Monday, December 29, 2014

Denny Laine's "Boulevard de la Madeleine"

In my October 18, 2012 post, I detailed the connections between the characters and incidents in the 1966 French movie, Masculin Feminin and a Paul's--I believe the real, original Paul's--life.  The main female character's name was Madeleine.

In a song by Denny Laine--who later was in the last Paul's group, Wings--released in October, 1966--called "Boulevard de la Madeleine", Laine describes a young man who waits in Paris, in love, for a girl who never comes.

Our Paul might have had a place in Paris according to hints from the Los Angeles fanzine, KRLA Beat.  But I think Masculin Feminin was about the real Paul and I believe that is why the movie's director Jean Luc Godard waited for the denouement of Paul's life before he released the film.

Interesting!  Paul's song, "Michelle" was, I think, written by the real Paul.  If there was a real Madeleine, who is (or was) she?

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Is "John" Our Paul's Real First Name?

In my April 22, 2013 post, I speculated that our Paul's real name might be David Black.  But I thought back to my Beatle fan days beginning in 1964 and how in Detroit we heard that Paul's real first name was JOHN and that he used his middle name, Paul:  1,) to not confuse fans with two Johns in the group; and 2.) because, John, being the founder of the group, should be the one to use his own first name.

Interesting . . . especially when the later claim was that Paul's first name was JAMES, (named after his father), and that the official recording of his first name is listed as JAMES.

In the first two editions of the book, The Beatles:  The Authorized Biography by Hunter Davies, Paul's first name is listed as JOHN.  Both editions (1968 and 1978) were, of course, published after our Paul was--I believe-- removed from the group.

But that detail  I heard as a kid Beatles fan coupled with the information from the book strongly suggest that our Paul's real first name was JOHN.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

The Bill Haley Concert in Liverpool---And The Three Pauls

In my post of March 6, 2013, I talked about our Paul and our John's interview in Japan on June 30, 1966 where Paul talks about seeing Bill Haley and his Comets in England for their 1957 tour.  Paul says he was TWELVE when he saw them.  This would put his birth year at 1944 (or, possibly, 1945.)

I was curious to see if anyone writing about Bill Haley talked about Paul, and I found a 1990 book by Bill Haley's eldest son, John W. and co-author John von Hoelle called Sound And Glory that did.  They mention Paul being at a Bill Haley concert:
     "On the 20th. of February, the Comets play to enthusiastic audiences at the Odeon Theater in Liverpool.  Among the hand-clapping, foot-stomping kids were two very special young men; sixteen year old John Lennon and his new buddy Paul McCartney."  (pages 158-159.)

The official story is that real John and real Paul met for the first time on July 6, 1957.  It's possible real Paul and real John went to the concert separately.

But wait!  In a July 14, 2014 Rolling Stone interview, the man who took our Paul's place in late 1966--in other words, the current Paul--said he saw Bill Haley at the Liverpool Odeon in 1957 and was "about 13 or something" at the time.

Remember, real Paul McCartney's birthdate was June 18, 1942 and he would have been 14 not 12 or 13 at the time of the concert.

Twelve-year old our Paul saw Bill Haley but not with John Lennon and--very likely--not in Liverpool.  And as for the longest-lasting Paul?  Who knows?

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

The British Class System: A 1963 Scholarly Look

So's you don't think I'm unduly dwelling on the popular conception of a reordering of the class structure in England in the 1960's and the stiff class stratification that was the reality in England at that time, I started looking at the scholarly writings concerning the English class system and found a very interesting article by Cambridge University sociologists John H. Goldthorpe and David Lockwood that was published in the Sociological Review (new series), Volume 11, No. 2, July, 1963 called "Affluence and the British Class Structure."

They focused mainly on whether the working class was making any headway in pulling themselves up into the middle class--or whether there was a large glass ceiling in place preventing that.

The researchers looked at three studies of working and middle class attitudes and concluded:
     1.)  "The majority of people have a more or less clearly defined image of their society as being stratified in some way or other; that is to say they are aware of inequalities in the distribution of wealth, prestige and power."  (page 146.)
     2.)  "In particular, there is no firm evidence either that manual workers are consciously aspiring to middle class society, or that this is becoming any more open to them." (my emphasis; page 155.)

