Turn Me On Dead Man

February 5, 2011 4:24 PM

In 2006, YouTube user iamaphoney began posting a series of videos exploring the mysterious 1966 death of Paul McCartney. After eighty installments, they have released a documentary summarizing the findings.

iamaphoney also has a twitter account. Could it be the (real) fake Sir Paul?

Promised for 2011: The RightAlbum

For 2012: The RevelAtion

posted by battleshipkropotkin (67 comments total)

I thought Ringo was the dead one.
posted by joelf at 4:39 PM on February 5, 2011

So. tl;dw Spoiler?
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:42 PM on February 5, 2011

No Ringo the the immortal one, doomed to wander the earth. Leave a glass for him.
posted by The Whelk at 4:42 PM on February 5, 2011 [19 favorites]

joelf, most Beatles fans would trade Ringo for either of the two 'dead ones' without a moment's hesitation.

The long life of the 'Paul Is Dead' meme has been very useful as an example for anyone wishing to squelch any other potentially-credible conspiracy theories.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:45 PM on February 5, 2011

most Beatles fans would trade Ringo for either of the two 'dead ones' without a moment's hesitation.

I'm not sure that sentiment is nearly as universal as you might claim.
posted by hippybear at 4:47 PM on February 5, 2011 [13 favorites]

I'm not sure that sentiment is nearly as universal as you might claim.
posted by The Whelk at 4:51 PM on February 5, 2011

Paul died in '66, and his replacement died sometime in the '80s. We're actually on the third "Paul" by now.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:54 PM on February 5, 2011 [3 favorites]

Replacing Paul was the first burst of funding the Dollhouse got, FYI.
posted by The Whelk at 4:59 PM on February 5, 2011 [5 favorites]

Paul died when he stopped doing LSD.
posted by philip-random at 5:03 PM on February 5, 2011

Oh god. Not this chestnut.

So, assuming conspiracy theories are about wanting order in an increasingly unsure world, where does the "Paul died in 1966, was replaced by a doppelganger" theory come in?

I bet this is referenced somewhere in the illuminatus stories...

Bigfoot, roll up another fatty. Things are getting weird. Is that an alien brain sucker under that State Trooper's hat?
posted by clvrmnky at 5:03 PM on February 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

He's one rich corpse.
posted by jonmc at 5:04 PM on February 5, 2011

He got better.
posted by msalt at 5:06 PM on February 5, 2011 [9 favorites]

I thought Ringo was the dead one.

Okay, you get two more tries.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:07 PM on February 5, 2011

Laup saw surlaw eht, lla ouy rof eulc rehtona s'ereh.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:11 PM on February 5, 2011 [8 favorites]

Brian Moriarty was one of the early computer game designer gods, who, among other great work, did absolutely amazing presentations at conferences.

His Who buried Paul? presentation is awesome, and does a great job of recapping the whole thing.

He's actually going to be doing a talk at GDC this year, after a hiatus of some time.
posted by emmet at 5:12 PM on February 5, 2011 [3 favorites]

McCartney had grown so rich, he wanted to retire. He took me to the green room and he told me his secret. "I am not the Paul McCartney" he said. "My name is Ryan; I inherited the band from the previous Paul McCartney, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from is not the real Paul McCartney either. His name was Cummerbund. The real McCartney has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia."
posted by kirkaracha at 5:21 PM on February 5, 2011 [39 favorites]

Paul died in '66, and his replacement died sometime in the '80s. We're actually on the third "Paul" by now.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:54 AM on February 6 [+] [!]

I was pretty upset when they cancelled Paul in the late '80s, but the new Pauls that have been around since 2005 are doing pretty well.
posted by gc at 5:21 PM on February 5, 2011

joelf, most Beatles fans would trade Ringo for either of the two 'dead ones' without a moment's hesitation.

Man, Ringo was as much a part of The Beatles as any other member of the group, and he doesn't get nearly as much credit for his excellent and tasteful drumming as he deserves. See also: Charlie Watts.
posted by TrialByMedia at 5:28 PM on February 5, 2011 [3 favorites]

One example of why I love Ringo.
posted by TrialByMedia at 5:32 PM on February 5, 2011

I'm kind of a fan of the Paul is dead conspiracy. I think the interesting thing about it is that Paul grew up and changed in some ways that some of his fans didn't want to accept. The truth is that the Paul we knew as a young man in his early 20s grew older and his music changed, and his face changed a little bit, and he wasn't the same man in his 30s. In other words, Paul is dead. Long live Sir Paul.
posted by chrchr at 5:35 PM on February 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

cranberry sauce
posted by jonmc at 5:37 PM on February 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

.
posted by Skygazer at 5:40 PM on February 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm like the Paul is dead conspiracy cause it supposes a much more interesting and entertaining world where pop stars are given hallucinatory spy powers and the unlimited resources to invent new people and keep them and everyone else quiet for decades.
posted by The Whelk at 5:44 PM on February 5, 2011 [5 favorites]

The cover for Abbey Road was said to be comprised of John, the messiah or preist, Ringo the undertaker, Paul the barefoot corpse, and George the grave digger.

