April 15, 2025 • 50 mins
It's one of the greatest conspiracy theories in all of modern music -- what if, at the height of their success, the world famous Beatles suddenly lost Paul McCartney? As the theory goes, Paul Prime actually died in a car accident in November of 1966. With millions of fans -- and dollars! -- on the line, the remaining Beatles and MI5 conspired to cover the whole thing up, replacing Paul Prime with a body double to avoid public chaos. Yet, as Ben, Noel and Max discover in part one of this bizarre, twisting tale, The Beatles may have harbored deep regrets... and began hiding clues to the truth in their music. Strap in, folks: this one goes deep.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous Histories, a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to the show,
(00:28):
fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much for
tuning in. Let's hear it for ours still alive, super
producer mister Max Williams, Google cha, I'm still alive.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
And guess what for the second day in a row,
I am drinking actual.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
We are all the walrus and also guys.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
And that is none other than mister Noel Brown. They
called me Ben in this part of the world. Noel,
did you know that Paul McCartney died in nineteen sixty six?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I heard tell it's been withered about for low these
many years. I don't know, man. This is very much
a good crossover point between the other show. We do
stuff that I want you to know in Ridiculous History
and that this episode is all about conspiracies and much
being made about the rumors of the death of Paul
(01:29):
McCartney aka the Paul is Dead saga and quite a saga.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
It is quick question. Did he die in an octopus's garden?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
No?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Oh no, but he may have been in the shade.
He entirely possible.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Was he was an active member of a Yellow Submarine
Crew that much we have perfirmed. Yes, yes, yes, So. Look,
Paul McCartney is kind of famous. He's a real up
and coming musician. Yeah, you may have heard of him
as being one fourth of one of the best pun
(02:04):
based musical groups in modern history, The Beatles.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Then I'm glad you brought that up. I think a
lot of people completely space on that, or it just
never occurs to them. The name the Beatles is in
fact a pun. It is the E A T L
E s. And they were part of a scene called
Mercy Beat and the beat Nick and all of that
kind of stuff. So it's a it's a very clever,
little little n joke there. I think a lot of
(02:30):
people miss, hey, I'm the I definitely did until now.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
No worries, Max uh if it, if it may assuash
some people's concerns. I am the dumbest person I have
ever met. I just recently figured out that mattress firm
is a play on words.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
We've talked about this, and I think, you know, yeah,
you've been living with that realization for a minute. But
the moment you find out, it's like it's like the
Galaxy brain emoji. But yeah, no, it's to your point, Ben,
if you wanted to be coy about it, did you
know that Paul McCarty actually died in nineteen sixty six?
Actually seriously, yeah, crib yeah to crib. From our dear
(03:11):
friend and Beatles maniac way beyond enthusiast, Jordan Runtagg, who's
our research associate on this pre determined two parter, preemptive
two parter. The guy who's been out there touring and
releasing albums as Paul McCartney for the last you know,
sixty ish years or so, is apparently, according to some anyhow,
(03:32):
some sort of doppelganger slash impostor slash body double body
double exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
And Matt, if we could get a little bit of
dramatic cinematic music, little stuff they'll want you to do,
(03:59):
Fellow ridiculous historians. It is a little known fact that
the surviving Beatles partnered with the British government on a
top secret scheme to replace their fallen basis in the
aftermath of a fatal car crash.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
It's right and just to be clever about it. Because
those Beetles are known for their wit. They decided it'd
be a lot of fun if they just sprinkled in
little drips and drabs pointing to the truth of the
conspiracy for their eagle eyed or eared fans to decode.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Because what better way to really pull off a body
double replacement? What better way to keep the secret secret
than to do some back masks they get a goof.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
What if I made it a little goof and fun
fun game funnel madlib for the for the fans, that'll
be fun for them.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
You don't knowl This reminds me of that time you
Max Casey Pegram and I got together and did the
whole JFK thing, and we were like, let's put some
little little gags in there.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
God, Ben, I don't remember this. You'll have to remind me.
This is what we've been doing this show for a
long time. I don't remember the JFK gags.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Oh JFK the president that we conspired to have assassinated.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Oh that was us, that's right, Sorry, whoops. It's all
coming out soon though, y'all. Trump released all that paperwork,
and soon we will be taken to task for our
our treason activities.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah, if you're wondering, we just have an amazing skin routine.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
It's also true.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
That's that is also true.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I didn't well well, I mean, I mean, yeah, that's
how we did this in the sixties and we're still
young and vibrant here in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yes, of course, Sarahvey. It's a hell of a drug
vibrant at least. That's so much wrong here.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So look, uh, we're pointing out already some of the
fun and fascinating rabbit holes of this particular possible culture
beetle holes of this particular pop culture conspiracy. Now our
new researcher, good friend of ours, good friend of the show, Jordan,
(06:18):
as he said, Noel, he's super into this. We want
to start at the beginning, so we tease the idea
that the actual Paul McCartney, let's call him Paul Prime.
Sure I like that, Yeah, all right, So Paul Prime,
take us there, Noel, it's just before midnight, November eighth,
(06:40):
nineteen sixty six.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
That's right, a little place called Abbey Road, really famous
crosswalk you might have seen, and some imagery with some
folks crossing the street there. Beatles are hard at work
at this studio when Paul McCartney gets into quite the
row as the Brits call it with fellow Beatle Ringo star.
He's the drumming, the drummy one.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
He's not even the best drummer in the Beatles.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
They do say that, and not to on Ringo too
too much, but there is a lot of chatter and
scuttle but from various session musicians who have played in
and around the Beatles over the years who basically say
that he didn't play any of the drums. And I'm
just saying, like, there are definitely Ringo defenders, and we've
(07:28):
certainly seen him play live at like the let it
Be Live on the Roof thing, and various clips from
the Assault shows is a fine drummer. And sure you know,
he definitely has a style, and I'm I'm I'm a
fan of that style. But it is it's another conspiracy entirely.
This idea of the Ringo didn't.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Really play the Beatles might have been an optic higher.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
But he was a good looking lad. It's not real.
He was the funny one. They were all pretty funny.
But in the movies he's the real goofy one.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
I would agree that he is a very specific looking person.
That's very true, But I also agree I also agree,
knowld that Paul McCartney and John Lennon were often seen
as the sort of dynamic duo of the Beatles when
(08:20):
it came to songwriting. George Harrison got short changed often.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
And Lennon McCartney is the is the famed you know,
writing credit on all that Beatles stuff, right exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
And they and those two guys didn't always get along,
but when they did, they made some amazing timeless music.
As you were saying, Paul McCartney, according to the theory,
has a real oh what do you say, raw, I
love it, I love achtuff yeah, yeah, yeah, an aggressive
(08:53):
hullaballoo with a ringo star. And the funny thing is,
no one knows the specifics of whatever this discord may
have been. The story goes that McCartney is very upset,
he's very in his feelings, as we would say in
modern parlance, and he just ghosts out of the recording session.
(09:16):
He slamming doors, he speeds off. It is super sick,
asked in Martin. Because they're already rich by this point,
and it's a rainy night in England, not a rainy
night in Georgia, a night in England, basically, yea, yeah,
it's a regular night in England, which is a rainy
night in Georgia. And at some point during that ride
(09:40):
he loses control of his car. He swerves off the road.
But he's been driving so far and so fast that
now he's in rural England, and there are a ton
of things to add to this. The story goes that
whatever whatever transpires, this Aston Martin hits a stone fence
(10:05):
like a wall at top speed, and the accident is
so bad that Paul McCartney, legendary member of the Baitles,
loses his head, is decapitated, is pronounced dead on Wednesday morning,
on November ninth, nineteen sixty six.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Yeah, you know, there's a little Tongian cheek action going
on here from our buddy Jordan. He wrote a lot
of this as this or the Queen's honest truth, and
we're gonna approach it, you know, as if as the
thought experiment, as if this were indeed possible, let's play,
I think we should. So let's take all this as read.
(10:44):
Paul McCartney has been flung from his Aston Martin and
you know, severely mangled, decapitated even and he is discovered
by the police, who pretty quickly realize who they've got
on their hands, and they quickly phone up the British
Secrets m I five, who allegedly hold an emergency meeting
with the surviving Beatles and their management team, all of
(11:08):
these folks together in some sort of skiff. One would
imagine a guy that we must protect the public, right
because no one can know.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
M I five is like Law and Order SVU. They
have nothing going on except this one case.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
It'll cause pandemonium and whatever. The opposite of Beatlemania is
beetle phobia. Well, it would just be a real real
show and then people are gonna tear themselves apart each other.
We have to protect the peace, Yes, we have to
protect the beats.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
They decide that.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Well, the idea is they conspire and they say, okay,
what is the most straightforward way to preserve the Beatles
and to preserve the public and national security and peace
of mind for music fans around the world. And they say, obviously,
the least complicated thing is to totally lie about the
(12:12):
fact that Paul McCartney is dead and to replace him
with a body double and swear multiple people to secrecy
for the entirety of their lives.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Who we already have on hand. By the way, who
we already have on hand. Now that's not too much
of a stretch. The Beatles were certainly famous enough and
recognizable enough that it's possible they had body doubles already.