On the general values from a working class perspective, Goldthorpe and Lockwood quote working class parents who said that the best job for a son was:  "A trade in the hands" and "A good steady job." (page 147.)

Remember that three of the real Beatles had manual jobs when they first started out:  George worked as an apprentice electrician; Paul got work from the Labour Exchange coiling cables for an electrical firm; Ringo had an apprenticeship at a Liverpool equipment manufacturer.  John did go to art school, but was shifted over into learning lettering which--if he hadn't quit school (or gotten expelled)--would have led to a "good steady" manual office support job.

The article talked about the solidarity of working class people--an "us against them" attitude--that, of course, was expressed clearly by the real John at the Royal Command Performance in November, 1963 and got real Paul and real John ousted from the group.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Other Voices, Part 15: A George Harrison Backtracked Solo Song

George commented in an interview on the backmasking on The Beatles' song, "Rain" and it got me thinking that somewhere in his solo work he would also make a backmasked comment--on Paul.

I listened to "Windows" and "When We Was Fab" with no luck, but I DID find a very interesting backmasked song of his called "Be Here Now".

The song was written in Los Angeles in 1971 and released on George's 1973 solo album, Living In The Material World.

Some of the lyrics are:
     Why try to live a life that isn't real, no how.
     A mind that wants to wander 'round a corner is an un-wise mind.

Remember The Beatles' 1967 song, "Fixing A Hole"?  The parallel lyrics in that song are:
     I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in
     And stops my mind from wandering
     Where it will go.
   
SO . . . the backmasking on "Be Here Now" consists of George saying the name Paul a minimum of EIGHT times and most interestingly at 0:26-0:30 and 2:39-2:42 in the reversed song, Paul B.

My speculation is that our Paul's real last name began with the letter B, and I think George's song lends credence to that theory.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

More On The English Class System

In my post of November 26, 2010, I described our John's comment on the British class system.  Basically, John was making a sarcastic remark on the exploitation of the working class by the ruling class.

The bull that the English media was propounding in the mid-1960's was that the British class system was dissolving under years of "unprecedented prosperity" in England.

The American writer Tom Wolfe went to London at that time and in an essay called "The Noonday Underground" concluded that class stratification was alive and well in England---and the kids knew it:
     "There is hardly a kid in all of England who harbors any sincere hope of advancing himself in any very striking way by success at work.  Englishmen at an early age begin to sense that the fix is in, and all that work does is keep you afloat at the place you were born into."  
The real Beatles were useful to publicly promote the myth.  But at the Royal Command Performance they thumbed their noses at being used by the British ruling class and their media front men to push the myth.  And the two "instigators" of the rebellion--John and Paul--were replaced.

Our Paul and our John stepped into this social-political minefield and our Paul ended up fighting for his life to survive it.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Is "The Trojan Women" Another View of The Beatles' Woes?

In my post of June 11, 2014, I was talking about Jane Asher's role in the 1966 English adaptation of Euripides' play The Trojan Women.  I thought it was an intriguing title, so I read the play and the content was even more intriguing given the woes of The Beatles.

Give it a thought for a minute:  the original Beatles--John Lennon and Paul McCartney--were, I believe, replaced immediately following the Royal Command Performance concert of November 4, 1963.  The real John married Cynthia Powell on August 23, 1962.  The real Paul first met Jane Asher on April 18, 1963.  When the real John and the real Paul were replaced, our John and our Paul acquired the public personas and--publicly--the relationships of the real John and Paul.  I believe that reality was the theme of The Trojan Women.

In ancient times, armies warred and the victors plundered the wealth and captured the people of the vanquished.  The officers of the winning army would divide up the women as they wished:  "marrying" some of the women, making servants of the other women.

Look at the public photos of our Paul and our John--Cynthia and Jane were at their sides at The Beatles' movie premieres; they were together attending plays; they even went on vacations together.

