the contest was a man named Keith Allison, who would go on to be a member of the group, Paul Revere and the Raiders, whose probably best known for their hit “I-I-I-I-I’m Not Your Stepping Stone”, so he was busy at the time. The legend says that instead they went with a young man by the name of William Campbell. William Campbell was close in appearance, but still needed to have surgery to his eyebrows, jaw, ears, chin, and upper lip. He also required speech therapy to develop the unique Scouse accent. And there was the fact that Campbell was right-handed and not much of a guitar player; he would need to be trained to favor his left hand, and learn to play a convincing enough bass guitar. For John Lennon, William Campbell would come to be known as Faul… Fake Paul.
ARK: The remaining Beatles, in addition to being motivated by the threat of death at the meaty hands of a MI5 agent, are also motivated by the truth that if this was ever revealed to the public, they would be reviled. But, as my sister likes to say, “Better out than in.”. So John Lennon tells George and Ringo about a short story by American poet and novelist, Stephen Crane, who is probably best known for his Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage. But, the short story that Lennon tells the band about is called The Open Boat. It was based Crane’s real experiences when while in route to Cuba, the steamboat he was on, the SS Commodore, sank off the coast of Florida. He and other survivors spent over 30 hours bobbing around the ocean in a dinghy. The Open Boat tells the story of 4 survivors of a shipwreck, the correspondent, the captain, the cook, and the oiler. When the story begins these four men are drifting at sea in a boat the size of a bathtub. By the end of the story they finally near shore and must bail out of the boat and make a swim for land. All survive, but one, the oiler, who they find face down washed up on shore. I have seen this short story referenced as part of this PID tale, with people claiming that the men in the story decided to cover up the oiler’s death but write about it in poetry. I read this short story, it is quite lovely, but that statement is not true. However, the following quote might perhaps more subtly speak to why this story is referenced in the PID theory: “When it came night, the white waves paced to and fro in the moonlight, and the wind brought the sound of the great sea’s voice to the men on shore, and they felt that they could then be interpreters.”
CCK: The Beatles would try to interpret the truth through symbolism for their fans and listeners. They would place visual clues on their album covers and write song lyrics that would hint at Paul’s death and the steps they took to help cover up the truth. This could be understood in a couple of different ways. Either the Beatles knew that there would be some comfort and perhaps forgiveness in at least trying to tell people the truth. Or if the truth about Paul’s death and subsequent cover up did come out, they could say they were strong-armed into silence by MI5, and they tried to drop hints to help the truth get out without another band member dying a tragic and premature death. Aaaah… c’mon… aaah…
ARK: That’s not… aahhh
CCK: Anyway, the very first album to be released following the death of Paul and the birth of Faul was Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and it is rife with symbolism that can be interpreted as clues to Paul’s passing. Starting with the foreground, and what appears to be freshly dug earth, like a freshly dug grave, complete with memorial flowers. The most striking of the flowers is of course the red flowers that spell out BEATLES, but there is also a bass guitar made of yellow flowers. It’s facing the way Paul would have played it, as he was left-handed, but it only has three strings, not the customary four, to represent the three remaining Beatles. And as some people have noticed, it is not too big a stretch to see how those yellow flowers of the guitar also seem to spell out PAUL Question Mark. If we move back to the center of the image, we have a bass drum, with Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band written on it. Not only does this bass drum stand in as a gravestone in front of this burial mound, but if you hold a mirror right in the middle of “Lonely Hearts”, you get the message 1 One 1 X He Die. This has been interpreted in a couple of ways. Some say the ones represent the three living Beatles, and the X is for Paul. Others think this is a direct reference to the date on which McCartney died. One One meaning eleven. One X is the roman numeral for nine.
