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Was Beatles legend Paul McCartney killed in 1966 and replaced with a look-alike?
Paul McCartney has been one of the most famous people in the world for over 50 years. First as one quarter of the greatest pop band in history - the Beatles, then for a successful 40 year solo career featuring a string of hit singles and albums.
The Beatles’ expansive music and surreal lyrics had always inspired theories and speculation amongst their fans, but by the height of their fame in the late 60s a weird rumour was beginning to move from college campuses to the mainstream media; the band's bassist and joint songwriter Paul McCartney was dead.
Paul in 1964, before the supposed fatal accident
This came as news to McCartney himself, who in 1969, when the stories of his death reached fever pitch, appeared to be walking around alive and well. But was the man going by that name truly the same Paul McCartney who first charmed filmgoers with his fellow bandmates, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison in 1964’s classic A Hard Day's Night?
Was the man walking barefoot across the Abbey Road crossing in the most famous album cover ever produced really the same man who wrote pop classics like I Want to Hold your Hand and Yesterday? Apparently not, as far as the conspiracy went.
The central tenet of the Paul is Dead theory was that sometime in late 1966, McCartney was killed in a tragic car accident. Determined not to end the most profitable and successful band in history, the management drafted in a look-alike to masquerade as the deceased Beatle and keep the moneymaking juggernaut intact.
As weird as it may have sounded, proponents of the theory managed to find dozens of inexplicable references in the Beatles’ songs and album covers following Paul’s supposed demise that appeared to be hinting that something really had happened to the bassist.
The Beatles stormed America in early 1964
Was Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band a coded confession of the truth? Did the Walrus from I Am The Walrus, who John identified as Paul in his song Glass Onion, represent death? And why, if you played the White Album’s track Revolution 9 backwards could you hear the words ‘turn me on dead man?’
Whilst some of the musical analysis looks fanciful, according to believers the photographic evidence clinches their case. The McCartney of the late 60s they argue, of Sgt Pepper and Abbey Road fame, is clearly not the same man of the early and mid 60s, the era of Please Please Me and Help!
Paul certainly does appear to look different in some photographs between these two parts of the 60s, but were these differences merely the natural changes in a young man’s face as he fluctuates in weight and grows older or something more sinister?
Advocates of the Paul is Dead theory maintain that the photographic anomalies are because we are looking at two different men, one the original Paul of the early 60s and the other his replacement, a McCartney look-alike named variously William Campbell, William Shepherd and Billy Shears.
The first rumblings that something may have happened to Paul began in December 1965, when he was involved in a much publicised moped accident whilst visiting his family in Liverpool. The injuries sustained in this crash, especially Paul’s broken tooth, are clearly still evident in the videos for Rain and Paperback Writer filmed in May 1966.
The older Paul seems to have a longer, thinner face
Another accident occurred on the 7th January 1967 when McCartney's black Mini Cooper was written off in a crash on the M1 near London. However, the official story has it that the car was been driven by a student named Mohammed Hadjij at the time, not McCarney.
It seems these two relatively mundane incidents were becoming mangled across multiple retellings, spawning the far more sensational rumour that Paul had actually died in a car accident. Shortly afterwards, Beatles Monthly magazine attempted to quash the gossip by issuing a false report about the latter accident, dismissing any notion that there had been a crash at all, and stating that not only was Paul alive and well but his Mini Cooper car was also perfectly intact.
Was this false story designed to hide the tragic truth that Paul had really died? Whatever the truth, the Beatles’ story always unfolded in fast forward, and the two episodes were quickly forgotten amidst a torrent of other tabloid stories about the exploits of the Fab Four.
Apart from the odd piece of drug fuelled chatter during swinging London parties, the rumours about McCartney did not reemerge again until 1969, when the whole idea that Paul was dead took off in sensational fashion, gaining such credence in the mainstream media that it even spawned an extraordinary mock trial on American television prosecuted by famous attorney F. Lee Bailey.
This photograph from 1968 appeared to show two McCartneys
Much of the initial credit for the Paul is Dead theory belongs to a student at Michigan University called Fred LaBour. LaBour began to write about the idea in late 1969, initially inspired by a program on local radio where a Beatles fan named Tom Zarsky had phoned in claiming not only that Paul McCartney was dead, but that a sinister clue to this was hidden in The White Album track Revolution 9.
