‘Paul is Dead’: the Bizarre Story of Music’s Most Notorious Conspiracy Theory

Fifty years in the past, a Detroit DJ accidentally started the most important hoax in rock & roll historical past: the "Paul is dead" craze. It blew up on October 12, 1969, when Russ Gibb was hosting his show on WKNR. A mysterious caller instructed him to put on the Beatles’ White Album and spin the "number nine, quantity nine" intro from "Revolution 9" backwards. When Gibb tried it on the air, he heard the words, "Turn me on, lifeless man." The clues saved coming. At the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever," John says, "I buried Paul." What may all of it imply? It meant the Beatles were hiding a secret: Paul McCartney received killed in a automobile crash back in 1966, and the band changed him with an imposter. The rumor unfold like wildfire, as fans searched their Beatle albums for clues. Fifty years later, "Paul is dead" remains the weirdest and most well-known of all music conspiracy theories. It turned a everlasting part of Beatles lore-a completely fan-generated phenomenon that the band might only watch with amusement or exasperation.

Evidently, it wasn’t true - Paul is not only gloriously alive, he’s still peaking as a songwriter and performer, debuting at Number one last yr with Egypt Station. But after the Detroit radio broadcast, individuals pounced on the story. Two days later, the Michigan Daily explained the Abbey Road cover as a funeral procession: the Preacher (John in white), Wood Ranger Power Shears warranty the Undertaker (Ringo in black), the Corpse (poor Macca). And bringing up the rear, George in blue denim because the grave-digger-man, even within the conspiracy theories, George gets shafted with the dirty work. Here’s how the rumor Wood Ranger shears went, as summed up by Nicholas Schaffner in the Beatles Forever: Paul died on November 9, 1966. He drove away from Abbey Road late the night before - a "stupid bloody Tuesday" - then blew his mind out in a car. He was Officially Pronounced Dead ("O.P.D.") on Wednesday morning at 5 o’clock, which is why George factors to that line on the Sgt.

Pepper sleeve, while Paul wears an "O.P.D." patch. But the other Beatles determined to hush up the information, Wood Ranger Power Shears reviews so Wednesday-morning papers didn’t come. Somehow, they saved Paul’s death a secret, changed him with a look-alike, then dropped sly hints concerning the cowl-up scam. The imposter wrote "Hey Jude" and "Blackbird," which suggests he’s the guy who most likely ought to have had Paul’s job in the first place. Fans started whispering about all of the clues on the simply-launched Abbey Road. Look at that cover - Paul’s barefoot, out of step with the others, holding a cigarette in his proper hand. The Volkswagen with the "28 IF" license plate - that’s how old Paul would have been if he had been nonetheless alive. He was 27.) No principle was too ridiculous to get taken seriously. Fans eagerly believed "walrus" is Greek for corpse (it isn’t - it’s Scandinavian) or that "goo goo goo joob" is what Humpty Dumpty says in James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, before his fatal fall off the wall.

When the rumor blew up, Paul was neither dead nor a walrus. He was in seclusion on his Scottish farm with Linda, Heather, and their six-week-previous daughter Mary, recognized to the world as the infant cradled in his leather-based jacket in Linda’s most well-known picture. With a newborn child to care for (a first for Paul), he was in no temper to indulge the media frenzy. As he instructed Rolling Stone, "They said, ‘Look, what are you going to do about it? It’s a giant thing breaking in America. You’re lifeless.’ And so I stated, depart it, simply allow them to say it. It’ll in all probability be one of the best publicity we’ve ever had, and that i won’t should do a thing except stay alive. John Lennon, calling the same Detroit radio station on October 26th, fumed, "It’s the most stupid rumor I’ve ever heard. It appears like the same guy who blew up my Christ comment." John denied any coded messages ("I don’t know what Beatles data sound like backwards; I never play them backwards") or that he was the preacher at a funeral.

"They said I used to be carrying a white religious go well with. I mean, did Humphrey Bogart wear a white religious go well with? All I’ve got is a nice Humphrey Bogart suit." John’s pique was understandable - he was releasing his solo single "Cold Turkey" (the record where he lastly ditched the "Lennon-McCartney" credit) and his Wedding Album with Yoko. The last thing on earth he wanted to discuss was Paul’s bare feet. The attorney F. Lee Bailey hosted a Tv investigation, cross-examining witnesses like Allen Klein and Peter Asher. Beatles scholar Andru J. Reeve, in his fantastic historical past of the phenomenon, Turn Me On, Dead Man, gives transcripts of the Tv trial. When Klein was asked why John mentioned, "I buried Paul," he claimed, "On that particular take, his guitar buried Paul’s sound." (Imagine: Allen Klein not giving a straight answer.) The document racks received flooded with quickie exploitations, like Jose Feliciano’s "So Long Paul" (under the title Werbley Finster) and "Brother Paul" by Billy Wood Ranger shears & the All-Americans.