ARK: Our two camps again! The 9-11-ers or the 11-9ers! Either November 9th He Die. Or as the date is traditionally written in the UK, with the day before the month, then it’s 11th of September He Die. I guess the He Die part is pretty clear and not much debate is needed on that one. Before we even leave the foreground of this image, there are a few more interesting clues. In a straight line down from the center of the bass drum, you take “hear” from the word hearts, and underneath that the “LES” from the Beatles, but there is a trophy between the L and the E, which could be interpreted as an I. Which now makes the word “LIES”, and then finally back down to that yellow, flower bass guitar which you already stated could spell out “PAUL”. All together now: HEAR LIES PAUL. If we move over to the left of the cover, there is a Shirley Temple doll, wearing a “Welcome the Rolling Stones” sweater, on her lap is a white, toy car, the same white Austin Healey McCartney was driving when he died. This Shirley Temple doll also sits next to the Cloth Grandmother Figure, a stuffed doll made by artist Jann Haworth, it’s kinda creepy, but the thing to really point out is that it appears to be wearing a bloody driving glove. Positioned front and center of the album cover, in front of the “T” in Beatles is a statue of the Hindu goddess, Lakshmi. Now, I am very proud to say that I came up with this clue all my own, as I did not see any mention of it in either the book I used as my primary source, “The Beatles Conspiracy: John, Paul, George, Ringo, and Bill” by David Malocco, or in any number of Paul Is Dead websites that I visited. Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth, fortune, and prosperity; however, in one myth, she was tired of being with her husband, so she took on a new identity and went to live with the family of King Akasha Raja. While she was there she met Vishnu, who also happened to be in a disguise and the two met-cute and fell in love and got married. It gets better… It is said that the goddess Lakshmi takes on different forms in order to be with Vishnu in all his incarnations. So, when he was the dwarf Vamana, Lakshmi became a lotus flower, when he was King Rama, she was Queen Sita. Just like Billy Campbell became Paul McCartney in this reincarnation of the band The Beatles. Please hold your applause, sister.
CCK: I’ll do my best to contain my unbridled joy at your deteriorating sanity.
ARK: Goo goo ga’joob.
CCK: To the left of Lakshmi are two more statues. One is of Snow White, a character that was dead, until she wasn’t, thanks to the MI5, I mean, thanks to true love’s kiss. And right behind her is a Fukusuke statue, a Japanese statue that is said to bring good luck. The statue has an oversized head and oversized ears, typical of these types of dolls, and there is also a black line on the top of its head. Now, this is also typical on these dolls, it is the chonmage (chon-ma-gay), a traditional Japanese hair style worn by men and usually associated with samurai, but for PID enthusiasts, this is seen as representing the crack in the middle of the dolls skull, just like the aftermath of Paul’s accident. Whew! I think we can finally move up to the rest of this album cover…
ARK: Part one of our 7-part series on the Sgt. Pepper’s album cover clues…
CCK: Now once you step back, this is the magic of this album cover, there are over 50 people included on the cover, like a class picture from school. It was a mixture of collage and wax work statues, and although the artists, Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, have said that the concept was that this was the crowd that just finished watching a Beatles concert, and they let the Beatles pick who they would want in the audience. Of course, since the band is not separate, performing for the crowd, but standing with the crowd of people, it’s easy to interpret it more as a crowd of people at a funeral. And so, the theory became that these people represent the people that John, George, and Ringo thought Paul would have wanted at his funeral. The most striking image in this collage is that of the bright, technicolor, mustachioed new Beatles front, and center behind the bass drum, standing next to the wax sculptures of their former selves back from their Beatlemania era. They wear matching, dark, funerial suits and the wax figures themselves appear rather somber. The new version of the band in their day-glo marching band outfits all hold horn instruments, Paul’s is the only one in black. Also, Paul himself stands facing straight ahead, with the rest of the band turned in towards him, as if they are propping up a cardboard cut out. The open palm hand above Paul’s head is referred to a lot, mostly because it seems to pop up again and again in other representations of Paul. Traditionally, this symbol is most often associated with the Hamsa symbol. This is a symbol that pre-dates religion, but was adopted by all the major religions. Fingers facing down, symbolizes good fortune, fingers facing up, as it does on the album cover, is meant to ward off evil energy and negativity. However, in the Paul is Dead-a-verse, people think this is meant to invoke the feeling of a priest raising his hand over a grave in order to administer the last blessings.