Following the callers instructions, the disc jockey at Michigan's WKNR-FM, Russ Gibb, played a portion of the song backwards live on air, stunning his listeners by revealing the apparent secret message ‘Turn me on dead man’.
LaBour’s subsequent article for the Michigan Student newspaper - ‘"McCartney Dead; New Evidence Brought to Light", cemented many of the key facets of the legend. Detailed were Paul's death in a car crash during the recording of Sgt Pepper in late 1966, the clues left in the album covers, the backward messages in the band's songs and the imposter William Shepherd.
Life Magazine November 1969 edition referenced the rumours
From here was born the whole feverish Paul is Dead craze of 1969, which prompted obsessive dormitory analysis of every second of the Beatles music for more clues, much speculation in the press and the aforementioned TV trial of the incredible theory on American TV. Paul himself was even put into the Kafkaesque position of being called out in the national media to prove he was alive.
As is necessary for any good conspiracy, suspicious deaths were also added to the brew, with the untimely early demise of such prominent Beatles related figures as their manager Brian Epstein, roadie Mal Evans and even John Lennon himself all linked to the plot. Where they taken out to prevent them revealing the dark truth about Paul?
Of course most sensible people dismissed all of this as wild nonsense. The band had already admitted to deliberately putting gibberish references in their songs to tease fans and mind bending theories about the increasingly psychedelic and cryptic output of musicians like the Beatles was rife throughout the 60s.
Such outré speculation, critics argue, was the inevitable consequences of fandom and press desperate for any scrap of news about the Beatles. Once the real news ran out the temptation to start inventing new news must have been overwhelming for journalists knowing anything Fab Four related would sell more papers.
Some even suspected the Beatles themselves were behind the rumours, deliberately concocted as a way to bolster album sales. Although as the most successful band in history who continually broke sales records, it doesn't seem like they really needed the extra PR.
Most of the evidence offered up was so subjective and tendentious that it could prove nothing either way. But what of the incredible claims of two Italian forensic scientists, who in 2009 studied photographs of McCartney during the 60s and concluded the man claiming to be the famous musician post 1966 was not the same fresh faced mop top who sang Love Me Do in 1963?
Could the most outlandish of 60s conspiracy theories actually be true? Is Paul Dead?
The information here :
Paul is Dead: Turn Me On Dead Man
Was Beatles legend Paul McCartney killed in 1966 and replaced with a look-alike?
Paul McCartney has been one of the most famous people in the world for over 50 years. First as one quarter of the greatest pop band in history - the Beatles, then for a successful 40 year solo career featuring a string of hit singles and albums.
The Beatles’ expansive music and surreal lyrics had always inspired theories and speculation amongst their fans, but by the height of their fame in the late 60s a weird rumour was beginning to move from college campuses to the mainstream media; the band's bassist and joint songwriter Paul McCartney was dead.
Paul in 1964, before the supposed fatal accident
This came as news to McCartney himself, who in 1969, when the stories of his death reached fever pitch, appeared to be walking around alive and well. But was the man going by that name truly the same Paul McCartney who first charmed filmgoers with his fellow bandmates, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison in 1964’s classic A Hard Day's Night?
Was the man walking barefoot across the Abbey Road crossing in the most famous album cover ever produced really the same man who wrote pop classics like I Want to Hold your Hand and Yesterday? Apparently not, as far as the conspiracy went.
The central tenet of the Paul is Dead theory was that sometime in late 1966, McCartney was killed in a tragic car accident. Determined not to end the most profitable and successful band in history, the management drafted in a look-alike to masquerade as the deceased Beatle and keep the moneymaking juggernaut intact.
As weird as it may have sounded, proponents of the theory managed to find dozens of inexplicable references in the Beatles’ songs and album covers following Paul’s supposed demise that appeared to be hinting that something really had happened to the bassist.
The Beatles stormed America in early 1964
Was Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band a coded confession of the truth? Did the Walrus from I Am The Walrus, who John identified as Paul in his song Glass Onion, represent death? And why, if you played the White Album’s track Revolution 9 backwards could you hear the words ‘turn me on dead man?’
Whilst some of the musical analysis looks fanciful, according to believers the photographic evidence clinches their case. The McCartney of the late 60s they argue, of Sgt Pepper and Abbey Road fame, is clearly not the same man of the early and mid 60s, the era of Please Please Me and Help!
Paul certainly does appear to look different in some photographs between these two parts of the 60s, but were these differences merely the natural changes in a young man’s face as he fluctuates in weight and grows older or something more sinister?