But that's the thing that we've talked about on stuff.
They don't want you to know where there are cases.
(12:43):
I think one that comes to mind specifically is with
some Middle Eastern royal families, and if I'm not mistaken,
like the Husseins, they had a stable of body doubles.
And if I'm not mistaken, there's a film called like
the Devil's something or other, The Devil uh yeah Double
or something like that, and it's about Cussey. Hussein was
(13:04):
I believe one of the most brutal of the two brothers,
Ude and Cusse and his body double and doppelganger, and
it's just someone that would stand in uh that would
kind of you know, throw people off the scent. It's
the Devil's Double, thank you. That's right. So we know
this is a thing that is done. Maybe it makes
a little more sense in politics, but I mean man
(13:26):
Ford John Lennon was assassinated. The Beatles were influential on
a political level.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Paul was on a lot of lists, you know, absolutely,
And speaking of being on a lot of lists, I'll
say it. I know people don't love to hear it.
Catcher the Right is a good book. Not to it's
a good book. It's ruined by the fans, just like
Rick and Morty, but it's it's a good book.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
And it doesn't it doesn't turn you into an assassin,
which probably do a series on that as well. Anyway,
it's just, dude, it is laughable to me. The idea
that m I five, an organization that is multitasking of
nothing else, would cook up this mousetrap level like Rube
(14:20):
Goldberg conspiracy. Instead of going public, will just replace the
physical person with another person and will trust everyone to
not reveal the secret. So we have to ask we bono,
who benefits the idea here is that the band, the Beatles,
(14:42):
and hence the British government. They want this unparalleled run
of highly lucrative music to continue. Because at this point,
to your notion of the Beatles becoming a piece of
state power, I think that bigger than Jesus. They were
(15:07):
historically probably taller.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Absolutely true. We can't confirm the figures there. But to
what we were talking about earlier, I mean, the Beatles
were so incredibly beloved, especially in their homeland of the
United Kingdom, perhaps there was some concern that there could
be a rash of unalivings, to use the parlance of
our time, with you know, young distraught Beatles super fans
(15:36):
taking the most brutal and worst action in the face
of losing their beloved Paul.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah, because we have to understand, folks, at this point,
people have defined their persona like they have made the
They've defined their persona as the Beatles. It becomes the
north star in their moral their moral orientations. So to
(16:03):
lose a single Beetle may prompt a wave of very
damaging acts. So the story goes, the powers that be
find a guy from Canada that they may have already
had in their roster. His name William Shears Campbell, Billy
(16:25):
to his friends.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Has entered the chat. He'd apparently won a Paul McCartney
lookalike contest. That's a great way to find a good
double there. He'll suspect the thing, probably not, and then well,
you know, the Beatles certainly were famous enough that there
were likely many look alike contests, so little preparing the
whole time unclear, but it did apparently require a little
(16:53):
bit of plastic surgery to push him truly into full
on spitting image Paul territory so that he could could
be unnoticed in group photos.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, the story goes, he's a few inches taller than
Paul Prime, and this is maybe why the band stopped
touring around this time. They thought the beatlemaniacs would notice
the difference live. And I want to know if it's okay,
(17:25):
I'd like to take a moment and shout out Matt
Frederick from stuff they don't want you to know. Matt
and I got super duper into this many years ago,
and we filmed some weird videos that you can still
see on YouTube, and I'm not.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Sure how well they aged.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
But I really appreciate Jordan's research here because it calls
into we're speaking to a conspiracy theory that still holds
true for some people today. Do at the time, like
nineteen sixty six, nineteen sixty seven, the theory is the
(18:11):
surviving Beatles George John and uh oh Ringo. You like
how it's always oh and ringo. They felt super guilty
about this massive conspiracy. And word on happy road. Word
on the street is that John Lennon in particular is
(18:34):
little bit, uh, a little bit het up about this.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
For sure, he's distraught, he's beside himself. Sure, he and
his buddy Paul had some dust ups themselves over the years,
you know. I mean they're both creative and musical geniuses,
vying for kind of being the best in the best
band in the world. Of course they were going to
be some differences of opinions and some sparring of egos
and all of that stuff. So yeah, I mean they
(19:01):
were again. Lennon McCartney is iconic. They the songs that
they wrote together were absolutely greater than the sum of
their parts, the songs they wrote more on their own.
If you wanted to get into more white album territory,
you start to really see their individual personalities emerge. But
John's feelings are needless to say, very complicated, you know,
and he's dealing with the stages of grief. Not only
(19:26):
was he missing his dear friend and songwriting partner, but
also was deeply traumatized after apparently being asked to bury
McCartney's decapitated body in an unmarked grave at Strawberry Field
Salvation Army Park there in Liverpool, where they had played together.
They weren't, after all, childhood friends, boyhood friends, Strawberry Fields
(19:47):
forever indeed.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
So to help clear the conscience of the three surviving
Beatles again the story goes who apparently had nothing else
to do. They said, guys, go with this plan, and
(20:10):
the Beatles conspired themselves. So there's a conspiracy within a conspiracy.
The three remaining Beatles say, we are going to let
the truth out, but like Emily Dickinson, we're going to
tell the truth slant. We're going to put clues to
McCartney's death in this car accident through our songs and albums.
(20:36):
Were never going to come out and absolutely explicitly say
we participated in killing twenty five percent of our own band. Instead,
we're going to release Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Band banger of a record. Fantastic, really good. I quite
like it, actually quite good. A lot of people do.
The Beatles are one of those bands that for the
longest time, when I was younger, I sort of dismissed
because they were too popular, you know, I think we've
all been there as music nerds. But then I had
(21:16):
my own kind of come to Beatles moments where I
organically heard the right Beatles at the right time and
had my personal relationship with the Beatles from that point on.
And it was not Sergeant Peppers. It was the previous album,
Magical Mystery Tour. I was just very it was very Sergeant.
(21:37):
It's like Sergeant Pepper's Light. It's a little bit less successful,
I think as a whole album experience. But yeah, man,
Fool on the Hill and its proto Peppers. I am
the Walrus, of course very proto Peppers.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
And I also I appreciate you bringing up this point
because there is something I've never quite understood. I think
it's a manufactured ripe Reamit fandom.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
There are people who will attempt to hold what they
see as an interesting conversation by asking you to choose
between the Rolling Stones or the Beatles, Right, I think
it's fine to like both. I don't understand this weird
highlander philosophy.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
I don't there and I don't think that is relevant
at all today. At the time, though there was certainly
a maybe a divide, but also they were just vying
for the same audience, and they were both like at
a certain level of fame. And I saw a great
clip where some I think it's relevant though, well, oh okay,
we can get back into that. But I saw a
real cool clip with a vintage clip of Mick Jagger
(22:44):
being asked, you know, if they were if the Rolling
Stones were better than the Beatles, and he quite diplomatically,
you know, the sort of shrugged the question off and
really said that what they were doing is completely different
than what the Beatles were doing. And I think that's
the truth of all. Thought of the Stones is more
of a hard rocking, hard living kind of live band,
(23:05):
and they certainly have their sixties psychedelia kind of Her
Majesty's Satanic Requests and all of that. But to me,
the Beatles make better records and the Rolling Stones have
always been a real ripping live band.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
But was she what I'm seen? What I'm saying, it's
a false dich hod.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
It's a false equivalency, for sure, But what I mean
is to, yeah, well, of course you can like both,
but I think what it might reveal about the answerer
is whether they're more into studio tricks and like psychedelic
kind of records, or if they really like a hard
rocking kind of band, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
I mean Pepsi Coke. Yeah, you know, do what you want.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
It's still do you like better Elvis or Conway Twitty?
Speaker 5 (23:47):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
It's silly question.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah yeah. Do you like m I five or do
you like this FBI Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band?
This releases in nineteen teen sixty seven. Let's walk through
some of the the purported hints at Paul's death. So
(24:11):
just to recap right now, we're in a situation in
the story where wherein I five has sworn the Beatles
and all associated entities two secrecy. Paul McCartney is dead.
We've substituted a Canadian for Paul McCartney. We're no longer touring.
(24:34):
The Beatles are against mi I five and they're moving
subtley to let the world know that their best friend
is dead. This brings us to the floral guitar.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Yeah for sure. We also to say this presupposes that
the Beatles were kind of arm twisted into doing this,
you know, that they were or they had like Buyer's
remorse after the fact, they're like, wait a minute, we
really shouldn't have done that. We should honor our friend.
We can't come right out and say it. But let's
hide some clues. And where we're first going to dissect
(25:06):
some of the purported clues that you mentioned is in
the cover art, very famous, iconic cover art of Sergeant
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, And admittedly there's a lot
going on on there. It's this cool collage kind of situation,
the Beatles all in their brightly colored marching band outfits
posing in front of a kind of a marching band
(25:26):
style drum that bears the name of the album, Sargeant
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and then Beatles spelled out,
which is funny too. By the way, there was a
period where I mean think they've always just been Beatles.