ARK: The range of funeral attendees in this picture is amazing. From writers Aldous Huxley to Edgar Allen Poe. Stars of the silver screen; Marlene Dietrich, Laurel and Hardy, Tony Curtis, Shirley Temple, the child actress appears no less than three times on the cover, if you include the creepy doll wearing the Rolling Stones sweater. Comedian Lenny Bruce, 1962 heavy weight boxing champ, Sonny Liston, several Indian Hindu monks and yogis. Fellow singer, songwriter Bob Dylan, occultist Aleister Crowley, and their late friend and former Beatle, Stu Sutcliffe; it has been reported that John Lennon requested images of Adolf Hitler and Jesus Christ, George Harrison requested Mahatma Gandhi, but those three were nixed by EMI as being too controversial. But, there is someone on the cover that perhaps deserves a special mention, as we have already spoken about him and how he may relate to the PID theory. Writer, Stephen Crane, he of The Open Boat. Moving on to the inner sleeve… and I really wish I was kidding…
CCK: This should actually be pretty quick. First, the inner sleeve to protect the vinyl is said to be reminiscent of blood flowing; it is wavey lines in various shades of reds and pinks, so I suppose. But, fun fact, this was the first time in history that the protective paper sleeve was any color besides white.
ARK: That is fun.
CCK: And the only other thing to point out is on the inside gatefold is a lovely photograph of the Beatles in their psychedelic military-esque uniforms staring directly into the camera on a bright yellow background. This photo made it’s way into the hearts of conspiracy theorists because on Paul’s sleeve is a badge, that looks like it says “OPD”, which some people took to stand for “Officially Pronounced Dead”. Although, the other explanation is that it says “OPP” as in you down with Ontario Provincial Police?
ARK: Yeah you know me!
CCK: I think we can finally move onto the back cover.
ARK: At this rate, we can get started on the lyrics by the third quarter 2022. Back cover let’s go. Another first for the Beatles, it was the first time that the lyrics were ever printed in full for a rock album. Convenient for the fans that want to sing along to their favorite tunes? NO! More clues that Paul McCartney was killed in a car crash and was replaced by a look-alike, Faul. First, Faul is the only one of the band members not facing out in the picture. His back is to the camera and the lyrics that appear directly over his head… from the song Within You Without You “And the people who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion”. Sort of like a person that might get facial reconstructive surgery in order to appear as someone else.
CCK: People also point out that George Harrison’s thumb is highlighting the line from She’s Leaving Home “Wednesday morning at five o’clock” which is the supposed time that Paul McCartney crashed his car on November 9th, 1966, which just happened to be a Wednesday.
ARK: I think the real controversy here though is that, is it just me or does Ringo Starr not look like himself in this photo?! … Anyway, we’re about to get into the meat and potatoes and Savoy Truffle of the matter, song lyrics. First, let me say, that it is interesting that the first album to be released after the alleged death and substitution of Paul McCartney, conceives itself as being a band other than the Beatles. They are now Sgt. Pepper and his Lonely-Hearts Club Band. Ok. Speed round, lyrics that maybe, might, possibly or not hint at either Paul McCartney being dead and/or replaced. In order of the album starting with song: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Lyric: “I don’t really want to stop the show”… meaning, we didn’t want the Beatles to be over. Continuing with lyrics: “the singer’s gonna sing a song and he wants you all to sing along. So let me introduce to you, the one and only Billy Shears…” Perhaps coming out and saying Billy Campbell was a little too on the nose.
CCK: And then the next voice you hear start to sing the next song “With a Little Help From My Friends” is not even Paul McCartney, or Faul for that matter. It’s Ringo. Lyric: “Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song and I’ll try not to sing out of key”. Faul was new to this singing and performing gig, he might suck at first. Next, song: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds…
ARK: Acid trip. I got nothing. Moving on… song: Getting Better. Lyric: “The teachers who taught me weren’t cool. You’re holding me down, turning me round. Filling me up with your rules.” Faul has had to endure endless tutorials on becoming Paul McCartney. And I bet the other Beatles could be real dicks about it.
