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Is Paul dead?

During the late sixties, there were a series of rumors that Beatle Paul McCartney had died in a tragic accident in 1966 had since replaced by a talented look-alike called William Campbell. Such rumors had been originated by the fact that the Beatles had quit touring in ’66 and that their record covers and songs had a bunch of ‘clues’ about the bassist’s supposed death.

How did he supposedly die?

Piecing together clues from songs, films and album covers, conspiracy buffs have come up with this scenario: During the early-morning hours of November 9, 1966, Paul argued with his bandmates in the studio while recording songs for their Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. He left in a huff just before 5 a.m. While driving to a friend's house, Paul picked up a female hitchhiker ‘Rita’ who couldn't control her excitement when she realized who was behind the wheel. She lunged to hug Paul, causing him to lose control of his Aston Martin. It smashed into a stone fence and burst into flames, killing them both. Paul was decapitated and burnt to a crisp, making a positive ID difficult. Despite no evidence to support either the story of the fatal crash or of a cover-up, the rumors persisted.

What are the clues?

Musical clues-

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

This song details the arrival of William Campbell; the Beatles are pretending to be another band in order to reveal the hoax.

With A Little Help From My Friends

The introduction announces "Billy Shears," a pun on words which means "Billy's here," referring to the arrival of William Campbell.

She's Leaving Home

The opening line "Wednesday morning at five o'clock" indicates the time of Paul's crash.

Lovely Rita

Details Paul catching a glimpse of Rita the meter maid, which led to the crash.

Good Morning, Good Morning

The phrases "nothing to do to save his life," "and you're on your own you're in the street," "people running around it's 5 o'clock," and "watching the skirts you start to flirt, now you're in gear" are all details of the crash. Notice the time of the crash matches that in "She's Leaving Home."

A Day In The Life

The person John wrote about in these famous lines is reported to be Tara Browne, heir to the Guinness fortune. But PIDers see these lyrics as a motherlode of crash details, including "He blew his mind out in a car. He didn't notice that the lights had changed. A crowd of people stood and stared. They'd seen his face before..."

Magical Mystery Tour

Fool On The Hill

The fool is apparently Campbell, who is doomed to be ignored for "the sound he appears to make." Or the fool is Paul, who is dead and buried, which is why he lies "perfectly still."

I Am The Walrus

This song features a sampled recording of a BBC production of Shakespeare's King Lear. The sampled passage goes like this:

Slave, thou hast slain me. Villain, take my purse.

If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body

And give the letters which you find'st about me

To Edmund, Earl of Gloucester. Seek him out

Upon the English party. O, untimely death!

Death!

I know thee well: a serviceable villain,

As duteous to the vices of thy mistress

As badness would desire.

What, is he dead?

Sit you down, father. Rest you.

The chanting at the end, when played backwards, reveals the chanted phrase "Paul is dead! Ha ha!"

Strawberry Fields Forever

At the end of the track, when it fades back in, John is heard saying "I buried Paul." (John actually says "cranberry sauce," as proven on the Anthology outtakes.

Hello Goodbye

"You say goodbye, I say hello" is William Campbell's mention of his arrival and Paul's departure.

All You Need Is Love

At the end of the track, John sings, "Yes he's dead," and "We loved you, yeah, yeah, yeah..." (Examination of the audio proves that John is singing "Yesterday" and that Paul joins him in singing "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah / She'd love to, yeah, yeah, yeah...")

The Beatles (known as "The White Album")

Glass Onion

"Here's another clue for you all, the Walrus was Paul." The Walrus, in India, is a symbol of death. (Not true.) A "glass onion" is an English term for a see-thru coffin. (Also not true.)

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

George is singing "Paul, Paul, Paul" at the end of the song. (Actually, he's just moaning.)

I'm So Tired

The gibberish at the end, when played backwards, becomes "Paul is dead, man, miss him, miss him."

Don't Pass Me By

Ringo sings "You were in a car crash / And you lost your hair." This is what happened to Paul.

Revolution #9

The repeated phrase "Number nine," when played backwards, becomes "turn me on, dead man." There's also a lot of recorded conversation in this music-free track, much of which has been taken by listeners as clues to Paul's crash and death: "his voice was low and his eyes were high and his eyes were closed" and "his legs were drawn, his hands were tied, his feet were bent and his head was on fire and his glasses were insane. This was the end of his audience," and "My wings are broken and so is my hair. I'm not in the mood for wearing clothing." You can also hear the crash, a fire, sirens, and Paul screaming "Get me out."

