Paul Is Dead

The Paul Is Dead hoax was a series of events in the 1960s that led fans of the popular rock band The Beatles to believe that bassist Paul McCartney was actually dead and replaced with a look-alike.

The hoax really began to build steam by 1969, when Russell Gibb, a radio DJ from Detroit, Michigan, announced that McCartney was dead. Other DJs, television news reporters, newspapers and magazines picked up on the story and began to look for clues.

Members of the media and Beatles fans began to search album artwork and song lyrics for clues about the cover-up and McCartney's supposed death. Hoax believers eventually decided that McCartney had died in a car accident that happend at 5 a.m. on a Wednesday morning (the time and day, mentioned in the song "She's Leaving Home"), and that "he hadn't noticed that the lights had changed" ("A Day In The Life") because he was busy watching the pretty girl on the sidewalk ("Lovely Rita"). According to hoax believers, McCartney had been replaced with William Campbell, the winner of a McCartney look-alike contest.

Table of contents

1 Other "clues" included:
2 Other Beatles hoaxes
3 External Links

Other "clues" included:

The words "number nine, number nine" on the track "Revolution #9" on "The Beatles" (aka The White Album) became "turn me on, dead man, turn me on, dead man" when played backwards. The track also includes other obvious clues, such as the sound of a car crashing, and comments by John which seem to indicate what Paul was doing before he "died" (for example, one comment goes "who can tell what he was saying...his eyes was on fire", while another comment played backwards yields "let me out, let me out!").
A similar reversal at the end of "I'm So Tired" (also from "The Beatles") revealed "Paul is dead, man, miss him, miss him..."
Another "The Beatles" track, "Don't Pass Me By", has lyrics that go, "I'm sorry that I doubted you...I was so unfair. You were in a car crash, and you lost your hair..."
The end of "The Beatles" track "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" has George seem to be calling "Paul, Paul, Paul..." (indicating George missing his colleague).
Lyrics from the "Sgt. Pepper" track "Good Morning, Good Morning" contain "nothing to do to save his life."
Another Sgt. Pepper track has these lyrics..."life goes on within you and without you" (from George's "Within You, Without You").
Hoax believers think that John said "I buried Paul" at the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever" on Magical Mystery Tour (although those who listen closely will figure out John really says "cranberry sauce").
Another Magical Mystery Tour track, "Blue Jay Way", leads hoax believers to think George is giving a eulogy to Paul (with the lyrics "please don't be long, please don't you be very long, please don't be long, or I may be asleep...").
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..." from the song "Yesterday". To hoax believers, this was an admission from McCartney's replacement that he wasn't the same person.
On the US release, Yesterday and Today, McCartney is sitting inside a trunk. Hoax believers thought that the trunk was supposed to represent McCartney's coffin.
The Rubber Soul album cover is supposed to look like the other Beatles (and the McCartney look-alike) are looking down into the grave of the real McCartney.
The Sgt._Pepper's_Lonely_Hearts_Club_Band cover appears to be a group of mourners standing in front of a freshly dug grave.
The inside cover of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album has Paul wearing an emblem on his shirt sleeve whose initials are believed to be O.P.D. (for "officially pronounced dead").
The yellow flowers on the cover of Sgt. Peppers appear to spell out "PAUL?"
The Magical Mystery Tour track "I Am The Walrus" clues us in that Paul "died" on a "stupid bloody Tuesday". The chant at the end of the track, played backwards, reveals "Paul Is Dead, Paul Is Dead..." And when played forwards to the end, contains a portion of a BBC radio broadcast of "King Lear" which mentions death. Paul is depicted as a walrus according to both the Magical Mystery Tour album cover and "The Beatles" song "Glass Onion". The depiction of a walrus is another ancient sign of death.
The Magical Mystery Tour album cover has Paul wearing a black carnation (the only Beatle to do so), another indication of death.
The color booklet of the Magical Mystery Tour album has a photo from the movie with Paul dressed as an Army Sergeant with a card on his desk that says "I WAS" (indicating that the man WAS Paul).
On the back cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band McCartney is facing backwards, which is supposedly because he was dead and replaced with an imposter in the photograph. (In reality, McCartney could not make the photo session and road manager Mal Evans stood in for him).
According to hoax-believers, the back cover of Abbey Road is a representation of Paul's funeral procession. Lennon is the clergyman or priest (dressed in white), Ringo the funeral director or pall bearer (formally dressed), Paul the corpse (bare feet & cigarette [Sicilian symbol of death]), and George the grave digger (denim working clothes). Furthermore the license-plate of the white car says LMW 28IF. LMW is said to stand for "Linda McCartney Widow (or Weeps)", and 28IF suggests Paul would have been 28 if he hadn't died. (At the time of the album's release September 26, 1969, Paul was in fact 27.) Additionally, the cigarette in the picture is Paul's right hand, even though Paul is left-handed. On the front cover, a strangely configured and placed "3" in front of the Beatles name indicates three "remaining" Beatles.
"Come Together" (from Abbey Road) has these closing lyrics..."one and one and one is three" (also indicating the three "remaining" Beatles).

In the years after this hoax first began, John Lennon made a couple of jokes about it in various songs, including "Glass Onion" ("Here's another clue for you all/the walrus was Paul"). McCartney himself also made fun of the hoax with the title of his 1993 live album, Paul Is Live.

As of 2003, the Beatles known to be dead are John Lennon (shot dead outside of the Dakota building in New York City) and George Harrison (died of cancer).

Other Beatles hoaxes

Klaatu