CCK: Also, same song, chorus: “I have to admit it’s getting better. A little better all the time.” Faul is becoming more used to his new role as Paul McCartney and with each passing day he’s becoming more convincing at it. Song: Fixing A Hole “I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in and stops my mind from wandering…” Um, Paul cracked his head open in the accident and his brains are leaking out? But by creating Faul the Beatles have essentially fixed the Paul-shaped hole in the group.
ARK: Dark. But, I love it. Song: She’s Leaving Home. We already covered the lyric: “Wednesday morning at five o’clock”, so let’s move on. Next song: Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite! Lyric: “Late of Pablo” or the Late Paul, as in dead. Ok, I can see you don’t like that one. Song: Within You Without You, written by George Harrison. Lyric: “Never glimpse the truth then its far too late when they pass away.” Paul’s dead. Boom. Next lyric: “Try to realize it’s all within yourself, no one else can make you change.” Except, they did change Billy into Paul, AKA Faul. Boom. Final lyric: “They Don’t know, they can’t see, are you one of them?” The fans can’t see that Faul is not Paul, but at the same time they may be asking themselves, is he one of them? Is he a Beatle?
ARK/CCK: BOOM!
ARK: No, but seriously, I love that song and if this were a music podcast, I would love to go into all the really interesting things that were done on this song, basically all rip offs of Indian Classical music and with Hindu spiritual concepts in the lyrics… its so good. Should we be a music podcast?!
ARK/CCK: No….
CCK: Song: When I’m Sixty-Four. Cute song. No real substance to speak of in this context. But, the next song is Lovely Rita as in Rita the lovely woman in the blue dress that Paul offered a ride to on that fateful morning. From the song, “Standing by a parking meter, when I caught a glimpse of Rita… Took her home and nearly made it… Lovely Rita… where would I be without you?” Alive for one!
ARK: Ouch. Ok, next up Song Good Morning Good Morning lyric: “nothing to do to save his life, call his wife in” Also, “Everyone you see is half asleep and you’re on your own, you’re in the street”. Second to last song is Sgt. Pepper (Reprise). It’s a reprise, we can skip it.
CCK: Last song and this is the one that proponents of the Paul is Dead theory say is the grand daddy of all PID hints. The song is called A Day In The Life. Verse: “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”. This line is said to be a close narration of what actually happened that morning. Paul was being distracted by Rita, he didn’t notice that a light had changed, he swerved and hit the parked lorry. He blew his mind out upon impact. A crowd of onlookers thought maybe the man looked familiar, but with his face so badly damaged, they couldn’t be sure from where. And some people even think that it sounds like John is singing “House of Paul” rather than “House of Lords”.
ARK: On the night of August 27, 1967, Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager was found dead in his home in London. He had died of an accidental overdose of the drug, Carbrital, a sleep aid and alcohol. The Beatles were in Bangor, North Wales when they got the news of his passing. The Beatles were in Wales to spend time with Indian guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who we will revisit again later in this story. At the time, the Beatles were hoping to follow Maharishi to India to begin study of transcendental meditation, but Epstein’s death took a hard toll on all the band members, with perhaps a small exception for Paul McCartney, who insisted that they head back into the studio to begin working on their next album. Magical Mystery Tour was to be the soundtrack for a psychedelic, musical film starring the Beatles. Was Paul McCartney just eager to enter a new phase in his career, that of an executive producer of a series of Beatles movies? Or was he just hoping to distract everyone from their sadness over Brian’s death with a new project?
CCK: Or was it that Faul was just not as effected by the death of Epstein, since he hadn’t really known the man as long as the rest of the Beatles and he was eager to stake more of a claim in the Beatles’ pie?
***ARK: and this is where we’ll pick back up on the next episode. Available next stupid bloody Tuesday.***