Sealing the deal is the license on the VW which reads 28IF, meaning that Paul would be 28 then, IF he'd been alive, which this album cover hinted was no longer the case.

I read that somewhere, back then. In the same vein, A day in the life was about the JFK assasination (he blew his mind out in a car, etc.) which has about the same amount of veracity.

In my own mind, the cover for the first McCartney solo album, with the spilled cherries, well if you think life is a bowl of cherries, do the math.
posted by Danf at 5:44 PM on February 5, 2011

Man, Ringo was as much a part of The Beatles as any other member of the group, and he doesn't get nearly as much credit for his excellent and tasteful drumming as he deserves.

I agree.

But last night an oldies radio show was doing back-to-back ex-Beatles music from 1973, and Ringo's contribution brought a tear to my eye... for all the wrong reasons.

Of course, I made the previous comment secure in the knowledge that such a 'bargain with god/the devil/fate' is absolutely impossible, which made it a lot easier to say.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:45 PM on February 5, 2011

28 IF
posted by punkfloyd at 5:48 PM on February 5, 2011

I can't believe the whole backwards masking thing is still fooling people. It's freshman-level psychology that pareidolia (self-link to a FPP) can make gibberish audio sound meaningful, static sound like whispers, shadows look like faces, and numbers appear to hold great mysteries.

I've been half-watching this documentary, letting it play in another tab. Every time a music clip plays, and then reverses, I listen hard to hear what I'm "supposed" to hear. Nothing. It's nonsense. Typical backwards audio. If a real (forwards) clip of someone speaking was reversed and inserted, it would be obvious when you played it back. It would sound natural. But this stuff isn't. It's only after flipping back to the Firefox tab to read the caption onscreen, that I can suddenly hear it. That's the power of suggestion. The Beatles didn't create that message, the conspiracy theorists did.

That said, some of the points made here are genuinely intriguing... what is with all that imagery and obvious symbolism hidden throughout the Beatles' lyrics and artwork? Some of the examples offered are clearly reaching, manipulating brightness/contrast and introducing a gaussian blur to show what we're "supposed" to see. Many, however, appear legitimate. It's possible Paul is dead, as evidenced by a handful of real clues (and not the overwhelming compendium of mostly fake ones on display here). Or, maybe the Beatles just like mythology and wanted to create some rich artwork for fans to enjoy.

It's fun stuff anyway. Considering most conspiracy theories allege horrible things being done to populations, this one's a harmless rabbit hole to explore. There are no consequences for being wrong or right, and you give your brain a workout in the process. I can't fault that. This documentary is entertaining and the narrator's voice is pleasing to listen to.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 5:55 PM on February 5, 2011

This is a Paulternate cover up in an attempt to find johns lost batch of Owsley #9
posted by clavdivs at 6:03 PM on February 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

There are those of us who primarily know Ringo from his Thomas the Tank Engine days.
posted by IndigoRain at 6:03 PM on February 5, 2011 [5 favorites]

Ron Paul is dead. The real Ron Paul was replaced by google back during the 2008 election.
posted by humanfont at 6:05 PM on February 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

explains the hair
posted by clavdivs at 6:06 PM on February 5, 2011

They better reference the pentapaul somewhere in all that nuttiness, or the ghost of Mr Linebarger is going to be mightily pissed off.
posted by Iosephus at 6:20 PM on February 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

"Paul is dead" is an anagram of "alias duped"
"Turn me on dead man" is an anagram of "madmen donate urn"

What does it all meeeeeean???
posted by amyms at 6:33 PM on February 5, 2011

You mean he really didn't write Temporary Secretary after all??
posted by Senator at 7:44 PM on February 5, 2011

In 2006, YouTube user iamaphoney began posting a series of videos exploring the mysterious 1966 death of Paul McCartney.

child's play - if he really wants to clear something up, he can explore the mysterious survival of keith richards
posted by pyramid termite at 8:26 PM on February 5, 2011 [4 favorites]

Now I know what it feels like to be paranoid schizophrenic.
posted by surrendering monkey at 8:38 PM on February 5, 2011

A fellow student in my speech class just presented a speech on how Michael Jackson is not really dead. She seemed quite serious about the idea, too.
posted by redsparkler at 9:07 PM on February 5, 2011

Wow, redsparkler...that blog is just...wow.
posted by biscotti at 9:37 PM on February 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

A fellow student in my speech class just presented a speech on how Michael Jackson is not really dead. She seemed quite serious about the idea, too.

