If you look at the videos immediately following The Beatles' "Royal Command Performance" on November 4, 1963, you will see that Paul McCartney changed: the man who I call "our Paul" took the place of real Paul. There have been many photo comparisons on several Paul-Was-Replaced discussion boards, and I'll add mine on the blog in the future. So in my research, I have been trying to get an idea of where our Paul came from--who he was. I've come up with three references spanning ten years that suggests that our Paul was an English World War 2 orphan.
1.) From 1965: Youtube has a video that I commented on in my November 28, 2011 post of outtakes from The Beatles' 1965 Christmas fan record. Listen to the entire video at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=50dI7WJZbBo . Beginning at 5:18, George is commenting on a "Virgil Glyn" that he's seen at the "Labor Club" in Blackburn, England:
5:47-5:52 (George): "And so, here he is . . . here he is . . . "
5:52-5:53 (Paul): "And what is his name?"
5:54-6:01 (George): "We've had trouble finding his name due to the fact that he lost his birth certificate when he was born, you see."
6:01-6:02 (Paul): "Ooh, yes."
6:02-6:05 (George): "So, anyway, whoever he may be . . ."
***Note: during this entire segment on the video, there is a photo of Paul. Do you think the poster knows something?
I originally thought this exchange might be a biting comment on the fact that replacements for Paul and John were being contemplated, but I now think that they were referring to the fact that our Paul was an orphan.
2.) From 1967: I posted the lyrics to Procul Harum's song Lime Street Blues on the June 19, 2012 post. This song was the flipside of their song, A Whiter Shade of Pale which has backmasked references to Paul. Lime Street Blues has lyrics that are referenced in the Bonzo Dog Band's record, We Are Normal and I believe all three songs are about Paul.
Lime Street Blues talks about a man being charged with--apparently--indecent exposure and defending himself in court:
"'Mr. Judge,' I said, 'Won't you please be kind?
Have pity on me, a poor orphan child?'
Mr. Judge, he says with a long, mean frown,
'Orphan or not, you're going down!'"
3.) From 1975: The Hollies, an English pop/rock group (in case you don't know), recorded a song called I'm Down. Pretty remarkable title, huh?, given that Paul recorded a song with the same name 10 years' before. I haven't found backmasked references to Paul in The Hollies' songs, but I think the group wanted to pay tribute to Paul--if nothing else--by doing a song about him, giving it the same title as his song, and maybe getting people to ponder if the song was biographical of Paul. Here are the relevant lyrics:
Had my ways
With days of sunshine.
Life came easy, it all fell in line.
But then again, I didn't realize
When you're used to one thing
It's hard to accept another.
Like the woman who brought you up:
Well, she ain't your mother.
How do you cope
With a thing like that?
---- ----- -----
To the folks who brought me up
I'm not ungrateful.
Kept the secret from me:
Thought it was shameful.
It hurt me so
To be the last one to know.
Maybe someone's out there
Looking for me.
Left on their own.
Couldn't afford to clothe me
And I . . . I don't even know my real name
I'm down,
I'm down,
I'm down.
I think Paul was an orphan.
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