Yellow Submarine

Only A Northern Song

Written by George in reference to the band's publishing company, Northern Songs, this song contains several lyrics that reference Paul's replacement, such as "When you're listening late at night / You may think the band is not quite right," and "You may think the band's a little dark and out of key," before announcing "There's nobody there."

Hey Bulldog

Although this is John's song, both John and Paul sing lead vocals, which makes the line "You think you know me, but you haven't got a clue" suspect to PID enthusiasts.

Abbey Road

Come Together

"One and one and one is three" refers to the three remaining Beatles.

Let It Be

The phrase "Let It Be," played backwards, becomes "He is dead."

Singles

Lady Madonna

The line "Wednesday morning papers didn't come" refers to <i>an English newspaper recalling Wednesday's paper which reported Paul's crash</i> (which happened, according to the legend, on a Tuesday). (There's no evidence of any papers being recalled on the day in question.)

Revolution

John sings "Paul died, Paul died" at the end. (He's actually singing "All right," a continuation of the phrase used in the chorus.)

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

After the cuckoo clock chimes, a phone rings, and a number is recited. Calling this number will present you with a recorded announcement containing more clues.

Clues on Beatle album covers-

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Front cover

The "new" Paul (called Faul by PIDers) is shown with a hand over his head. Throughout the Beatles' later period, pictures and drawings of Paul surfaced featuring a hand over his head. This is an Eastern religion's way of symbolizing evil or death. (Not true.) None of the other Beatles have a hand over their heads in any officially released picture or drawing after the fall of 1966.

Paul is the only Beatle holding a black musical instrument.

A group of hyacinths forms a guitar, positioned as a left-handed musician would play it. Paul is the only left-handed Beatle. The guitar only has three strings, representing the three remaining Beatles. The flowers also spell "Paul?" (This arrangement was the brainstorm of the floral assistant, who decided on the spot to create a guitar from flowers.)

Hold a mirror up to the exact middle of the bass drum that features the "Sgt. Pepper" logo, horizontally, and it spells out "I ONE IX HE DIE." This refers to the date of Paul's death -- November 9th. (Some suggest that since the British system of dates puts the day and not the month first, this would make the date of Paul's death September 11th, which has morbid connotations already. It also fits in with the fact that the band was completely inactive from August 29, 1966 until September 14, 1966, a period of isolation unmatched in their history.)

Back cover

Paul's back is to the camera, while the rest of the Beatles are facing the camera. This is a reference to Paul's death. (Outtakes from the photo sessions show many different positions, most of which feature Paul facing the camera.)

George "points" to the lyric "Wednesday morning at five o' clock," the day and time of the crash. Read across that line from left to right and you receive several clues in a row: "Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly," "Wednesday Morning at five o'clock as the day begins," "Life flows on within you and without you," "You're on your own, you're in the street."

Inside gatefold

"Paul" is wearing a patch which says "OPD." This is Canadian for "Officially Pronounced Dead." (All four Beatles had received this patch, which actually reads "OPP" and stands for "Ontario Provincial Police.")

Magical Mystery Tour

Front cover

Paul is dressed as a walrus. The walrus, in India, is a symbol of death. (Not true.) His arms are spread wide, as in a crucifixion.

Turn the cover upside down and the word "Beatles" spells out "537-1438," or "231-7438," or, backwards, 834-7132. This is a phone number that, when dialed, leads to an answering machine message featuring more clues. (Try it yourself.)

Original album booklet

In the tracklisting, under "I Am The Walrus," is written in longhand "'No you're not!' said little Nicola." Little Nicola is a character in the accompanying MMT film, but she never says this to John. Paul is the Walrus in the film. The walrus, in India, is a symbol of death. (Not true.)

On Page 2 Paul sits in front of a sign reading "I You Was." No explanation is given.

On Page 9 the word "Hill" runs down the side of the cartoon Paul's head, in red. This is a reference to his massive head injury suffered in the crash.

On Page 13 Paul is pictured without shoes, a sign of death. (Not true.) The shoes are to his left, and, some say, covered in a blood-red substance.

On Page 23, and in the "Your Mother Should Know" portion of the film, Paul is wearing a black carnation. The other Beatles are all wearing red ones.

The Beatles (known as "The White Album")

Poster

There is a picture of "Paul" with a mustache and glasses which is actually William Campbell before his Paul makeover.