I long ago started to wonder if there wasn't some kind of "rich person relocation program" which involves people with enough money who want to quit being in the public eye (for whatever reason, to whatever extent they are in the public eye) paying this shadow group who engineer fake deaths for those people so they can disappear off to their island retreat and never have to deal with being their old selves again. I actually came up with the idea after JFK Jr. died in his plane crash. Or should I say, "died"...

It might make for an amusing film plot device if I could come up with, you know, a story to go with it.
posted by hippybear at 9:47 PM on February 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

Hmm, I'm not sure how hard that would be to pull off. I know when Ken Lay died, a lot of people were skeptical, they ended checking pretty thoroughly. But at the same time, it would be easy to 'disappear' if you had the resources to do it, just look at JD Sallenger.
posted by delmoi at 9:54 PM on February 5, 2011

There are so many xxx is not dead "theories":

Peter Lorre
Bruce Lee
Jimmy Hendrix
Elvis
Jim Morrison
Heavy Metal
Michael Jackson
Tupac
Hitler
Spock

But not to many xxx isn't really alive. Or have I only heard of the Paul one?
posted by juiceCake at 10:16 PM on February 5, 2011

most Beatles fans would trade Ringo for either of the two 'dead ones' without a moment's hesitation.

holy shit dude. Inappropriate and not true.

He's a human being.
posted by Bonzai at 10:17 PM on February 5, 2011 [3 favorites]

Paul died in '66, and his replacement died sometime in the '80s. We're actually on the third "Paul" by now.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:54 AM on February 6

I was pretty upset when they cancelled Paul in the late '80s, but the new Pauls that have been around since 2005 are doing pretty well.
posted by gc at 7:21 PM on February 5

But I think we can all agree, despite the best of intentions, the Americanized one from the 90s in Vancouver, the half-human one.... oy!
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:29 PM on February 5, 2011

He's a human being.

...he is the egg man...he is the Walrus..koo koo kah choo...


And back to square one we go.







˙˙˙pɐəp ʇou s,lnɐd
posted by Skygazer at 10:59 PM on February 5, 2011

Death Becomes Her, Hippybear?
posted by maxwelton at 11:04 PM on February 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

Nobody 'replaced' Bobby Fuller, Ian Curtis, Lennon, or members of the 27 Club like Hendrix, or Morrison, Joplin, Jones. Just this one guy. Hundreds of musicians died in that era - I've heard no such rumors about any of them being secretly replaced.

Assuming for the sake of argument that's true, then where's the rest of the theory? Why this one guy?

Once you go there, there's no limit. Maybe *you* have been replaced. Or maybe it's the same body but "you" have been swapped out for "someone else". Then of course "you" are happy with that ... but what about the swappee? Could that be why "you" are having troubles remembering all those things that happened when you were young? (If anyone's done this book yet, I haven't seen it!)

I seldom feel sorry for Paul except when this comes up.
posted by Twang at 1:30 AM on February 6, 2011

Alright guys, Paul is dead. No need to worry, we've managed to cover it up and we have a double. Now... in order to keep this secret, we must make sure that we leave only subliminal clues for the fans.
posted by dougrayrankin at 2:36 AM on February 6, 2011 [5 favorites]

"most Beatles fans would trade Ringo for either of the two 'dead ones' without a moment's hesitation."

I agree with this. Sorry, but it's true.

When I was 15 I had to rewrite Dante's Inferno for a class. I put Paul's soul in Hell for selling out. His body was alive but his soul was replaced by a demon. It fits Dante's theology
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 4:17 AM on February 6, 2011

When I was 15 I had to rewrite Dante's Inferno for a class. I put Paul's soul in Hell for selling out. His body was alive but his soul was replaced by a demon.

