Paul is Dead.

February 15, 2008 10:32 PM

Paul is dead. No, not that "Abbey Road" Paul, the other one, silly!

The famous Paul is, alas, in a nasty divorce proceedings against his now-ex-wife "ol' Rocket-Leg" Heather Mills. Who apparently has reason to want to kick his ass.

posted by five fresh fish (32 comments total)

I was scared you meant Paul Harvey.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:41 PM on February 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

Turn me on, dead man.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:43 PM on February 15, 2008

Upon seeing the "Paul is Dead" title and B.S. link, I hyperventilated more-than-a-little bit. Wrong. So WRONG.

Upon seeing the repetitive links for "ass" and "ol' Rocket-Leg," I remembered, "Ow, my balls!" Oddly enough, I haven't balls; however, I do have much love for BeaTles, experience in divorce, distaste for tabloid-fare piss-poor front page posts.

Sorry Paul Cole died.
posted by bonobo at 10:56 PM on February 15, 2008

About a year later, Cole first noticed the "Abbey Road" album on top of the family record player (his wife was learning to play George Harrison's love song "Something" on the organ).

Jesus, I remember 'family record players.' They used to be the size of stand alone stoves. They still make those, right? (Something tells me the 21st century won't be kind to me.)
posted by maryh at 11:12 PM on February 15, 2008

Why do they write an obituary about a man ostensibly defined by a singular image but not include the image?

I don't know what the album cover looks like.
posted by Lord_Pall at 11:18 PM on February 15, 2008

I don't know what the album cover looks like.

This is one of those situations where I really wish we had some kind of world-wide web of information accessible from the personal computer.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:22 PM on February 15, 2008 [12 favorites]

Despite all his current troubles, I assume the three angels (on the other side of the street, in white) are still hovering around the other Paul's head.

[on preview] I don't know what the album cover looks like.

It's the same as the one on your CD.
posted by LeLiLo at 11:22 PM on February 15, 2008

Okay I found the cover but all of the pictures are too small to see the guy they're talking
about.


There are also 4 dudes in front hogging up the whole frame.
posted by Lord_Pall at 11:35 PM on February 15, 2008

hi-res copy of the album cover to look at: http://www.quieromislyrics.com/images/covers/beatles-abbeyrd.jpg
posted by Sir Mildred Pierce at 11:37 PM on February 15, 2008

http://www.quieromislyrics.com/images/covers/beatles-abbeyrd.jpg
posted by Sir Mildred Pierce at 11:37 PM on February 15, 2008

Am I the only one who thought this was another Ron Paul thread?
posted by nasreddin at 11:46 PM on February 15, 2008

I don't know what the album cover looks like.

Also, congratulations on coming out of your coma.
posted by Bonzai at 11:57 PM on February 15, 2008 [5 favorites]

Death took the wrong Paul. Again.
posted by item at 12:12 AM on February 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

Am I the only one who thought this was another Ron Paul thread?

I find that if I think that about every post, I'm only wrong about 95% of the time.
posted by mumkin at 12:17 AM on February 16, 2008

Upon careful examination of the high-res scan of the album cover, I have discovered a mysterious puff of smoke emanating from behind the fence, indicative of a second cigarette smoker.
posted by Tube at 12:40 AM on February 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

Has anyone noticed that Paul has bare feet in the photo? Because I just noticed it. I think it might mean something.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 2:46 AM on February 16, 2008

'Paul Is Dead' is my favourite conspiracy of all time... because it's just so bonkers

There was some hilarious 'Live from the Courthouse' news on the BBC yesterday regarding the divorce proceedings where they spent several minutes talking about the tabloids trying to cope with the complete lack of news, to cover the complete lack of news.

Still some tabloids have managed... I though this was hilariously tasteless. (NOT LACKOFLIMBIST)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:40 AM on February 16, 2008

Cole, a longtime Barefoot Bay resident, died Wednesday in Pensacola at age 96.

Coincidence?





Probably.
posted by The Ultimate Olympian at 3:49 AM on February 16, 2008

.
posted by about_time at 4:17 AM on February 16, 2008

'Paul Is Dead' is my favourite conspiracy of all time... because it's just so bonkers

At a cafe I used to go to, there was this regular known as "conspiracy theory Dan." He had quite a few of them, and for some reason they all centered around either NASA or musicians of the late 60's through the 70's. Paul is dead was his obsession though. He believed it so adamantly. I had head about how he would trap people in long rants about his covered-up motorcycle accident, and how the others tried to hard to tell the public in song, but I didn't heed the warning. One day "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da" was playing in the cafe, and I made the mistake of telling someone else how Paul had screwed up, and sing that Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face. Before I could even pause for a breath, Dan jumped in saying, "Yeah, I'm not sure why they did that, I'm not sure what they were trying to say. I think it may have something to do with Bob Dylan, though, since that's when he had had his accident and was living in seclusion, you know 'staying at home' and the name is Desmond JONES, which I think is a reference to Dylan's 'Mr. Jones.'.." I had no choice but to sit along nodding, as no one in the cafe wanted to save me from that conversation. No one else wanted to get sucked in to the black hole.
posted by piratebowling at 6:19 AM on February 16, 2008

This sort of reminds of the time I met a guy whose sister gave Elvis a blowjob. Though there's no way I can vouch for the veracity of that.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 7:41 AM on February 16, 2008

Alternate shots from the Abbey Road photo session, some of which also feature Paul Cole. (Courtesy of a "Paul is Dead" site no less).
posted by Ike_Arumba at 7:57 AM on February 16, 2008

Ah, how I remember "Paul is dead." We sat around the dorm with magnifying glasses, playing records backwards and everything. Good times!

Oh, and RIP this Paul. "Barefoot Bay" is great serendipity!
posted by languagehat at 8:28 AM on February 16, 2008

I do have much love for BeaTles, experience in divorce, distaste for tabloid-fare piss-poor front page posts.

Suck it, hater.

Paul had screwed up, and sing that Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face

Doesn't he sing this line twice, the first time with Mary(?) staying at home and then, in the silly verses, the second time with Desmond? I've always thought it was intentional.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:32 AM on February 16, 2008

Yeah, five fresh fish, he sings it with MOlly staying at home the first time and Desmond staying at home the second. I don't think it was intentional, though, since I read accounts of people who were at the recording session and reported Paul saying, "Aw, it was a perfect take, but I mixed up the names in the last verse" and then just ultimately decided "Oh fuck it," and left it that way. Don was insistant that it was on purpose, though, and more importantly some kind of clue.
posted by piratebowling at 8:56 AM on February 16, 2008

What about the people on the other side of the road? Why aren't they famous?

Celebrity, she is the fickle.
posted by dhartung at 9:21 AM on February 16, 2008

Has anyone noticed that Paul has bare feet in the photo?

Yeah, it's 'cos he's dead, but here's something interesting from the article:

Cole, a longtime Barefoot Bay resident

Coincidence?
posted by Sys Rq at 2:01 PM on February 16, 2008

Oh, jesus, when will I learn to read the thread?
posted by Sys Rq at 2:03 PM on February 16, 2008

Is now a good time to say that in that picture Paul looks just like me dear old dad? I haven't looked at the other pictures - it might break the spell ....
posted by StephenB at 3:22 PM on February 16, 2008

.
posted by 1 at 9:50 PM on February 16, 2008

miss him, miss him, miss him
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 10:17 PM on February 16, 2008

I buried Flanders!
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 5:56 AM on February 17, 2008