There's no the in most of the depictions of their name,
but a lot of people just call them the Beatles,
but they are Beatles, kind of like Battles are Idols
(25:47):
or Radiohead. Anyway, on this album cover is supposedly hidden
quite a few clues, and we start with, as you mentioned, Ben,
the floral guitar. If you're looking at it right now
it is you almost wouldn't clock it for what it is.
But underneath beetles spelled out in flowers is what appears
to be a guitar shaped plot of yellow flowers kind
(26:11):
of with a little long neck, let's call it. And
then a circle of yellow flowers within that are some
purple and it looks like just more like leafy kind
of fauna.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
And then it's got these kind of three like string
looking things stretched out across them. And it is often
referred to as a pee because you could look at
it and immediately be like, okay, that's a letter P
on its side.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
To me, it looks more like a guitar that you
might see like made into a flower arrangement or like
a pinata or something like that. Yeah, people believe this
pee is, or folks of your mind right from your perspective,
believe this pee does look like a left handed guitar.
And folks will say that's fitting because Paul McCartney was
(27:00):
the only Southpaw in the in the fab four And
if you read these tea leaves from that perspective, you
will start to count the number of stems if you
count the stems and think of them as strings, perhaps
on a bass guitar, you will see that rather than
four strings like on your conventional bass, there are only
(27:25):
three stems slash strings. Perhaps a reference to the three
living members of the Beatles.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Sure, we know, I know, I know, it's it's too far.
I'm being very Charlie Dave with a red string, as
is my remit. But as we know, as history is proven,
this album cover, and this aspect of this cover was
meant to be a guitar to symbolize a stringed instrument. Apparently,
(28:00):
though if you if you get into it, this was
designed by a delivery guy who got a last minute
call to bring just whatever flowers were available at his shop.
You know, he was a floral arranger and improviser, so
(28:21):
you know, like everybody else in the area, this guy
knew about the Beatles and he didn't have every flower
in the world to work with, so he took what
he had and he fashioned them into a guitar. So
is that a conspiracy? Was the was the floral arrangement
guy also part of M I five doubt it?
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Maybe it might have been their flower guy. Well, we
already mentioned the drum in the center, where the actual
name of the album is printed in kind of cool
circusy letters, Sergeant Pepper's across the top and making you know,
kind of following the curve the top of the drum,
Lonely Hearts in the middle and club Band on the bottom,
also you know, making up the second half of that circle.
(29:08):
And another interesting theory pertaining to some clues being deliberately
hidden here. If you hold a mirror up to the
words Lonely Heart written across the center of the bass drum,
you will supposedly get a secret message.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Man, it sounds okay, yeah, let me hold up a
mirror here, Okay, walk me through this.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Well, what do you see?
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Well, I don't want to spoil it. Okay, if I'm
not looking at a mirror reflection, I'm seeing io in
E I X he And then what do you call those?
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Those equal or greater than less than?
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Then C I E yeah?
Speaker 5 (29:55):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (29:56):
And is iony x Is that some sort of Latin?
Is that even a thing? Let's see.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
It is not.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
It is just referencing Paul's dead Paul's dead clues. So
when arranged as I won x he die Okay, we go.
The mag suggests a date eleven nine or November ninth,
nineteen sixty six, which is supposedly when Paul died. There
are diamonds between the words he and die, which points
(30:27):
directly at the image of Paul on the cover. And
it's a weird one for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Yeah, I've actually run into this problem myself when I
was in Berlin and it was during COVID and I
had a one of those dog yeared vaccine cards and
I was rejected from an event because of the discrepancy
between the way American dates are printed and European dates
are here we yeah, we do a month, day, year,
(30:58):
and there they do the year.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
First, right, so it would be the difference between say
April tenth, twenty twenty five and ten April twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
That's right, I mean I spoke incorrectly. It is exactly right, day,
month and then year rather than month day, so in
English style the day would actually read September eleventh. Yeah,
also a little weird. Let's move on to the car.
There is a toy car depicted on this image that
may be intended to reference the Aston Martin that crashed
(31:35):
and supposedly, you know, killed young Paul McCartney.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Correct On the far right of the album cover, you'll
see what could be a white Aston Martin, you know,
the same vehicle Paul McCartney was driving when he had
his fatal crash. If you look closely, you can see
what appear to be small all flames shooting from the windows.
(32:03):
You will also run into any number of theorists who
say that the the art of the car shows a
bloody interior to the.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
I can't even see it. Where is it?
Speaker 1 (32:18):
It's they're reading to leaves man.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Well, I don't see the car. I'm trying to look.
I've got a pretty big blown up image of where
are you seeing.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
On the far far right of the album cover, there's
a doll, and the doll is hold has a small
car in its lap. Oh yeah, really yeah, you gotta
zoom in, hold on, zoom in.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
All right, we'll carry on. Then, Well, I try to
find this.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
To the right of the doll, there's a driving glove.
Is it covered in blood? We get to bust this
myth real quick. Paul McCartney did have an Aston Martin.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
It's a dB six.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
It's an amazing car. I love. You know, I still
got my car stuff DNA here. Aston Martin's are pretty cool,
and the Aston Martin dB six is pretty cool. The
issue is Paul McCartney's Aston Martin dB six was not white.
(33:17):
It was green, and as our pal Jordan points out,
the things that people are calling flames or blood are
are probably just red fabric from the doll's dress. But
let's explore this album cover in more depth. Actually, let's
(33:41):
get past the cover. Let's go to the gatefold sleep
that's right.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
In the gatefold sleeve, there's an image of Paul wearing
a patch on his left arm that looks like it
bears the initials OPD, which supposedly, according to this theory,
stands for officially pronounced dead, which I believe is the
British equivalent of DOA, which we would say here in
the States. However, in reality, what actually says is OPP
(34:09):
which stands for Ontario Provincial Police, which is also interesting
considering that the supposed Paul doppelgangers from Canada. That's not
mentioned here, but I just thought I bring that up.
McCartney actually talked about this in a nineteen sixty nine
article for Life Magazine written by John Neary referring to
all of this hullabaloo, by the way, which we're going
(34:31):
to start to hear the Beatles themselves weighing in on
saying it is all bloody stupid. I picked up the
OPD badge in Canada. It was a police badge.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
And the conspiracy continues. If you check out the back
cover of the album, you will see that Paul or
as our research associate Jordan likes to call him, full
is the only Beatle with his back to the camera.
This apparently symbolizes how Paul has turned his back on life.
(35:06):
Uhtretch ye, i'd be. But also, if you're covering up
a death, are you really gonna are you really gonna
slide these things in? Is it really a case of
like the Beatle, the remaining Beatles silently protesting m I five.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
Yeah, let's see. That is the That is the theory again.
If we flip the album over looking at the back cover,
there are lyrics printed on the back cover as well,
which was a first in rock and roll history. Apparently,
right above Paul's head are the words without You from
(35:45):
the title of George Harrison's song within You Without You,
which was on I believe Rubber Soul. Harrison can be
seen pointing at the words from She's Leaving Home, which
was I think on Revolver now within you value and
She's living Homer and Revolver Wednesday morning at five o'clock
as the day begins. Those are from that song. This
(36:06):
was supposedly at the time of Paul's fatal accident. Five
o'clock Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Ah, all right, yes, yes, November ninth or nine November
nineteen sixty six was a Wednesday. The thing is, our
buddy Paul Prime lived around the corner from Abbey Road.
It's an eight minute walk, two minute drive if you've
got a cool accid Martin. So if this guy storms
(36:35):
out of this recording session just a hair before midnight
on the previous Tuesday, then what was he doing for
five frickid hours? Why did he end up so far
from home? Did he did he go to a club?
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Did he you know?
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Was he doing some like three card Monty on the streets?
Did he meet a woman try to take her back
to her place somewhere outside of the London area.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Well, that was a theory that we didn't mention at
the top. That supposedly he may or he may have
picked up a hitchhiker who could well have caused the
accident by freaking the f out when she realized who
was giving her.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
A left, right, right the shades of chap equittic. So
the point is the timeline doesn't quite add up. And
I want to give a quick shout out to a
lot of people who are not from the UK who
have gone viral with their disappointment.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Over visiting Abbey Road.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
I don't know if he saw the news, Nol, but
there are there are a ton of people, honestly Americans,
sorry folks, who had these big dreams about visiting Abbey
Road and they love the Beatles, and they get really
disappointed when they realize Abby Road is literally just it's
(38:01):
a road.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Well, no, it's a studio.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Well they go to Abbey Road the road, and they're
disappointed to find that it's a road.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Well, then they're not doing their homework because the people
that would actually be Beatles fans would visit the studio
and the famous crosswalk in front of the studio. Abbey
Road as a road, I'm sure is long like Peachtree
Road here in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
And yeah, I'm just I'm exercising empathy for the people
who saw the crosswalk and it's just a crosswalk.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
Well yeah, well, I'm sure the Beatles aren't there anymore.