There is a picture of Paul in the bathtub which parallels how his corpse looked after the crash.

Yellow Submarine

Front cover

A hand is over Paul's head on the cover cartoon. This is an Eastern religion's way of symbolizing evil or death. (Not true.)

Abbey Road

Front cover

Paul is barefoot, which is how corpses are buried. John, in white, represents the preacher, George, in denim, represents the gravedigger, Ringo, all in black, represents the pallbearer. (No pun intended.)

Paul's eyes are closed, he's walking out of step with the others, and smoking a cigarette in the "wrong" hand (Paul being a leftie).

The license plate on the Volkswagon reads "LMW 28IF." Paul would have been 28 IF he was still alive. (Paul was 27.)

Back cover

The dots to the left of the "B" in "Beatles" can be connected to form a "3," indicating that there are now only three Beatles.

There's a crack running through the word "Beatles," and a skull barely visible to the right of the sign.

Let It Be

Front cover

The other Beatles are pictured on a white background; Paul's background is blood-red. Supposedly, there are few visual clues on this album since it was released after the PID furor died down.

Paul is dead theories-

Some theories hold that Brian Epstein and John Lennon were both murdered in order to silence them and prevent their knowledge of Paul's death and the ensuing cover-up to reach the masses. (A few even go so far as to implicate Yoko Ono as a Japanese spy sent to make sure John stayed quiet!) Still others believe that Paul was not killed, merely replaced. In print and on the internet, when this subject is discussed, PIR refers to Paul Is Replaced, while PID refers to the original rumor.

Over the past few years, a new branch of the PID rumor has been discovered called "60if" (a reference to an earlier clue on the cover of Abbey Road). It maintains that George Harrison told the whole true PID story to friends years ago, and that the document he wrote, which has only now become available since his death in 2002, explains the entire process. In this document, "George" claims that the KKK kidnapped Brian Epstein -- who was both gay and Jewish -- in 1966 and that Paul was merely an unfortunate bystander, necessitating the death of both men. This is also sometimes referred to as TKIN (The King Is Naked) after a website that advances the idea.

Is there physical evidence proving Paul is dead or has been replaced?

Most experts will tell you no. However, several people, professionals and casual fans alike, have sought to "prove" Paul's death and/or replacement by analyzing pictures and audio from before and after 1966 to see if they sync up. In 1969, a Miami disc jockey urged University of Miami professor Dr. Henry M. Truby, Director of Language and Linguistics Research, to compare audio recordings of both Pauls to see if their "sonic fingerprints" matched. Truby's findings revealed what he claimed to be three separate Pauls. A spectrograph of the voice recordings, along with an attempt to assign different Beatles songs to the "three Pauls," can be found at The King Is Naked!

The same site features a fairly typical attempt to compare Paul photographs from all stages of his career. Those who do not believe in the PID rumor, however, allege that photos are often directly distorted or altered by PID believers to make them appear wildly different. Still others claim that photo comparisons are useless, since the structure of the human face is more elastic than commonly believed.

The need for Cover up?

The theory of why a cover-up of Paul's alleged death was necessary goes something like this: Because of all the money the Beatles contributed to England's tax coffers, their continued success was vital to the financial health of the nation. So the British government, in cahoots with the surviving members of the Beatles, their producer George Martin, manager Brian Epstein (pictured above), recording engineer Geoff Emerick and road manager Mal Evans, conspired to cover-up Paul's death. It was speculated that in return they were given a huge sum of money and guaranteed success in whatever future endeavors they engaged. They all denied any conspiracy.

Who was the Fake Paul?

In order for McCartney's death to be kept under wraps, the Beatles would need a look-alike to sub for him. It's said they found the perfect candidate in an actor named William Shears Campbell, the winner of a McCartney look-alike contest who resembled the singer so much that he was supposedly on the Beatles' payroll as a stand-in to throw off fans and the press. The name may ring a bell from the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" lyric on the album of the same name: "So let me introduce to you / The one and only Billy Shears / And Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

If Paul is dead, then his imposter is still at large. He met and married Linda Eastman, with whom he had four children before losing her to breast cancer in 1998. He released a live album in 1993 called Paul Is Live (likely story), and produced more than 20 solo albums — and that's not even counting the ones released by Wings. Then he endured a horrible divorce from Heather Mills, which may have made him wish he were dead — or, at least, were still Billy Shears. So who is the real McCartney? The world may never know.