The famous 'Paul is dead' hoax
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Paul McCartney
ultratvfan — 14 years ago(December 05, 2011 02:25 PM)
Has anyone ever heard of it?
Back in the mid-60s in England it was reported that Paul McCartney was killed in a car accident, which was not true of course. The story evolved into a hoax in which there was a claim that he was replaced by a sound-a-like and look-a-like.
Here are some interesting tidbits: In the Beatles album cover where it shows them walking across Abbey Road, Paul is the only one bare footed. The deceased don't wear shoes when laying in a coffin. I wonder if the Beatles played on the hoax. Also, there is rumor that one of their records, when played backwards, it says "Paul it dead". I never played or heard it.
Of course, we all know that Paul is alive and well. -
Actorsactiondotorg — 14 years ago(January 03, 2012 04:01 PM)
It's a very famous hoax. You can download old radio airchecks of 70s DJs discussing it.
But it was not reported in 1966 that Paul was killed.
It was rumored in 1969 that Paul had died 3 years ago (1966) in a car wreck and was replaced by a look-a-like.
It was a marketing scheme to make fans BUY MORE ALBUMS.
How far back the hoax goes within the band is uncertain.
Or even if it was INTENTIONAL or just a COINCIDENCE???
Possibly in 1967 the band was deliberately doing the hoax clues i.e. Sgt Pepper cover.
In 1969, the new manager (whom Paul hated by the way), Allen Klein had renegotiated with EMI for a bigger share royalties for the band. And here comes the mass of re-buy of albums (2nd copies, 3rd copies, etc) because of things like the Paul is dead hoax. -
gpicto — 14 years ago(January 04, 2012 11:48 AM)
It was a self-hoax by the band that turned out to be profitable when fans started buying old albums, to seek clues. It was almost ingenious, I think.
And it's at the end of I'm So Tired that John mumbles "Paul is a dead man, miss him, miss him", if you play it Blackbird- I mean, backward.
Marriage is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others. -
spyders — 14 years ago(January 04, 2012 06:08 PM)
Shaolin Apu is absolutely correct. This rumor was not an intentional rumor started by The Beatles. It originated from a disc jockey somewhere in the midwest United States. He started the rumor and it spread like wildfire. Despite what someone else posted, The Bealtes did not need any help selling albums. In fact, by 1967, the only Beatle who was even enthusiastic about making more albums was Paul. If The Beatles hadn't been contractually obligated to EMI to deliver more albums, there may never have been another album after Rubber Soul.
Spyders -
gpicto — 14 years ago(January 04, 2012 07:53 PM)
But only the Beatles could have put those "clues" into their songs and album covers, spyders. Do you think they are a wild, disjointed co-incidence?
Marriage is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others. -
Actorsactiondotorg — 14 years ago(January 05, 2012 01:02 AM)
A US Disc Jockey is known to have NOTICED and LISTED all of the "clues"
But the Beatles themselves were deliberately doing weird Paul, Paul, Paul things in songs and album covers. . or just coincidence?
Paul is the one who disguised himself in '66 and traveled France and Africa enjoying anonymity and that "I'm not me" experience led to him creatively pretending "I'm not a Beatle I'm in a Pepper band" -
Shaolin_Apu — 14 years ago(January 06, 2012 08:16 AM)
They only later on started to fuel the myth by themselves too. As stated above, it was not originally started out by the band, and the "clues" often were very arbitrary, you can find similar stuff on your own wallpaper too when you just look enough hard.
Hello, Good Evening and Welcome! -
gpicto — 14 years ago(January 05, 2012 08:36 PM)
That Paul in France thing isn't surprising, since the Beatles couldn't stick their heads outside without fans mobbing them.
Yea, that DJ pointed out the "clues" and we don't know whether he noticed them himself, or if someone tipped him off. I guess we'll never know. It's possible Paul himself got the ball rolling. But only the Beatles could have placed all those Paul Paul Paul "clues" in there and the clues go back for a few years before the DJ called attention to them. A friend told me in 1991 that Paul had recently claimed that the Beatles placed the clues only after the DJ broke the story, which makes zero sense chronologically, as they had already had their final recording session by then, except for I Me Mine.
The hoax was pretty good for the Fab Four, in terms of fan interest and media attention not that they were lacking in either. But the timing seemed unfortunate for Paul, who had withdrawn to Scotland and wanted privacy when the media came calling.
But for those who dismiss the clues as "imagination", I always ask if they know about the Sgt. Pepper drum clue. That can't be a wild "co-incidence".
Marriage is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others. -
gpicto — 14 years ago(January 06, 2012 11:56 AM)
Yes, according to Philip Norman's Shout, a journalist went to see Paul, at his Scottish home in autumn, 1969. Paul was furious and chased the guy away, enabling him to get some unflattering photos of Macca. But Paul cooled off, caught up with the guy and cajoled the roll of film from him, in exchange for an interview. Paul assured that he was alive, but added that if he were dead, he'd probably be the last one to know.
I don't doubt the Beatles planted all the "clues" as a joke, but then they came to light at a kind of delicate point in time, when Paul was having to come to grips with the group's inexorable demise.
It's possible the Paul is Dead thing was what John was alluding to in Cry Baby Cry, with the line about "Voices out of nowhere, put on especially by the children for a lark".
Marriage is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others. -
Actorsactiondotorg — 14 years ago(January 06, 2012 02:16 PM)
Given the bitter hostilities between Paul and John in the 70s, if it had been a deliberate hoax the band agreed to do, John would have probably confessed to it - or blamed Paul for thinking up the plan, etc.
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gpicto — 14 years ago(January 06, 2012 02:28 PM)
That is possible but John's feelings toward Paul in the 1970s really swung back and forth like a pendulum. He recorded How Do You Sleep?, attacking Paul (with George on lead guitar lol), but later recanted, coming to the conclusion that, in the song, "I was really attacking meself.", as I heard John say in an interview. We know Paul was visiting John one weekend in 1975, and watching SNL. Someone on SNL invited John and Paul to turn up at NBC, offering them some kind of payment if they would, and they almost did.
But John was highly ambivalent in his feelings towards Paul, as he was towards his own father in the 70s, and maybe towards 1000 other memories. But I'll bet John told Yoko everything about the hoax and she might spill the beans some day.
But if you know about the Sgt Pepper drum clue, do you really think that has no significance?
Marriage is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others. -
gpicto — 14 years ago(January 07, 2012 06:13 PM)
We know Paul did the drumming on many songs and it's possible John liked Paul's drumming, overall, better than Ringo's. Maybe, maybe not.
And when John remarked to a reporter in 1969 how Apple was losing money fast and they could be broke in six months, Paul's response was something like, "You know John's always shooting his mouth off without thinking!"
And JL's temper is legend. I've read that JL jumped Linda and started punching her (at Apple), and Paul had to pull him off Linda. The story could be false but it wouldn't shock me if it were true.
Marriage is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others. -
ActorMan22 — 14 years ago(March 25, 2012 05:37 PM)
The Beatles didn't perpetrate the hoax. Lennon, usually reliable on these things, in The Playboy interview that appeared after he died(yes, he's really dead) says they didn't start it, "We wouldn't be so vulgar".
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gpicto — 14 years ago(March 25, 2012 09:14 PM)
Who but the Beatles themselves could have put all those "clues" on their album covers, into their lyrics, in the background of the songs?
But I don't blame the Beatles for denying it all. There's no satisfaction in admitting the truth of the situation. As Lennon said in Cry, Baby, Cry, it was voices out of nowhere, put on 'specially by the children, for a lark.
Marriage is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others.