This looks like a crosswalk in the photography. I'm not
sure what these people are expecting, but fair enough, and
I appreciate you exercising empathy for these folks. And I
hope they didn't know book their whole trip just to
be disappointed by a crosswalk. So oh, by the way,
I made it as stupid speaking of not being a
(38:53):
proper Beatles fan, whatever that means. Magical Mystery Tour totally
comes after Sergeant Pepper, so it is not proto Sergeant
Pepper at all. It is Sergeant Pepper's proto Magical Mystery
in many ways, I actually like Magical Mystery better. But
we're going to get to that record momentarily. But first,
let's talk about getting a little help from our friends.
(39:13):
I sang the line at the very top of the
show and we mentioned our pal from Canada, Billy Shears.
That is the character that Ringo Starr is basically playing
in the narrative, that is Sergeant Pepper's lonely the loose
narrative of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts club band. He is
meant to be this singer named Billy Shears, and they
(39:35):
introduced him the track prior to with a little help
from my friends kind of ends with this big fan
faiish introduction of Billy Shears and then he sings, well,
what did you thinker? You know the one. So the
idea of being that this was very much a reference
to William Billy Shears Campbell. But you know, your mileage
(39:58):
may vary, as.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Our research associate Jordan says, you can also look into okay.
So the juicy thing with these kind of theories is
always going to be the lyrics. If you go to
a day in the life, there is, according to proponents
of the Poll is Dead theory, an entire verse that
(40:20):
recounts the moments of poll Primes crash when he quote
blew his mind out in a car after he quote
didn't notice that the lights had changed and that the
crowd had gathered at the scene and quote had seen
his face before. This is obviously followed by the line
(40:42):
quote nobody was really sure if he was from the
House of Lords. And for people who are hearing what
they want to hear a little bit of audio Paradelia,
They will say it sounds as though John Lennon is
saying not House of Lords but House of Pole.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
Again Pole, I, I can hear that.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Yeah, you know when you say it with a British
accident like that again as Jordan. As Jordan notes, your
interpretive mileage may vary. In fact, dare I say it
we all love an historical rabbit hole, a conspiratorial rabbit hole.
Dare I say this kind of reasoning can be its
(41:27):
own sort of magical Mystery Tour?
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Sure? Yeah, And that's where we are now in nineteen
sixty seven, with the release of Magical Mystery Tour, which
also has a pretty cool psychedelic album cover. Let's pull
out up. I can't I can't even remember what it
looks like. Let's see Magical Mystery Tour. Oh yeah, of
course it's. It's got the Beatles dressed as Walruses, kind
(41:55):
of posing with their arms outs. We've got well, I'm sorry,
they're not all Walruses. The wall was Paul. One of
them is the walrus in the front of his arms out,
and then in the back we've got ourselves a chicken,
a rabbit, and it looks to be a hippopotamus, and
I don't remember. We've got George's the Chicken, it seems
because that's the only one where you can actually see
the face, and I see a little mustache in the
style of what George would have worn in those days.
(42:17):
But I'm sure we can confirm who was who because
there's also a pretty incredible film of Magical Mystery Tour,
and it's like a music video for every song, and
that's what got me into the Beatles was seeing that film,
which is really neat and a lot of people don't
know about it, but it's pretty cool, so I would
highly recommend checking it out. But Magical Mystery Tour is
(42:38):
Rainbow Letters the top, we've got the names of all
of the songs, and continue at the bottom. I think
we've got side one on the top, Magical Mystery Tour
with Fool on the Hill, Flying Blue Jayway your mother
should Know, I Am the Walrus, and then side two Hello, Goodbye,
Strawberry Feels Forever. Penny Lane has some big ones on
here too. Baby You're a rich man and all you
need is love. But somewhere hidden in there the cover
(43:02):
of Magical Mystery Tour, which features the Beatles' names spelled
out in stars in the rainbow kind of font. You
can apparently read it upside down or possibly in a mirror,
and it reveals a telephone number, and supposedly, when dialed
or when a person dials this number on Wednesday morning
at five o'clock, the time of Paul's alleged crash, they
(43:26):
are able to receive further secret information about Paul's death.
Oh like what, Well, the voice on the line would
apparently say you're getting closer before hanging up, So that's
not really much information at all.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Right, right, Yeah, it reminds me of oh that film
A Christmas Story where that poor kid puts so much
time into getting the decoder ring that just tells you
spoiler to drink more. Ovaltine Jordan points out that there's
a major flaw in this purported clue to the Paul
(44:03):
is Dead theory. There's an issue of Rolling Stone that
publishes on twenty nine November nineteen sixty nine, and they
point out it's not clear what this purported phone number
is supposed to be. There's no telling what city this
phone number originates from. There's no area code, so there's
(44:25):
no way of knowing. We want to give flowers, not
yellow flowers, to the journalist Philip Norman. Philip Norman is
the author of an early Beatles biography, Shout, and Norman
finds that one of these phone numbers actually belonged to
a journalist for none other than The Guardian, as this
(44:49):
poor journalist got hammered with phone calls from Beatles fans
who were convinced that Paul McCartney was dead. Folks, you
are in media rests with us. We are down the
rabbit hole or the walrus hole officially, which sounds a
little bit dirty, but I'm gonna keep it waterus hole amazing,
(45:11):
it's pretty gross, so I would say, I would say
gross and amazing. We tease something that is a like
a common mimetic concept for any fan of the Pola
is dead conspiracy. It is the lie. I am the Walrus,
uh noel. Before we wrap part one, could you break
(45:33):
this down for.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
Us, Well, I'm Googokucheo, I am the warous say I
am the eggman as well, I am the walrus. Uh
goo goo goochuo goo goo goo goochew. I thought it
was cuckoo Kachew for the longest time. I think I'm
probably not alone in that, but it is indeed Goo
Goo goojube. The song I Am the Walrus alone could
(45:54):
practically be an episode on two itself because I mean so,
and their references to this in a later Beatles album
as well in the song glass Onion on the White album.
The Walrus Was Paul, But I Am the Walrus was
a John Lennon composition. It is meant to be psychedelic impressionistic.
Speaker 4 (46:13):
You know.
Speaker 3 (46:13):
Again, according to the conspiracy theorist depiction of McCartney's death,
all the way down to a repeating two note pattern
in the intro itself, much similar to a two tone
siren sound that you would hear from emergency vehicles in
Britain at the time. And according to our Gary Patterson
in his book The Walrus Was Paul, the Great Beatle
(46:34):
Death Clues, Paul suffered his fatal car crash after this,
you know, fallout, squabble with Ringo or potentially with some
other bandmates who might have been in the mix, and
left the studio in a rage on a stupid bloody Tuesday,
which is a line, and I Am the Walrus. The
refrain I am crying, is John apparently grieving Paul's passing.
(46:59):
And then they are pretty little policemen waiting for the
van to come, supposedly referring to the police who arrived
at the scene of Paul's fatal crash but were paid
to keep silence by m I five. And you know
with the Beatles being composed of the remaining beatles.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Yeah, and there are further notes or purporty clues you
can find in these lyrics, especially with some back masking,
which we love on this show and on stuff they
don't want you to know. The song ends with a
live BBC broadcast of a scene from King Lear, with
(47:40):
characters saying bury me, bury my body, and oh untimely death.
Here's the quick skinny, here's the hot cheese and straight
seahorse teeth. John Lennon taped that clip off the radio
one night and he just dug the vibe of it,
how it fit with the song. And so as we understand,
(48:03):
it's John's intention to put a bunch of nonsensical imagery
into the lyrics to confuse fans who have traveled a.
Speaker 3 (48:14):
Bit too far.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
John Lennon had a school friend named Pete Shotton, who
was around as a first hand witness when John Lennon
was writing some of these lyrics. Pete Shotton goes on
to craft a memoir and according to his writing, when
the song is finished, his buddy, his school chum, John
(48:38):
Lennon turns to him and says, let the fuckers work
that one out. Thank you for beefing me, Max. Oh,
we have so much more to get to. I believe
this is going to be a series, Nol. We've got
to go further.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
We sure, do you know? The Clues hidden in the
entire Beatles cattle of albums alone is going to be
two parts, and then we're going to get into more
about the kind of Beatles as celebrities, as public figures.
Acknowledging all of this stuff. Jordan is nothing if not thorough,
to quote the Big Lebowski, and we really appreciate your
(49:18):
work on these, Jordan, and we're looking forward to getting
into all of them. Looks like it might be a
three parter possibly for we'll see, But for now we're
going to take a break and come back with part
two of the Paul Is Dead Clues Hidden in the
Beatles Albums later this week big.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Big thanks to our super producer, mister Max Williams. Big
thanks to our research associate Jordan Jordan. You know we're
fans of your work. Jordan is a kick ass journalist
and we really appreciate his time and expertise. Big thanks
as well too, of course. AJ Bahamas Jacobs aka the
(49:55):
Puzzler just wrote back to Bahamas and he's super down
if we can get him in for one last job.
Speaker 3 (50:03):
One hundred percent huge thanks to Jonathan Strickland, the quizter,
AJ Bahamas, the Puzzler, Chris Frasciotis and he's Jeff Coates
here in spirit.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
And of course, where would we be without our own
in house composer, the legendary Alex Williams, who made this.
