For me, I've never completely gotten over the summer in the early 80's when a friend and myself wasted many an hour and ruined many a stylus playing Beatles records backwards and freaking ourselves out about the by-then-completely-ancient "Paul is Dead" phenomenon. Because of that, to this day, certain tracks -- notably "Long, Long, Long" with it's creepy, ghostly coda and -- wait for it -- the completely bizarre "Revolution #9," kicking off with Paul's odd lamentation "Can you take me back where I came from, Can you take me back?" -- mangage to creep me out.
Anyone else get fixated with this at the time? What're your favorite death clue rumors? Who else cultivated this cryptic, morbid mystique?
― Alex in NYC, Friday, 3 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)
Yep, I got freaked out. I imagine it's quite easy to search for a
definitive list of 'clues' on the net, but let me try and
remember...
Magical Mystery Tour had a few - Paul in black walrus costume (that's
a Scandanavian death symbol, you know)
Various pictures in which a hand is visible behind Paul's head
(that's a Hindu death symbol, you know)
Paul at desk with 'I Was' sign in front of him
'I buried Paul'/'Cranberry Sauce' on Strawberry Fields
'Is he Dead?' on Walrus (taken from King Lear IIRC)
Sgt Pepper's cover - car on dolls leg by the word 'Stones',
illlustrating Paul's car crash into a stone bridge. No, really.
Floral (wreath) guitar has four 'strings' - it's a bass
Abbey Road cover respresenting funeral procession - Priest,
gravedigger, corpse, mourner
28IF on the, uh, Beetle. Although he would've been 27.
That's it off the top of my head...
Now I'll look it up.
― dan, Friday, 3 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)
The OPD badge Paul wears on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's, which was an
abbreviation for Ontario Police Department but was believed by Paul
death cultists to mean Officially Pronounced Dead.
― Damian, Friday, 3 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)
Supposedly if you hold the cover of Magical Mystery Tour up to a
mirror it shows a phone number you can use to contact Paul in the
afterlife. The number actually belonged to a Guardian journalist who
subsequently got bombarded with hundreds of calls from breathless
teenagers day and night.
― Justyn Dillingham, Friday, 3 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)
i allus thought that the version of 'dream brother' on jeff buckley's
live at bataclan EP was pretty freaky, where he sings 'you're just
like him, you're just like him' and then whispers something about
the 'ocean, with it's waters pushing you down under'.... SPOOKY!
― stevie, Monday, 6 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)
revolution #9 = bettah than a big 10-8 place => bono died while u2 were making the joshua tree, and was replaced by a buttplug
― mark s, Monday, 6 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)
I was going to comment about how it was later discovered that
the patch actually says "OPP" (Ontario Provincial Police)... but I
really don't care, now that I finally know, once and for all, what
happened to U2. I blame Eno and his damn "baldy buttplug
experimental" musical interests.
― matthew m., Monday, 6 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)