The Moody Blues is an English rock band formed in 1964. (Until late 1966, one of the group's members was Denny Laine who joined the last Paul replacement's--the current "Paul McCartney"--band, Wings.) On May 17, 1968, the Moody Blues recorded a spoken word track, Departure that led into the next track, the song, Ride My See-Saw. The song was released as a single on October 5, 1968. It was described on a Paul-Was-Replaced discussion board as a song about Paul. It is.
The spoken word introduction is about an LSD trip. Some of the relevant lyrics of the song that follows are:
Run, run my last race,
Take my place
Have this number
Of mine.
. . . .
Left school with a first class pass,
Started work but as second class.
School taught one and one is two.
But right now, that answer just ain't true.
Our Paul had been a college student (the first class pass) according to an article in the L.A. fan magazine, KRLABeat. (See the September 28, 2012 post.) The second class reference would probably be that our Paul was a replacement for the real Paul McCartney. The "one and one is two" reference has to do with our Paul's replacement being considered (in 1968) the one Paul McCartney.
But, the proof that the song was about Paul is that it has extended backmasked sequences with just one word: PAUL----
At he beginning of the reversed song until ~ 27 seconds into it, the name Paul is sung three times.
From 1:35-2:01, the name Paul is sung several times, in an extended, choir-like way.
At 3:37-4:14, there is a strange, electronic, descending chord with unintelligible (reversed) talk
that starts loud and screaming and becomes softer and softer as the chord descends.
It gets murky in these backmasked songs whether they are talking about the real Paul or our Paul, but my feeling is that if the band was talking in the present tense and the real Paul died in late 1965 or early 1966, then this song was about our Paul.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
The Movie, Masculin Feminin
In the June 12, 2011 post, I talked about the French movie, Masculin Feminin. Director Jean-Luc Godard started filming the movie on November 22, 1965 and completed filming it in January, 1966.
It was the story of a young man named Paul who was enamored with a French pop singer. She is more interested in her career and he either has an accident or commits suicide. According to a December, 1965 interview with Chantal Goya, the actress who played the pop singer, the Paul character commits suicide.
Take a look at the frame from the scene at the police station. where Madeleine (the pop singer) and her friend Catherine are giving statements about Paul's death.
In the upper left hand corner of the frame, there is a poster and the frame cuts off the head of the man in the poster. Is the framing of the scene a coincidence? No. According to an April, 2005 interview with Willy Kurant director of photography for the film:
"Godard asked for alot of odd framings, explaining to me he was wanting the additional person in the frame without being in the frame. He didn't mind or he was wanting them 'chopped in two', just with having an arm or a nose. Alot of directors have absolutely no position on the framing. They don't know what they want. When they arrive on the set, they tell, 'What are we doing today?' That's not what Godard was saying. Godard had a point of view."
Now look at the photo of Paul McCartney in the Beatles' famous 1963 collarless jackets. A resemblance to the poster?
In the Paul-Is-Dead clues, there are several that show a headless Paul McCartney. On the right is one of them. The image is from the Magical Mystery Tour movie the B/Featles made in 1967.
It was the story of a young man named Paul who was enamored with a French pop singer. She is more interested in her career and he either has an accident or commits suicide. According to a December, 1965 interview with Chantal Goya, the actress who played the pop singer, the Paul character commits suicide.
Take a look at the frame from the scene at the police station. where Madeleine (the pop singer) and her friend Catherine are giving statements about Paul's death.
In the upper left hand corner of the frame, there is a poster and the frame cuts off the head of the man in the poster. Is the framing of the scene a coincidence? No. According to an April, 2005 interview with Willy Kurant director of photography for the film:
"Godard asked for alot of odd framings, explaining to me he was wanting the additional person in the frame without being in the frame. He didn't mind or he was wanting them 'chopped in two', just with having an arm or a nose. Alot of directors have absolutely no position on the framing. They don't know what they want. When they arrive on the set, they tell, 'What are we doing today?' That's not what Godard was saying. Godard had a point of view."
Now look at the photo of Paul McCartney in the Beatles' famous 1963 collarless jackets. A resemblance to the poster?
The French words on the poster -- "avec nous" means "with us" so the whole statement on the poster is: "with us, EZ".
I think this film was about the REAL Paul McCartney and his real or virtual (in the old-fashioned sense of the word) suicide sometime in late 1965 or the early 1966.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Narrowing Down Paul's Apparent "Underwear" Incident
In the September 27th. (2012) post I talked about the Los Angeles radio station's fan magazine KRLABeat's July 2, 1966 column describing a "dream" about Paul running in his underwear into "a posh fountain in front of a posh bank." I went researching and I believe I've found the bank and the fountain mentioned in the column's "dream."
I posted the lyrics to Procol Harum's Lime Street Blues in the June 19, 2012 post. The song talks about a man (who I believe is Paul) being arrested. So I started looking for a bank and fountain near Lime Street.
In the book, Seaport Architecture & Townscape in Liverpool by Quentin Hughes (Percy Lund, Humphies & Co Ltd, 1964), Hughes described the area in Liverpool in 1964 that had the main civic buildings (See map from book on below right.) In the upper right hand corner of the map is a little island bounded by LIME STREET, William Brown Street, and Islington. On that island is the Duke of Wellington monument and the little circle in front of it on the map is the STEBLE FOUNTAIN.
