Newspapers / North Carolina Wesleyan University … / Nov. 4, 1969, edition 1 / Page 3
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TUESDAY, NOV. 4, 1969 THE DECREE PAGE 3 McCartney; OPD? By FRANK LABOUR copyright 1969 The Duke Chro nicle (Editor’s note: Mr. LaBourwas originally assigned to review “Abbey Road”, the Beatles lat est album, for the Michigan Dai ly. While researching “Abbey Road” background however, he chanced upon a startling string of coincidences which put him on the trail of something much more significant. He wishes to thank WKNR-FM, Louise Har rison Caldwell, and George Martin’s illegitimate daughter Marian for their help. Mr. La- Bour says it’s all true.) Paul McCartney was killed in an automobile accident in early November, 1966 after leaving EMI recording studios tired, sad and dejected. The Beatles had been pre paring their forthcoming album, tentatively entitled “Smile,” when progress bogged down in intragroup hassles and bicker ing. Paul dimed into his As ton-Martin, sped away into the rainy, chill night, and was found four hours later pinned un der his car in a culvert with the top of his head sheared off. He was deader than a doornail. Thus began the greatest hoax of our time and the subsequent founding of a new religion based upon Paul as Mesiah. The Beatles as a whole had considered seriously what would happen to them if one should meet with death as early as 1964 when fubstitute drum mers were utilized to fill in for an ailing Ringo Starr. However, it should be emphasized for the sake of religious records, that they had no definite premoni tion of the death of Paul. From all accounts, it appears to have been simply an unforeseenacci- dent. The Word When word of Paul’s untimely demise was flashed back to the studios, the surviving Beatles, in the hurriedly called confe rence with George Martin, de cided to keep the information from the public for as long as possible. As John Lennon re portedly said, “Paulalways lik ed a good joke,” and it seemed that they considered the move an attempt to make the best out of a bad situation. As will be seen shortly, however, the “good joke” soon took on ter rifying proportions. George Harrison was called upon to bury Paul, conducted services and John went into se clusion for three days. After his meditation, Lennon called another meeting of the group, again with George Martin, and laid the groundwork for the ensuing hoax. Lennon’s plan was to create a false Paul McCart ney, bring him into the group as if nothing had happened, and then slowly release the infor mation of the real Paul’s death to the world-via clues secret ed in record albums. Plan Adopted The plan was adopted, al though Ringo expressed skepti cism as to its possible success and work began. (Brian Epstein was informed of the group’s plan, threatened to expose it all, and mysteriously died, leaving five men who knew of the plot.) First, a Paul Look-A-Like contest was held and a living substitute found in Scotland. He was an orphan from Edinburgh named William Campbell, and his picture before joining the Beatles can be found in the lower left-hand corner of the collage distributed with “The Beatles” album. Plastic Man Minor plastic surgery was required to complete the image, and Campbell’s mustache dis tracted everyone who knew the original McCratney from the imposter’s real identity. The other Beatles subsequently grew mustaches to further in tegrate the “new” Paul into the group. Voice print studies have con firmed the difference in voice timbre between the original and phoney Paul, but the difference was so slight that after studying tapes of Paul’s voice and sing ing style, Campbell nearly erased entirely his own speech patterns and successfully adopted McCartney’s. (Editor’s note; For more in formation on the voice studies, see the UPIrelease immediate ly following this article.) Work then began upon the first post Paul album, “Sar- geant (Sic) Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band.” “Smile,” incidently, was junked and even tually picked up by Brian Wil- ^ son who attempted to salvage it PAUL MCCARTNEY According to LaBour, the men in white represent the surgeons and doctors attending Paul after his wreck; the policemen re present those also present after the accident. but couldn’t. He was allowed to work on “Smile” because the Beatles, especially Paul, had enjoyed “Good Vibrations” to a high degree and respected Wilson’s ability immensely. “Smile” was finally thrown away and Capitol Records, ig norant of the whole ploy, sued Wilson. Brian later paid tri bute to Paul with “Smiley Smile.” Lennon and Martin worked closely throughout the spring of 1967 on “Sgt. Pepper.” Their goal was an artistically and monetarily successful album filled with clues to Paul’s death. It was decided that an appro priate cover would include a grave and so it does. At the low er part of the grave are yellow flowers shaped as Paul’s bass or, if you prefer, the initial “P”. On the inside of the co ver, on the fake Paul’s left arm, is a patch reading “O. P.D.” which is the symbolused in England similar to our “D. O.A.” meaning Officially Pro nounced Dead. The medal upon his left