Speaker 3 (50:20):
Slap and bop indeed very Beatles esque. Actually, if you
think about it, we'll see you next time, folks, for
part two of The Beatles Paul is Dead conspiracy theories
as hidden supposedly or not in the Beatles albums. For
(50:40):
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous Histories, a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to the show,
(00:28):
fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much for
tuning in. Let's hear it for ours still alive, super
producer mister Max Williams, Google cha, I'm still alive.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
And guess what for the second day in a row,
I am drinking actual.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
We are all the walrus and also guys.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
And that is none other than mister Noel Brown. They
called me Ben in this part of the world. Noel,
did you know that Paul McCartney died in nineteen sixty six?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I heard tell it's been withered about for low these
many years. I don't know, man. This is very much
a good crossover point between the other show. We do
stuff that I want you to know in Ridiculous History
and that this episode is all about conspiracies and much
being made about the rumors of the death of Paul
(01:29):
McCartney aka the Paul is Dead saga and quite a saga.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
It is quick question. Did he die in an octopus's garden?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
No?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Oh no, but he may have been in the shade.
He entirely possible.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Was he was an active member of a Yellow Submarine
Crew that much we have perfirmed. Yes, yes, yes, So. Look,
Paul McCartney is kind of famous. He's a real up
and coming musician. Yeah, you may have heard of him
as being one fourth of one of the best pun
(02:04):
based musical groups in modern history, The Beatles.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Then I'm glad you brought that up. I think a
lot of people completely space on that, or it just
never occurs to them. The name the Beatles is in
fact a pun. It is the E A T L
E s. And they were part of a scene called
Mercy Beat and the beat Nick and all of that
kind of stuff. So it's a it's a very clever,
little little n joke there. I think a lot of
(02:30):
people miss, hey, I'm the I definitely did until now.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
No worries, Max uh if it, if it may assuash
some people's concerns. I am the dumbest person I have
ever met. I just recently figured out that mattress firm
is a play on words.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
We've talked about this, and I think, you know, yeah,
you've been living with that realization for a minute. But
the moment you find out, it's like it's like the
Galaxy brain emoji. But yeah, no, it's to your point, Ben,
if you wanted to be coy about it, did you
know that Paul McCarty actually died in nineteen sixty six?
Actually seriously, yeah, crib yeah to crib. From our dear
(03:11):
friend and Beatles maniac way beyond enthusiast, Jordan Runtagg, who's
our research associate on this pre determined two parter, preemptive
two parter. The guy who's been out there touring and
releasing albums as Paul McCartney for the last you know,
sixty ish years or so, is apparently, according to some anyhow,
(03:32):
some sort of doppelganger slash impostor slash body double body
double exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
And Matt, if we could get a little bit of
dramatic cinematic music, little stuff they'll want you to do,
(03:59):
Fellow ridiculous historians. It is a little known fact that
the surviving Beatles partnered with the British government on a
top secret scheme to replace their fallen basis in the
aftermath of a fatal car crash.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
It's right and just to be clever about it. Because
those Beetles are known for their wit. They decided it'd
be a lot of fun if they just sprinkled in
little drips and drabs pointing to the truth of the
conspiracy for their eagle eyed or eared fans to decode.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Because what better way to really pull off a body
double replacement? What better way to keep the secret secret
than to do some back masks they get a goof.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
What if I made it a little goof and fun
fun game funnel madlib for the for the fans, that'll
be fun for them.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
You don't knowl This reminds me of that time you
Max Casey Pegram and I got together and did the
whole JFK thing, and we were like, let's put some
little little gags in there.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
God, Ben, I don't remember this. You'll have to remind me.
This is what we've been doing this show for a
long time. I don't remember the JFK gags.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Oh JFK the president that we conspired to have assassinated.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Oh that was us, that's right, Sorry, whoops. It's all
coming out soon though, y'all. Trump released all that paperwork,
and soon we will be taken to task for our
our treason activities.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah, if you're wondering, we just have an amazing skin routine.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
It's also true.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
That's that is also true.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I didn't well well, I mean, I mean, yeah, that's
how we did this in the sixties and we're still
young and vibrant here in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yes, of course, Sarahvey. It's a hell of a drug
vibrant at least. That's so much wrong here.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
So look, uh, we're pointing out already some of the
fun and fascinating rabbit holes of this particular possible culture
beetle holes of this particular pop culture conspiracy. Now our
new researcher, good friend of ours, good friend of the show, Jordan,
(06:18):
as he said, Noel, he's super into this. We want
to start at the beginning, so we tease the idea
that the actual Paul McCartney, let's call him Paul Prime.
Sure I like that, Yeah, all right, So Paul Prime,
take us there, Noel, it's just before midnight, November eighth,
(06:40):
nineteen sixty six.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
That's right, a little place called Abbey Road, really famous
crosswalk you might have seen, and some imagery with some
folks crossing the street there. Beatles are hard at work
at this studio when Paul McCartney gets into quite the
row as the Brits call it with fellow Beatle Ringo star.
He's the drumming, the drummy one.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
He's not even the best drummer in the Beatles.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
They do say that, and not to on Ringo too
too much, but there is a lot of chatter and
scuttle but from various session musicians who have played in
and around the Beatles over the years who basically say
that he didn't play any of the drums. And I'm
just saying, like, there are definitely Ringo defenders, and we've
(07:28):
certainly seen him play live at like the let it
Be Live on the Roof thing, and various clips from
the Assault shows is a fine drummer. And sure you know,
he definitely has a style, and I'm I'm I'm a
fan of that style. But it is it's another conspiracy entirely.
This idea of the Ringo didn't.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Really play the Beatles might have been an optic higher.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
But he was a good looking lad. It's not real.
He was the funny one. They were all pretty funny.
But in the movies he's the real goofy one.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
I would agree that he is a very specific looking person.
That's very true, But I also agree I also agree,
knowld that Paul McCartney and John Lennon were often seen
as the sort of dynamic duo of the Beatles when
(08:20):
it came to songwriting. George Harrison got short changed often.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
And Lennon McCartney is the is the famed you know,
writing credit on all that Beatles stuff, right exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
And they and those two guys didn't always get along,
but when they did, they made some amazing timeless music.
As you were saying, Paul McCartney, according to the theory,
has a real oh what do you say, raw, I
love it, I love achtuff yeah, yeah, yeah, an aggressive
(08:53):
hullaballoo with a ringo star. And the funny thing is,
no one knows the specifics of whatever this discord may
have been. The story goes that McCartney is very upset,
he's very in his feelings, as we would say in
modern parlance, and he just ghosts out of the recording session.
(09:16):
He slamming doors, he speeds off. It is super sick,
asked in Martin. Because they're already rich by this point,
and it's a rainy night in England, not a rainy
night in Georgia, a night in England, basically, yea, yeah,
it's a regular night in England, which is a rainy
night in Georgia. And at some point during that ride
(09:40):
he loses control of his car. He swerves off the road.
But he's been driving so far and so fast that
now he's in rural England, and there are a ton
of things to add to this. The story goes that
whatever whatever transpires, this Aston Martin hits a stone fence
(10:05):
like a wall at top speed, and the accident is
so bad that Paul McCartney, legendary member of the Baitles,
loses his head, is decapitated, is pronounced dead on Wednesday morning,
on November ninth, nineteen sixty six.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Yeah, you know, there's a little Tongian cheek action going
on here from our buddy Jordan. He wrote a lot
of this as this or the Queen's honest truth, and
we're gonna approach it, you know, as if as the
thought experiment, as if this were indeed possible, let's play,
I think we should. So let's take all this as read.
(10:44):
Paul McCartney has been flung from his Aston Martin and
you know, severely mangled, decapitated even and he is discovered
by the police, who pretty quickly realize who they've got
on their hands, and they quickly phone up the British
Secrets m I five, who allegedly hold an emergency meeting
with the surviving Beatles and their management team, all of
(11:08):
these folks together in some sort of skiff. One would
imagine a guy that we must protect the public, right
because no one can know.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
M I five is like Law and Order SVU. They
have nothing going on except this one case.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
It'll cause pandemonium and whatever. The opposite of Beatlemania is
beetle phobia. Well, it would just be a real real
show and then people are gonna tear themselves apart each other.
We have to protect the peace, Yes, we have to
protect the beats.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
They decide that.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Well, the idea is they conspire and they say, okay,
what is the most straightforward way to preserve the Beatles
and to preserve the public and national security and peace
of mind for music fans around the world. And they say, obviously,
the least complicated thing is to totally lie about the
(12:12):
fact that Paul McCartney is dead and to replace him
with a body double and swear multiple people to secrecy
for the entirety of their lives.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Who we already have on hand. By the way, who
we already have on hand. Now that's not too much
of a stretch. The Beatles were certainly famous enough and
recognizable enough that it's possible they had body doubles already.
But that's the thing that we've talked about on stuff.
They don't want you to know where there are cases.
(12:43):
I think one that comes to mind specifically is with
some Middle Eastern royal families, and if I'm not mistaken,
like the Husseins, they had a stable of body doubles.