(See photo below). On Page 104 of the Seascape book, Hughes says: "Along the east side all pretence at monumental grandeur ends and the Wellington monument stands against a row of mean buildings relieved only by the small-scale stone facade of a branch of the MIDLAND BANK."
It looks like this was the site of Paul's "incident." The next thing to find is more details of it.
I posted the lyrics to Procol Harum's Lime Street Blues in the June 19, 2012 post. The song talks about a man (who I believe is Paul) being arrested. So I started looking for a bank and fountain near Lime Street.
In the book, Seaport Architecture & Townscape in Liverpool by Quentin Hughes (Percy Lund, Humphies & Co Ltd, 1964), Hughes described the area in Liverpool in 1964 that had the main civic buildings (See map from book on below right.) In the upper right hand corner of the map is a little island bounded by LIME STREET, William Brown Street, and Islington. On that island is the Duke of Wellington monument and the little circle in front of it on the map is the STEBLE FOUNTAIN.
(See photo below). On Page 104 of the Seascape book, Hughes says: "Along the east side all pretence at monumental grandeur ends and the Wellington monument stands against a row of mean buildings relieved only by the small-scale stone facade of a branch of the MIDLAND BANK."
It looks like this was the site of Paul's "incident." The next thing to find is more details of it. Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Other Voices, Part 10: Paul's Voice
People have commonly believed that the debut of backmasking began with The Beatles' song, Rain, recorded April 14-16, 1966 and released May 30, 1966 in the US and June 10, 1966 in the UK, but Paul wrote the song, Woman for Peter and Gordon and that song was released before Rain--in the US on January 10, 1966 and in the UK on February 11, 1966--and Woman has backmasked lyrics. Here they are: 0:38-0:42: He would make a sound.
He would make us know.
What do those lyrics mean? Remember, our Paul was not the real Paul McCartney: our Paul was the first replacement. I think our Paul was talking about the real Paul McCartney in the song, I'm Looking Through You. That song was recorded October 24th. and November 10th. and 11th., 1965 for the Rubber Soul album. The song was supposed to be about Jane Asher and Paul's disappointment with their relationship. But I listened to take four of I'm Looking Through You (at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OWrlVT6vF8 ) and at the end of the take, (11:49-11:53) you hear: You've changed, you've changed, you've changed, you've changed,
You sea chain.
I was trying to think what "sea chain" would be and then I figured it out: our Paul meant,
You see Jane.
The song was sung about the real Paul McCartney who established the real relationship with a 17-year old Jane Asher in 1963 before our Paul replaced him.
Think about some of the lyrics to I'm Looking Through You:
Your lips are moving,
I cannot hear.
Your voice is soothing,
But the words aren't clear.
So while people are tracking down what happened to our Paul, it is still a mystery what happened to real Paul McCartney.
My best guess is that sometime in 1965 the real Paul was left virtually speechless from some accident, deliberate act or malady. The backmasked lyrics from Woman say:
He would make a sound. He would make us know, not, he makes a sound, he makes us know. Our Paul is talking in the past tense. So, again, my guess is that sometime between ~ late October, 1965 and the the recording of Woman in ~December, 1965, the real Paul McCartney lost his voice altogether, or died.
As further confirmation of this, check out The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash mockumentary at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6PgzRizr6o where Eric Idle as the reporter is talking about the "Stig Is Dead" rumor (Stig being Paul). At 0:23-0:29, he says:
"He never said anything publicly. Even as the quiet one, he'd not said a word since 1966."
He would make us know.
What do those lyrics mean? Remember, our Paul was not the real Paul McCartney: our Paul was the first replacement. I think our Paul was talking about the real Paul McCartney in the song, I'm Looking Through You. That song was recorded October 24th. and November 10th. and 11th., 1965 for the Rubber Soul album. The song was supposed to be about Jane Asher and Paul's disappointment with their relationship. But I listened to take four of I'm Looking Through You (at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OWrlVT6vF8 ) and at the end of the take, (11:49-11:53) you hear: You've changed, you've changed, you've changed, you've changed,
You sea chain.
I was trying to think what "sea chain" would be and then I figured it out: our Paul meant,
You see Jane.
The song was sung about the real Paul McCartney who established the real relationship with a 17-year old Jane Asher in 1963 before our Paul replaced him.
Think about some of the lyrics to I'm Looking Through You:
Your lips are moving,
I cannot hear.
Your voice is soothing,
But the words aren't clear.
So while people are tracking down what happened to our Paul, it is still a mystery what happened to real Paul McCartney.
My best guess is that sometime in 1965 the real Paul was left virtually speechless from some accident, deliberate act or malady. The backmasked lyrics from Woman say:
He would make a sound. He would make us know, not, he makes a sound, he makes us know. Our Paul is talking in the past tense. So, again, my guess is that sometime between ~ late October, 1965 and the the recording of Woman in ~December, 1965, the real Paul McCartney lost his voice altogether, or died.
As further confirmation of this, check out The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash mockumentary at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6PgzRizr6o where Eric Idle as the reporter is talking about the "Stig Is Dead" rumor (Stig being Paul). At 0:23-0:29, he says:
"He never said anything publicly. Even as the quiet one, he'd not said a word since 1966."
