IS PAUL DEAD? The list of "clues"...
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Posted by Jay C. Smith 1/7/1988....

Okay, here it is again, from The Rolling Stone Book of Rock Lists, no less.
With my comments in brackets [].

It's not complete, but it is concise...

25 PIECES OF EVIDENCE PROVING THAT PAUL McCARTNEY IS DEAD

1.  On the cover of Yesterday...and Today, "Paul" sits in a trunk.  Turn it
    sideways, and he seems to be in a coffin.

2.  On the cover of Revolver, "Paul" is turned to the side, as if he
    doesn't really fit in.

3.  Revolver contains numerous references to death, such as in "She Said
    She Said."

4.  On the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, a hand is held 
    directly over "Paul's" head.  This is supposed to be a symbol of death.

5.  On the same cover, "Paul's" bass is laid on flowers atop a coffin.

6.  "Paul" is also holding a black musical instrument.

7.  On the inside of the cover, "Paul" wears a black arm band with the
    letters OPD, which is a Canadian acronym for Officially Pronounced
    Dead.

8.  On the back cover, "Paul's" back is turned to the camera.

9.  Also on the back cover, the lyrics "Without You" (part of the title
    "Within You and Without You") bloom from "Paul's" head.  [And George is
    pointing at the lyrics "Wednesday morning at five o'clock"; the time of
    Paul's death. -jcs]

10. "A Day in the Life" contains the line, "He blew his mind out in a car";
    this is supposedly the manner in which Paul died.

11. On The White Album track "Revolution 9" there is a voice that repeats 
    "number nine, number nine."  If you play this segment backward, it
    becomes "turn me on, dead man."  (John claimed that at the beginning of
    each take, an engineer would announce, "This is EMI Recording Studio
    Number 9."  [I always heard that it was from "EMI Test Tape Number 9".
    -jcs]  Lennon said that he simply took the end of the phrase and
    added it to the final mix.  According to him, the "turn me on, dead
    man" revelation was a coincidence.)

12. On Lennon's song "Glass Onion," he says, "And here's another clue for
    you all/The Walrus was Paul."  In some societies, the walrus is an
    image of death, but this is most important as Lennon's acknowledgment
    of the rumor.

13. Between the end of "I'm So Tired" and the beginning of "Black Bird,"
    Lennon utters some nonsense syllables.  Played backward, they say
    (approximately), "Paul is dead, miss him, miss him."

14. While George is wailing away at the end of "While My Guitar Gently
    Weeps," he seems to say, "Paul, Paul."

15. "Don't Pass Me By" contains the line, "You were in a car crash."

16. The poster included with The White Album contains many references to 
    McCartney's "death."  For example, there is a picture of "Paul's" head
    lying back in a bath; this resembles what he may have looked like after
    the "the car crash."

17. The pictures also show a scar on "Paul's" lip, which supposedly had
    never been there before.  [The scar he got from a motorcycle (or
    scooter?) accident in late '66, and which was covered up by the Pepper
    mustache. -jcs]

18. At the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever," Lennon can be heard saying
    what sounds very much like "I buried Paul."  (Lennon claimed that the
    Beatles would often say wild and crazy things while in the studio, and
    that what he was really saying was "cranberry sauce.")

19. On the cover of Magical Mystery Tour, the words of the title are
    written in stars.  If you turn the album upside down, the letters
    reveal a phone number that some say you could call to find out details
    of Paul's death. A Midwest Beatles fan who phoned this number in
    1969 says a gruff voice answered with "You're getting closer...."

20. Inside the booklet accompanying Magical Mystery Tour, there is a
    picture of "Paul" sitting at a desk on which there is a sign that
    reads, "I was you."

21. In the "Your Mother Should Know" sequence of the Magical Mystery Tour
    movie, "Paul" wears a black carnation; the others wear white ones.
    ("Paul" has explained that they ran out of white carnations.)

22. At the end of the Magical Mystery Tour photo book, there is a picture
    of The Beatles interspersed with shots of many other people.  There is
    a hand directly over "Paul's" head.

23. On the cover of Abbey Road, "Paul" is barefoot (corpses are said to
    be buried without shoes) and out of step with the other Beatles.  His eyes
    appear to be closed.  He is also smoking.  The other Beatles wear
    clothing contributing to the motif:  John, all in white, is the
    preacher; Ringo, all in black, is the pallbearer [or undertaker -jcs];
    George, all in denim, is the gravedigger.  There is also a Volkswagen
    with the license number "28 IF," symbolizing that McCartney would have
    been twenty-eight years old if he had lived.  [But he would have been
    27, so some people bring up the fact that some eastern religions count
    the time you spent in the womb toward your age, making Paul 28 in 1969.
    -jcs]

24. On the back cover, immediately after the words Abbey Road, a skull-like
    drawing can be discerned.

25. In "Come Together," Lennon sings, "One and one and one is three."
    Three Beatles.  What about Paul?

    NOTE:  We have used quotation marks to distinguish between the real
    Paul and the lookalike imposter who "replaced" him.  -- Eds.

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And if you've gotten this far, I trust you'll remember that all these
so-called clues are coincidental to reality. In other words, Paul *is*
alive and well...and all these clues have an equal and opposite
refutation. But if you've got nothing but time on your hands, it's
easy to *seem* to prove a point with random facts like these, isn't it?

Just don't take it too seriously....

---saki (dmac@math.ucla.edu)