breast is given by the British army commemorating heroic death. On the back cover, Paul’s back is turned to us. The others are facing us. Early Evidence The songs on the album con tain numerous references to Paul’s accident, “A Day in the Life” being the most obvious example. “A crowd of people stood and stared. They’d seen his face before .... etc.” When the top of a man’s head is sheared off his identity is partially obscured. The entire concept of the al bum, that of a different group, yet “one you’ve known for all these years” is significant. Another facet of the plot is the emergence of Martin as an im portant composer, all the while masquerading as Paul. His old- time piano melodies, begun with “When I’m 64” and con tinuing through “Maxwell’s Sil ver Hammer” are actually cen tury old barroom tunes he has extensively researched. If you will recall, Martin has a scho larly background in all phases of music. While “Sgt. Pepper” was be ing recorded, Lennon worked on a song called “Strawberry Fields Forever” and inserted at the end of the recording af ter the horn freakout, a distor ted voice saying “I buried Paul,” Play it at 45rpm and check it yourself. “Strawber ry Fields” eventually became incorporated into a larger work “Magical Mystery Tour,” an album and film chocked full of veiled references to that rainy, tragic night. Lennon had beendoingagreat deal of reading on the ritual of death in various cultures around the world (documented by Hunt er Daves’ authorized biography of the Beatles) and present ed his knowledge graphically in “Tour”. One instance is the con stant appearance of a hand be hind Paul’s head in nearly every picture in the record album. The hand behind the head is a sym bol to mystics of death. Ano ther is the picture of Paul (Campbell) on page three with the poster saying “I YOU WAS” indicating change of identity. Another is the appearance of surgeons and policemen, both involved in Paul’s car crash, on page five. On page ten and thirteen Paul is shown wearing black trousers and no shoes. Dead men are bur ied in black trousers and with out shoes. Empty shoes, as ap pear next to Ringo’s drums on page thirteen, were a Grecian symbol of death. And finally, on page twenty-three where the group has just descended a long, curving staircase, Paul is shown wearing a black rose while the other three arewear- ing red roses. The songs again are para mount. “Magical Mystery Tour” implies the hoajj in it’s entirety, and marks Lennon’s developing suspicion that the plot is out of hand. They are “dying” to take us away. “The Fool on the Hill” sits “per fectly still,” as though dead, and grins a dead man’s “fool ish grin”. On “Blue Jay Way” George Harrison, wrapped up in Eastern symbolism and re ligious fervor, implores Paul to resurrect himself before “very long” implying for the first time a realization of the essentially religous nature of the plot. “Walrus” is Greek for corpse. John is “crying.” He is also obviously contemptuous of those unaware of the plot, not having assumed the role of God he adopts later on. Also, the end of “Walrus” contains passages from King Lear about death and villians recorded si multaneously with the radio broadcast that never took place announcing Paul’s death to the world. Played backwards, a fav orite ploy of the Beatles as early as “Rain,” the words “Paul’s dead” can be plainly heard. The closing song of the al bum, “All You Need Is Love,” lays the premises for Lennon’s developing concept of his fledg ling religion, with a tribute to Paul’s early composing ef forts at its conclusion coupled with his favorite old standard “Greens leeves.” Before going on to “The Beatles” album it should be explained more fully how the mechanics were worked out. Before his death, Paul was a homosexual as noted in Yellow Submarine” when it is plainly yelled “Paul’s a queer,” ans wered by “Aye, aye, Captain”, ■ so confused girlfriends were not a major problem for the plotters. Paul rarely saw his only sur viving parent anyway, and he had few close frienas. Campbell was able to cover the part per fectly. It cannot be emphasiz ed too heavily that Campbell is the primary reason for the suc cess of the hoax. A girlfriend was needed to keep female ad mirers at bay, preventing infil tration or blackmail of the men who knew the plan so Peter As her’s sister Jane was paid a ripe sum to keep her mouth shut and pretend she was Paul’s bet ter half. Campbell Marries Last summer, of course, Campbell married a New York divorcee as Jane Asher was spirited out of sight and the group grew more confident of their substitute. After “Magical Myster (sic) Tour” Campbell began playing a more prominent part in the actual relization (sic) of the plot. He was allowed to use his natural voice on “Lady Madona” which many listeners thought was Ringo at first. This “tough guy” style of singing became integrated rapidly into the group and continued through to “Abbey Road”. “The Beatles” appeared nearly a year ago with an all- white cover and hundreds of clues for the wary. The use of the white cover indicates Lennon’s further adoption of a (Continued on Page 4)
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