And if I'm not mistaken, there's a film called like
the Devil's something or other, The Devil uh yeah Double
or something like that, and it's about Cussey. Hussein was
(13:04):
I believe one of the most brutal of the two brothers,
Ude and Cusse and his body double and doppelganger, and
it's just someone that would stand in uh that would
kind of you know, throw people off the scent. It's
the Devil's Double, thank you. That's right. So we know
this is a thing that is done. Maybe it makes
a little more sense in politics, but I mean man
(13:26):
Ford John Lennon was assassinated. The Beatles were influential on
a political level.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Paul was on a lot of lists, you know, absolutely,
And speaking of being on a lot of lists, I'll
say it. I know people don't love to hear it.
Catcher the Right is a good book. Not to it's
a good book. It's ruined by the fans, just like
Rick and Morty, but it's it's a good book.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
And it doesn't it doesn't turn you into an assassin,
which probably do a series on that as well. Anyway,
it's just, dude, it is laughable to me. The idea
that m I five, an organization that is multitasking of
nothing else, would cook up this mousetrap level like Rube
(14:20):
Goldberg conspiracy. Instead of going public, will just replace the
physical person with another person and will trust everyone to
not reveal the secret. So we have to ask we bono,
who benefits the idea here is that the band, the Beatles,
(14:42):
and hence the British government. They want this unparalleled run
of highly lucrative music to continue. Because at this point,
to your notion of the Beatles becoming a piece of
state power, I think that bigger than Jesus. They were
(15:07):
historically probably taller.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Absolutely true. We can't confirm the figures there. But to
what we were talking about earlier, I mean, the Beatles
were so incredibly beloved, especially in their homeland of the
United Kingdom, perhaps there was some concern that there could
be a rash of unalivings, to use the parlance of
our time, with you know, young distraught Beatles super fans
(15:36):
taking the most brutal and worst action in the face
of losing their beloved Paul.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah, because we have to understand, folks, at this point,
people have defined their persona like they have made the
They've defined their persona as the Beatles. It becomes the
north star in their moral their moral orientations. So to
(16:03):
lose a single Beetle may prompt a wave of very
damaging acts. So the story goes, the powers that be
find a guy from Canada that they may have already
had in their roster. His name William Shears Campbell, Billy
(16:25):
to his friends.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Has entered the chat. He'd apparently won a Paul McCartney
lookalike contest. That's a great way to find a good
double there. He'll suspect the thing, probably not, and then well,
you know, the Beatles certainly were famous enough that there
were likely many look alike contests, so little preparing the
whole time unclear, but it did apparently require a little
(16:53):
bit of plastic surgery to push him truly into full
on spitting image Paul territory so that he could could
be unnoticed in group photos.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, the story goes, he's a few inches taller than
Paul Prime, and this is maybe why the band stopped
touring around this time. They thought the beatlemaniacs would notice
the difference live. And I want to know if it's okay,
(17:25):
I'd like to take a moment and shout out Matt
Frederick from stuff they don't want you to know. Matt
and I got super duper into this many years ago,
and we filmed some weird videos that you can still
see on YouTube, and I'm not.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Sure how well they aged.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
But I really appreciate Jordan's research here because it calls
into we're speaking to a conspiracy theory that still holds
true for some people today. Do at the time, like
nineteen sixty six, nineteen sixty seven, the theory is the
(18:11):
surviving Beatles George John and uh oh Ringo. You like
how it's always oh and ringo. They felt super guilty
about this massive conspiracy. And word on happy road. Word
on the street is that John Lennon in particular is
(18:34):
little bit, uh, a little bit het up about this.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
For sure, he's distraught, he's beside himself. Sure, he and
his buddy Paul had some dust ups themselves over the years,
you know. I mean they're both creative and musical geniuses,
vying for kind of being the best in the best
band in the world. Of course they were going to
be some differences of opinions and some sparring of egos
and all of that stuff. So yeah, I mean they
(19:01):
were again. Lennon McCartney is iconic. They the songs that
they wrote together were absolutely greater than the sum of
their parts, the songs they wrote more on their own.
If you wanted to get into more white album territory,
you start to really see their individual personalities emerge. But
John's feelings are needless to say, very complicated, you know,
and he's dealing with the stages of grief. Not only
(19:26):
was he missing his dear friend and songwriting partner, but
also was deeply traumatized after apparently being asked to bury
McCartney's decapitated body in an unmarked grave at Strawberry Field
Salvation Army Park there in Liverpool, where they had played together.
They weren't, after all, childhood friends, boyhood friends, Strawberry Fields
(19:47):
forever indeed.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
So to help clear the conscience of the three surviving
Beatles again the story goes who apparently had nothing else
to do. They said, guys, go with this plan, and
(20:10):
the Beatles conspired themselves. So there's a conspiracy within a conspiracy.
The three remaining Beatles say, we are going to let
the truth out, but like Emily Dickinson, we're going to
tell the truth slant. We're going to put clues to
McCartney's death in this car accident through our songs and albums.
(20:36):
Were never going to come out and absolutely explicitly say
we participated in killing twenty five percent of our own band. Instead,
we're going to release Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Band banger of a record. Fantastic, really good. I quite
like it, actually quite good. A lot of people do.
The Beatles are one of those bands that for the
longest time, when I was younger, I sort of dismissed
because they were too popular, you know, I think we've
all been there as music nerds. But then I had
(21:16):
my own kind of come to Beatles moments where I
organically heard the right Beatles at the right time and
had my personal relationship with the Beatles from that point on.
And it was not Sergeant Peppers. It was the previous album,
Magical Mystery Tour. I was just very it was very Sergeant.
(21:37):
It's like Sergeant Pepper's Light. It's a little bit less successful,
I think as a whole album experience. But yeah, man,
Fool on the Hill and its proto Peppers. I am
the Walrus, of course very proto Peppers.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
And I also I appreciate you bringing up this point
because there is something I've never quite understood. I think
it's a manufactured ripe Reamit fandom.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
There are people who will attempt to hold what they
see as an interesting conversation by asking you to choose
between the Rolling Stones or the Beatles, Right, I think
it's fine to like both. I don't understand this weird
highlander philosophy.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
I don't there and I don't think that is relevant
at all today. At the time, though there was certainly
a maybe a divide, but also they were just vying
for the same audience, and they were both like at
a certain level of fame. And I saw a great
clip where some I think it's relevant though, well, oh okay,
we can get back into that. But I saw a
real cool clip with a vintage clip of Mick Jagger
(22:44):
being asked, you know, if they were if the Rolling
Stones were better than the Beatles, and he quite diplomatically,
you know, the sort of shrugged the question off and
really said that what they were doing is completely different
than what the Beatles were doing. And I think that's
the truth of all. Thought of the Stones is more
of a hard rocking, hard living kind of live band,
(23:05):
and they certainly have their sixties psychedelia kind of Her
Majesty's Satanic Requests and all of that. But to me,
the Beatles make better records and the Rolling Stones have
always been a real ripping live band.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
But was she what I'm seen? What I'm saying, it's
a false dich hod.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
It's a false equivalency, for sure, But what I mean
is to, yeah, well, of course you can like both,
but I think what it might reveal about the answerer
is whether they're more into studio tricks and like psychedelic
kind of records, or if they really like a hard
rocking kind of band, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
I mean Pepsi Coke. Yeah, you know, do what you want.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
It's still do you like better Elvis or Conway Twitty?
Speaker 5 (23:47):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
It's silly question.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah yeah. Do you like m I five or do
you like this FBI Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band?
This releases in nineteen teen sixty seven. Let's walk through
some of the the purported hints at Paul's death. So
(24:11):
just to recap right now, we're in a situation in
the story where wherein I five has sworn the Beatles
and all associated entities two secrecy. Paul McCartney is dead.
We've substituted a Canadian for Paul McCartney. We're no longer touring.
(24:34):
The Beatles are against mi I five and they're moving
subtley to let the world know that their best friend
is dead. This brings us to the floral guitar.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Yeah for sure. We also to say this presupposes that
the Beatles were kind of arm twisted into doing this,
you know, that they were or they had like Buyer's
remorse after the fact, they're like, wait a minute, we
really shouldn't have done that. We should honor our friend.
We can't come right out and say it. But let's
hide some clues. And where we're first going to dissect
(25:06):
some of the purported clues that you mentioned is in
the cover art, very famous, iconic cover art of Sergeant
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, And admittedly there's a lot
going on on there. It's this cool collage kind of situation,
the Beatles all in their brightly colored marching band outfits
posing in front of a kind of a marching band
(25:26):
style drum that bears the name of the album, Sargeant
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and then Beatles spelled out,
which is funny too. By the way, there was a
period where I mean think they've always just been Beatles.
There's no the in most of the depictions of their name,
but a lot of people just call them the Beatles,
but they are Beatles, kind of like Battles are Idols
(25:47):
or Radiohead. Anyway, on this album cover is supposedly hidden
quite a few clues, and we start with, as you mentioned, Ben,
the floral guitar. If you're looking at it right now
it is you almost wouldn't clock it for what it is.