Yeah... I hate bands that sell out. That's why my band don't even play cause like... as soon as you play, you're playing for the man.
posted by dougrayrankin at 4:34 AM on February 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

Sold out? ... How, exactly? Do you mean that after 10 years of being a principle songwriter and key performer in a musical group that used its fame and riches to push its preferred genre into unprecedented and often wildly experimental territory, he then went on to form another group which turned out not to be as good?

Because, I'm not entirely sure that merits eternal damnation.
posted by kyrademon at 5:20 AM on February 6, 2011

Sold out? ... How, exactly?

oh, by doing obvious commercial pop like "silly love songs" and "my love" instead of challenging art such as "i want to hold your hand" and "michelle"
posted by pyramid termite at 6:26 AM on February 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

Of course it merits eternal damnation. Paul should have been happy with what The Beatles did and stopped writing and performing music when the band broke up, just like John, Ringo, and George all did.
posted by Apoch at 6:27 AM on February 6, 2011

That Paul can't live up to his Beatles' legacy is not particularly damning. Few musicians live up to their best compositions for a variety of reasons. The list of formerly great contemporary musicians is a massive one.

Or is it that the real Paul is dead and the replacement Pauls can only imitate and flatter because they lack the real genius and swagger? It I was insane I'd give that merit. Fortunately, at this point in my life, I am not. That may change as I age though and I may not be able to live up to my previous level of sanity. Not being famous no one will care or make theories about that.
posted by juiceCake at 6:49 AM on February 6, 2011

Everybody knows Jim Morrison didn't die, he went on to become Billy Idol.
posted by Sailormom at 6:57 AM on February 6, 2011

Nothing is real.
posted by tommasz at 6:58 AM on February 6, 2011

I don't think there were any "bad" Beatles. There. I said it.

(Although I will always be a George man through and through)
posted by Sticherbeast at 9:25 AM on February 6, 2011

Because, I'm not entirely sure that merits eternal damnation.

The song "Silly Love Songs".
posted by philip-random at 9:29 AM on February 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

I saw this Paul bio at the library last week and picked it up on a lark (George girl here, through and through. Wah-Wah = genius).

It's a big book so I skipped to the Wings years for the entertainment value. Paul was a bigger ass than I thought. The revolving door of Wings 'bandmates' was all due to Paul's cheapness. They were paid when they were recording or touring. When asked if he would consider a contract so they could have some money coming in between tours, which were iffy and often held up when Paul and Linda kept getting busted for pot and countries weren't keen on allowing them in, Paul turned them down. So the band suffered and he surrounded himself with syncophants that only told him what he wanted to hear.
Give my Regards to Broad Street?

Maybe it's just a factor of becoming entirely insular as management was handled by his inlaws. Anyway he amassed a fortune that became Heather Mills fortune. There's a story there, and not a happy one.
posted by readery at 9:47 AM on February 6, 2011

Venus and Mars was a great album. Shut up.
posted by Splunge at 10:47 AM on February 6, 2011

That being said i have an abiding love for "Let Me Roll It"(B side of Jet, Band on the Run). So whatevs.
posted by readery at 10:58 AM on February 6, 2011

Please put down those drugs and step away from that plate of beans.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 11:55 AM on February 6, 2011

I think the damnation was more for Paul selling the Beatles catalogue to Michael Jackson. I was such a massive John fan that I would have used any excuse. I had Mark David Chapman in the last circle.
And yes, I know John was a pretty bad human being
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 1:14 PM on February 6, 2011

And yes, I know John was a pretty bad human being

I'm pretty sure John was a human being who was growing and evolving across his lifetime, just like anyone else. That he lived out so much of his formative years in the public eye means we have a lot more record of him when he was less mature in some of his views.

Frankly, I wouldn't want to be judged now based on who I was in my twenties. Unfortunately, if you're John Lennon, that's kind of what you're stuck with.
posted by hippybear at 3:12 PM on February 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think the damnation was more for Paul selling the Beatles catalogue to Michael Jackson.

paul didn't - he didn't own those songs - he had wanted to put a deal together with yoko ono to buy them but mj beat them to it
posted by pyramid termite at 3:53 PM on February 6, 2011

John, asked if Starr was the best drummer in the world, said, "He's not even the best drummer in The Beatles!" But at least he's not dead.
posted by Jasper Fnorde at 10:32 AM on February 7, 2011

HippyBear, I would watch a sitcom based on that island resort.


also: John Lennon at 70
posted by jrishel at 8:44 AM on February 24, 2011

Also: an alternate universe where The Beatles accepted Lorne Michaels' Generous Offer
posted by jrishel at 9:00 AM on February 24, 2011