Advocates of the Paul is Dead theory maintain that the photographic anomalies are because we are looking at two different men, one the original Paul of the early 60s and the other his replacement, a McCartney look-alike named variously William Campbell, William Shepherd and Billy Shears.
The first rumblings that something may have happened to Paul began in December 1965, when he was involved in a much publicised moped accident whilst visiting his family in Liverpool. The injuries sustained in this crash, especially Paul’s broken tooth, are clearly still evident in the videos for Rain and Paperback Writer filmed in May 1966.
The older Paul seems to have a longer, thinner face
Another accident occurred on the 7th January 1967 when McCartney's black Mini Cooper was written off in a crash on the M1 near London. However, the official story has it that the car was been driven by a student named Mohammed Hadjij at the time, not McCarney.
It seems these two relatively mundane incidents were becoming mangled across multiple retellings, spawning the far more sensational rumour that Paul had actually died in a car accident. Shortly afterwards, Beatles Monthly magazine attempted to quash the gossip by issuing a false report about the latter accident, dismissing any notion that there had been a crash at all, and stating that not only was Paul alive and well but his Mini Cooper car was also perfectly intact.
Was this false story designed to hide the tragic truth that Paul had really died? Whatever the truth, the Beatles’ story always unfolded in fast forward, and the two episodes were quickly forgotten amidst a torrent of other tabloid stories about the exploits of the Fab Four.
Apart from the odd piece of drug fuelled chatter during swinging London parties, the rumours about McCartney did not reemerge again until 1969, when the whole idea that Paul was dead took off in sensational fashion, gaining such credence in the mainstream media that it even spawned an extraordinary mock trial on American television prosecuted by famous attorney F. Lee Bailey.
This photograph from 1968 appeared to show two McCartneys
Much of the initial credit for the Paul is Dead theory belongs to a student at Michigan University called Fred LaBour. LaBour began to write about the idea in late 1969, initially inspired by a program on local radio where a Beatles fan named Tom Zarsky had phoned in claiming not only that Paul McCartney was dead, but that a sinister clue to this was hidden in The White Album track Revolution 9.
Following the callers instructions, the disc jockey at Michigan's WKNR-FM, Russ Gibb, played a portion of the song backwards live on air, stunning his listeners by revealing the apparent secret message ‘Turn me on dead man’.
LaBour’s subsequent article for the Michigan Student newspaper - ‘"McCartney Dead; New Evidence Brought to Light", cemented many of the key facets of the legend. Detailed were Paul's death in a car crash during the recording of Sgt Pepper in late 1966, the clues left in the album covers, the backward messages in the band's songs and the imposter William Shepherd.
Life Magazine November 1969 edition referenced the rumours
From here was born the whole feverish Paul is Dead craze of 1969, which prompted obsessive dormitory analysis of every second of the Beatles music for more clues, much speculation in the press and the aforementioned TV trial of the incredible theory on American TV. Paul himself was even put into the Kafkaesque position of being called out in the national media to prove he was alive.
As is necessary for any good conspiracy, suspicious deaths were also added to the brew, with the untimely early demise of such prominent Beatles related figures as their manager Brian Epstein, roadie Mal Evans and even John Lennon himself all linked to the plot. Where they taken out to prevent them revealing the dark truth about Paul?
Of course most sensible people dismissed all of this as wild nonsense. The band had already admitted to deliberately putting gibberish references in their songs to tease fans and mind bending theories about the increasingly psychedelic and cryptic output of musicians like the Beatles was rife throughout the 60s.
Such outré speculation, critics argue, was the inevitable consequences of fandom and press desperate for any scrap of news about the Beatles. Once the real news ran out the temptation to start inventing new news must have been overwhelming for journalists knowing anything Fab Four related would sell more papers.
Some even suspected the Beatles themselves were behind the rumours, deliberately concocted as a way to bolster album sales. Although as the most successful band in history who continually broke sales records, it doesn't seem like they really needed the extra PR.
Most of the evidence offered up was so subjective and tendentious that it could prove nothing either way. But what of the incredible claims of two Italian forensic scientists, who in 2009 studied photographs of McCartney during the 60s and concluded the man claiming to be the famous musician post 1966 was not the same fresh faced mop top who sang Love Me Do in 1963?
Could the most outlandish of 60s conspiracy theories actually be true? Is Paul Dead?
The information here :
Paul is Dead: Turn Me On Dead Man
Uh..... not quite.