But underneath beetles spelled out in flowers is what appears
to be a guitar shaped plot of yellow flowers kind
(26:11):
of with a little long neck, let's call it. And
then a circle of yellow flowers within that are some
purple and it looks like just more like leafy kind
of fauna.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
And then it's got these kind of three like string
looking things stretched out across them. And it is often
referred to as a pee because you could look at
it and immediately be like, okay, that's a letter P
on its side.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
To me, it looks more like a guitar that you
might see like made into a flower arrangement or like
a pinata or something like that. Yeah, people believe this
pee is, or folks of your mind right from your perspective,
believe this pee does look like a left handed guitar.
And folks will say that's fitting because Paul McCartney was
(27:00):
the only Southpaw in the in the fab four And
if you read these tea leaves from that perspective, you
will start to count the number of stems if you
count the stems and think of them as strings, perhaps
on a bass guitar, you will see that rather than
four strings like on your conventional bass, there are only
(27:25):
three stems slash strings. Perhaps a reference to the three
living members of the Beatles.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Sure, we know, I know, I know, it's it's too far.
I'm being very Charlie Dave with a red string, as
is my remit. But as we know, as history is proven,
this album cover, and this aspect of this cover was
meant to be a guitar to symbolize a stringed instrument. Apparently,
(28:00):
though if you if you get into it, this was
designed by a delivery guy who got a last minute
call to bring just whatever flowers were available at his shop.
You know, he was a floral arranger and improviser, so
(28:21):
you know, like everybody else in the area, this guy
knew about the Beatles and he didn't have every flower
in the world to work with, so he took what
he had and he fashioned them into a guitar. So
is that a conspiracy? Was the was the floral arrangement
guy also part of M I five doubt it?
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Maybe it might have been their flower guy. Well, we
already mentioned the drum in the center, where the actual
name of the album is printed in kind of cool
circusy letters, Sergeant Pepper's across the top and making you know,
kind of following the curve the top of the drum,
Lonely Hearts in the middle and club Band on the bottom,
also you know, making up the second half of that circle.
(29:08):
And another interesting theory pertaining to some clues being deliberately
hidden here. If you hold a mirror up to the
words Lonely Heart written across the center of the bass drum,
you will supposedly get a secret message.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Man, it sounds okay, yeah, let me hold up a
mirror here, Okay, walk me through this.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Well, what do you see?
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Well, I don't want to spoil it. Okay, if I'm
not looking at a mirror reflection, I'm seeing io in
E I X he And then what do you call those?
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Those equal or greater than less than?
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Then C I E yeah?
Speaker 5 (29:55):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (29:56):
And is iony x Is that some sort of Latin?
Is that even a thing? Let's see.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
It is not.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
It is just referencing Paul's dead Paul's dead clues. So
when arranged as I won x he die Okay, we go.
The mag suggests a date eleven nine or November ninth,
nineteen sixty six, which is supposedly when Paul died. There
are diamonds between the words he and die, which points
(30:27):
directly at the image of Paul on the cover. And
it's a weird one for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Yeah, I've actually run into this problem myself when I
was in Berlin and it was during COVID and I
had a one of those dog yeared vaccine cards and
I was rejected from an event because of the discrepancy
between the way American dates are printed and European dates
are here we yeah, we do a month, day, year,
(30:58):
and there they do the year.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
First, right, so it would be the difference between say
April tenth, twenty twenty five and ten April twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
That's right, I mean I spoke incorrectly. It is exactly right, day,
month and then year rather than month day, so in
English style the day would actually read September eleventh. Yeah,
also a little weird. Let's move on to the car.
There is a toy car depicted on this image that
may be intended to reference the Aston Martin that crashed
(31:35):
and supposedly, you know, killed young Paul McCartney.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Correct On the far right of the album cover, you'll
see what could be a white Aston Martin, you know,
the same vehicle Paul McCartney was driving when he had
his fatal crash. If you look closely, you can see
what appear to be small all flames shooting from the windows.
(32:03):
You will also run into any number of theorists who
say that the the art of the car shows a
bloody interior to the.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
I can't even see it. Where is it?
Speaker 1 (32:18):
It's they're reading to leaves man.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Well, I don't see the car. I'm trying to look.
I've got a pretty big blown up image of where
are you seeing.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
On the far far right of the album cover, there's
a doll, and the doll is hold has a small
car in its lap. Oh yeah, really yeah, you gotta
zoom in, hold on, zoom in.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
All right, we'll carry on. Then, Well, I try to
find this.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
To the right of the doll, there's a driving glove.
Is it covered in blood? We get to bust this
myth real quick. Paul McCartney did have an Aston Martin.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
It's a dB six.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
It's an amazing car. I love. You know, I still
got my car stuff DNA here. Aston Martin's are pretty cool,
and the Aston Martin dB six is pretty cool. The
issue is Paul McCartney's Aston Martin dB six was not white.
(33:17):
It was green, and as our pal Jordan points out,
the things that people are calling flames or blood are
are probably just red fabric from the doll's dress. But
let's explore this album cover in more depth. Actually, let's
(33:41):
get past the cover. Let's go to the gatefold sleep
that's right.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
In the gatefold sleeve, there's an image of Paul wearing
a patch on his left arm that looks like it
bears the initials OPD, which supposedly, according to this theory,
stands for officially pronounced dead, which I believe is the
British equivalent of DOA, which we would say here in
the States. However, in reality, what actually says is OPP
(34:09):
which stands for Ontario Provincial Police, which is also interesting
considering that the supposed Paul doppelgangers from Canada. That's not
mentioned here, but I just thought I bring that up.
McCartney actually talked about this in a nineteen sixty nine
article for Life Magazine written by John Neary referring to
all of this hullabaloo, by the way, which we're going
(34:31):
to start to hear the Beatles themselves weighing in on
saying it is all bloody stupid. I picked up the
OPD badge in Canada. It was a police badge.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
And the conspiracy continues. If you check out the back
cover of the album, you will see that Paul or
as our research associate Jordan likes to call him, full
is the only Beatle with his back to the camera.
This apparently symbolizes how Paul has turned his back on life.
(35:06):
Uhtretch ye, i'd be. But also, if you're covering up
a death, are you really gonna are you really gonna
slide these things in? Is it really a case of
like the Beatle, the remaining Beatles silently protesting m I five.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
Yeah, let's see. That is the That is the theory again.
If we flip the album over looking at the back cover,
there are lyrics printed on the back cover as well,
which was a first in rock and roll history. Apparently,
right above Paul's head are the words without You from
(35:45):
the title of George Harrison's song within You Without You,
which was on I believe Rubber Soul. Harrison can be
seen pointing at the words from She's Leaving Home, which
was I think on Revolver now within you value and
She's living Homer and Revolver Wednesday morning at five o'clock
as the day begins. Those are from that song. This
(36:06):
was supposedly at the time of Paul's fatal accident. Five
o'clock Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Ah, all right, yes, yes, November ninth or nine November
nineteen sixty six was a Wednesday. The thing is, our
buddy Paul Prime lived around the corner from Abbey Road.
It's an eight minute walk, two minute drive if you've
got a cool accid Martin. So if this guy storms
(36:35):
out of this recording session just a hair before midnight
on the previous Tuesday, then what was he doing for
five frickid hours? Why did he end up so far
from home? Did he did he go to a club?
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Did he you know?
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Was he doing some like three card Monty on the streets?
Did he meet a woman try to take her back
to her place somewhere outside of the London area.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Well, that was a theory that we didn't mention at
the top. That supposedly he may or he may have
picked up a hitchhiker who could well have caused the
accident by freaking the f out when she realized who
was giving her.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
A left, right, right the shades of chap equittic. So
the point is the timeline doesn't quite add up. And
I want to give a quick shout out to a
lot of people who are not from the UK who
have gone viral with their disappointment.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Over visiting Abbey Road.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
I don't know if he saw the news, Nol, but
there are there are a ton of people, honestly Americans,
sorry folks, who had these big dreams about visiting Abbey
Road and they love the Beatles, and they get really
disappointed when they realize Abby Road is literally just it's
(38:01):
a road.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Well, no, it's a studio.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Well they go to Abbey Road the road, and they're
disappointed to find that it's a road.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Well, then they're not doing their homework because the people
that would actually be Beatles fans would visit the studio
and the famous crosswalk in front of the studio. Abbey
Road as a road, I'm sure is long like Peachtree
Road here in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
And yeah, I'm just I'm exercising empathy for the people
who saw the crosswalk and it's just a crosswalk.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
Well yeah, well, I'm sure the Beatles aren't there anymore.
This looks like a crosswalk in the photography. I'm not
sure what these people are expecting, but fair enough, and
I appreciate you exercising empathy for these folks. And I
hope they didn't know book their whole trip just to
be disappointed by a crosswalk. So oh, by the way,
I made it as stupid speaking of not being a
(38:53):
proper Beatles fan, whatever that means. Magical Mystery Tour totally
comes after Sergeant Pepper, so it is not proto Sergeant
Pepper at all. It is Sergeant Pepper's proto Magical Mystery
in many ways, I actually like Magical Mystery better. But
we're going to get to that record momentarily. But first,
let's talk about getting a little help from our friends.
