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I BURIED PAUL |
Let It Be and Beyond |
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The last album the Beatles released was Let It Be. This album was actually recorded before Abbey Road but because the project had been so difficult for the group, no one wanted to face the task of preparing the recordings for release. The original idea for the album had been for the group to "Get Back" to basics. The songs were to have been stripped down to their essential elements without the elaborate production of earlier albums such as Sgt. Pepper. When Phil Spector was brought in to produce the album, however, he added lush orchestration to some of the songs, particularly "The Long and Winding Road" (that led to Paul's decapitation!). Despite the elaborate production of the music, the album cover featured a simple design. As such, it contained only a couple of "Paul is dead" clues. Against a black background each of the Beatles is shown in a separate photo and, of course, Paul's is different from those of his bandmates. Paul's picture has a red background (blood, of course), while the rest of the Beatles are shown with white backgrounds. Also, Paul is shown facing forward rather than in three-quarter profile. But that's about it for Let It Be—it's not really a big source of clues.
In the years that followed the Beatles themselves made occasional references to the "Paul is dead" rumor. On his solo album Imagine, John included "How Do You Sleep?", a mean spirited song attacking Paul. Among other put-downs, John exclaimed, "Those freaks was right when they said you was dead." Paul later answered "How Do You Sleep?" in "Silly Love Songs" when he sang, "You think that people would have had enough of silly love songs/But I look around me and I see it isn't so/Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs/And what's wrong with that? I'd like to know." So Paul had the last word on that little public exchange. And Paul had the last word on the rumors of his death. The cover of McCartney's album Paul Is Live shows him with his dog on the famous Abbey Road crosswalk—hardly a funeral procession. In the background of the album cover photo is a Volkswagen Beetle with the license plate reading "51 IS". Rather than being dead in his twenties, Paul was still alive and making music at age 51.  |
"Paul Is Dead" Fiction  |
The Rumor That Paul McCartney Died in the 1960s |
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DeadMan [at]
TurnMeOnDeadMan.net