(39:13):
I sang the line at the very top of the
show and we mentioned our pal from Canada, Billy Shears.
That is the character that Ringo Starr is basically playing
in the narrative, that is Sergeant Pepper's lonely the loose
narrative of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts club band. He is
meant to be this singer named Billy Shears, and they
(39:35):
introduced him the track prior to with a little help
from my friends kind of ends with this big fan
faiish introduction of Billy Shears and then he sings, well,
what did you thinker? You know the one. So the
idea of being that this was very much a reference
to William Billy Shears Campbell. But you know, your mileage
(39:58):
may vary, as.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Our research associate Jordan says, you can also look into okay.
So the juicy thing with these kind of theories is
always going to be the lyrics. If you go to
a day in the life, there is, according to proponents
of the Poll is Dead theory, an entire verse that
(40:20):
recounts the moments of poll Primes crash when he quote
blew his mind out in a car after he quote
didn't notice that the lights had changed and that the
crowd had gathered at the scene and quote had seen
his face before. This is obviously followed by the line
(40:42):
quote nobody was really sure if he was from the
House of Lords. And for people who are hearing what
they want to hear a little bit of audio Paradelia,
They will say it sounds as though John Lennon is
saying not House of Lords but House of Pole.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
Again Pole, I, I can hear that.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Yeah, you know when you say it with a British
accident like that again as Jordan. As Jordan notes, your
interpretive mileage may vary. In fact, dare I say it
we all love an historical rabbit hole, a conspiratorial rabbit hole.
Dare I say this kind of reasoning can be its
(41:27):
own sort of magical Mystery Tour?
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Sure? Yeah, And that's where we are now in nineteen
sixty seven, with the release of Magical Mystery Tour, which
also has a pretty cool psychedelic album cover. Let's pull
out up. I can't I can't even remember what it
looks like. Let's see Magical Mystery Tour. Oh yeah, of
course it's. It's got the Beatles dressed as Walruses, kind
(41:55):
of posing with their arms outs. We've got well, I'm sorry,
they're not all Walruses. The wall was Paul. One of
them is the walrus in the front of his arms out,
and then in the back we've got ourselves a chicken,
a rabbit, and it looks to be a hippopotamus, and
I don't remember. We've got George's the Chicken, it seems
because that's the only one where you can actually see
the face, and I see a little mustache in the
style of what George would have worn in those days.
(42:17):
But I'm sure we can confirm who was who because
there's also a pretty incredible film of Magical Mystery Tour,
and it's like a music video for every song, and
that's what got me into the Beatles was seeing that film,
which is really neat and a lot of people don't
know about it, but it's pretty cool, so I would
highly recommend checking it out. But Magical Mystery Tour is
(42:38):
Rainbow Letters the top, we've got the names of all
of the songs, and continue at the bottom. I think
we've got side one on the top, Magical Mystery Tour
with Fool on the Hill, Flying Blue Jayway your mother
should Know, I Am the Walrus, and then side two Hello, Goodbye,
Strawberry Feels Forever. Penny Lane has some big ones on
here too. Baby You're a rich man and all you
need is love. But somewhere hidden in there the cover
(43:02):
of Magical Mystery Tour, which features the Beatles' names spelled
out in stars in the rainbow kind of font. You
can apparently read it upside down or possibly in a mirror,
and it reveals a telephone number, and supposedly, when dialed
or when a person dials this number on Wednesday morning
at five o'clock, the time of Paul's alleged crash, they
(43:26):
are able to receive further secret information about Paul's death.
Oh like what, Well, the voice on the line would
apparently say you're getting closer before hanging up, So that's
not really much information at all.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Right, right, Yeah, it reminds me of oh that film
A Christmas Story where that poor kid puts so much
time into getting the decoder ring that just tells you
spoiler to drink more. Ovaltine Jordan points out that there's
a major flaw in this purported clue to the Paul
(44:03):
is Dead theory. There's an issue of Rolling Stone that
publishes on twenty nine November nineteen sixty nine, and they
point out it's not clear what this purported phone number
is supposed to be. There's no telling what city this
phone number originates from. There's no area code, so there's
(44:25):
no way of knowing. We want to give flowers, not
yellow flowers, to the journalist Philip Norman. Philip Norman is
the author of an early Beatles biography, Shout, and Norman
finds that one of these phone numbers actually belonged to
a journalist for none other than The Guardian, as this
(44:49):
poor journalist got hammered with phone calls from Beatles fans
who were convinced that Paul McCartney was dead. Folks, you
are in media rests with us. We are down the
rabbit hole or the walrus hole officially, which sounds a
little bit dirty, but I'm gonna keep it waterus hole amazing,
(45:11):
it's pretty gross, so I would say, I would say
gross and amazing. We tease something that is a like
a common mimetic concept for any fan of the Pola
is dead conspiracy. It is the lie. I am the Walrus,
uh noel. Before we wrap part one, could you break
(45:33):
this down for.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
Us, Well, I'm Googokucheo, I am the warous say I
am the eggman as well, I am the walrus. Uh
goo goo goochuo goo goo goo goochew. I thought it
was cuckoo Kachew for the longest time. I think I'm
probably not alone in that, but it is indeed Goo
Goo goojube. The song I Am the Walrus alone could
(45:54):
practically be an episode on two itself because I mean so,
and their references to this in a later Beatles album
as well in the song glass Onion on the White album.
The Walrus Was Paul, But I Am the Walrus was
a John Lennon composition. It is meant to be psychedelic impressionistic.
Speaker 4 (46:13):
You know.
Speaker 3 (46:13):
Again, according to the conspiracy theorist depiction of McCartney's death,
all the way down to a repeating two note pattern
in the intro itself, much similar to a two tone
siren sound that you would hear from emergency vehicles in
Britain at the time. And according to our Gary Patterson
in his book The Walrus Was Paul, the Great Beatle
(46:34):
Death Clues, Paul suffered his fatal car crash after this,
you know, fallout, squabble with Ringo or potentially with some
other bandmates who might have been in the mix, and
left the studio in a rage on a stupid bloody Tuesday,
which is a line, and I Am the Walrus. The
refrain I am crying, is John apparently grieving Paul's passing.
(46:59):
And then they are pretty little policemen waiting for the
van to come, supposedly referring to the police who arrived
at the scene of Paul's fatal crash but were paid
to keep silence by m I five. And you know
with the Beatles being composed of the remaining beatles.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Yeah, and there are further notes or purporty clues you
can find in these lyrics, especially with some back masking,
which we love on this show and on stuff they
don't want you to know. The song ends with a
live BBC broadcast of a scene from King Lear, with
(47:40):
characters saying bury me, bury my body, and oh untimely death.
Here's the quick skinny, here's the hot cheese and straight
seahorse teeth. John Lennon taped that clip off the radio
one night and he just dug the vibe of it,
how it fit with the song. And so as we understand,
(48:03):
it's John's intention to put a bunch of nonsensical imagery
into the lyrics to confuse fans who have traveled a.
Speaker 3 (48:14):
Bit too far.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
John Lennon had a school friend named Pete Shotton, who
was around as a first hand witness when John Lennon
was writing some of these lyrics. Pete Shotton goes on
to craft a memoir and according to his writing, when
the song is finished, his buddy, his school chum, John
(48:38):
Lennon turns to him and says, let the fuckers work
that one out. Thank you for beefing me, Max. Oh,
we have so much more to get to. I believe
this is going to be a series, Nol. We've got
to go further.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
We sure, do you know? The Clues hidden in the
entire Beatles cattle of albums alone is going to be
two parts, and then we're going to get into more
about the kind of Beatles as celebrities, as public figures.
Acknowledging all of this stuff. Jordan is nothing if not thorough,
to quote the Big Lebowski, and we really appreciate your
(49:18):
work on these, Jordan, and we're looking forward to getting
into all of them. Looks like it might be a
three parter possibly for we'll see, But for now we're
going to take a break and come back with part
two of the Paul Is Dead Clues Hidden in the
Beatles Albums later this week big.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Big thanks to our super producer, mister Max Williams. Big
thanks to our research associate Jordan Jordan. You know we're
fans of your work. Jordan is a kick ass journalist
and we really appreciate his time and expertise. Big thanks
as well too, of course. AJ Bahamas Jacobs aka the
(49:55):
Puzzler just wrote back to Bahamas and he's super down
if we can get him in for one last job.
Speaker 3 (50:03):
One hundred percent huge thanks to Jonathan Strickland, the quizter,
AJ Bahamas, the Puzzler, Chris Frasciotis and he's Jeff Coates
here in spirit.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
And of course, where would we be without our own
in house composer, the legendary Alex Williams, who made this.
Speaker 3 (50:20):
Slap and bop indeed very Beatles esque. Actually, if you
think about it, we'll see you next time, folks, for
part two of The Beatles Paul is Dead conspiracy theories
as hidden supposedly or not in the Beatles albums. For
(50:40):
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous History News
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Noel Brown
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