Ronald Duncan who wrote the English version of the play was a pacifist and there is an anti-war element to the play, but the focus was on the despair of the women who survived when their husbands, fathers, sons, etc. were killed by the invading army.

I think Duncan might have had some knowledge of The Beatles' "rotating personnel" and decided to talk about the wife and girlfriend plight through the play.

I think Jane Asher was, in part, playing herself as the character Cassandra.  In the play, Cassandra was to become the concubine of Agamemnon and possibly be secretively wed to him.  Cassandra vows revenge and predicts she will see him killed.  We'll take the action as far as the brink of her being a concubine.  As she goes off stage she says:  "Dong!  Dong!  Toll the wedding bells!"  Which Paul was Cassandra predicting the death of?

The other interesting figure was the character Andromeda.  I think Duncan had an eye toward Cynthia Lennon when he wrote the character's lines.  Andromeda's husband Hector was killed and she had a small son who was killed by the Greeks in the play.  Julian Lennon lived, but part of the "terms of silence" might have been the threat of Cynthia's son dying if she didn't play along.

Jane and Cynthia worked themselves free of what must have seemed like an never-ending nightmare when the third version of Paul and John took over and established lives of their own.

But there was definitely the atmosphere of the ancient conduct toward women and families that I believe Ronald Duncan so deftly converted into a commentary on The Beatles with his adaptation of The Trojan Woman.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Other Voices, Part 14: A Message From Motown?

I heard a Smokey Robinson and The Miracles song last week that interested me because I had never heard it in Detroit (and I grew up there) and because it sounded like it might be about Paul and his song, "Yesterday."

The song is "Yester Love", recorded on December 12, 1967 and released May 13, 1968.  I probably never heard it in Detroit because it was recorded for Motown's European label, Tamla.  Tamla-Motown records were released in England by Parlophone, who recorded The Beatles' records.

Smokey Robinson used his usual wordplay on the word yesterday.  One of the lines of the song reads:       Today I'll be on my way to love my yester love.
Remember Paul's song, "I'll Be On My Way"?

I thought there might be backmasking on "Yesterlove" and, in fact, there is:

     In the reversed song at:
0:08-0:18:  Say goodbye to me (x3)
1:06-1:12:  Say goodbye to me (x2)
1:36-1:43   Say goodbye to Mickey (x2)

This isn't Smokey Robinson wanting to say goodbye to The Miracles, because, from what I've read, he didn't start wanting to retire from performing until 1969.  And, true, he doesn't say Paul, but because they released it on the Tamla label meant for an English audience, it might have been a message about the real Paul and our Paul.


Note: To let people know that The Miracles wanted people to understand there was intentional backmasking on the song, the beginning chords on the reversed song are the same as the ending chords on the forward song:   a clever way to alert people of the backmasking.



Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Paul Wasn't Where Jane Was From August, 1966

Jane Asher was Paul's steady girlfriend, as we know.  He lived in her house when he was in London from November, 1963 until the spring of 1966.  He was in attendance with her, for examples:
     1.)  When she performed in repertory at the Palace Theatre on 7/14/65.
     2.)  When they went to the premiere of a play at Wyndham Theatre on 1/31/66.
     3.)  When they went on a skiing trip from 3/6/66-3/20/66.
     4.)  When they attended the premiere on 3/24/66 of the movie, Alfie in which Jane had a starring role.
The public appearances and the trip are all well-documented with photos.

Somewhere in late July or early August, though, the bottom drops out of photographs (or even mentions of Paul and Jane seen together.)

For example, they were supposed to have gone to the Royal Court Theatre on ~July 22, 1966 to see a play.  I have not found any photos to document this.

But, most importantly, Jane acted in two theater roles in the Edinburgh (Scotland) Festival from 8/21/1966-9/10/1966.  She played the role of Perdita in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale and she played Cassandra in a Jean-Paul Sartre adaptation of The Trojan Women (!).  Even if you allowed for Paul being on tour in America until the end of August, 1966--and I don't--he still would have had nine days to see her at the festival.  I have not found any documentation that he was ever in Edinburgh to see her.  And, remember, Paul had bought a farm in Scotland in June, 1966.

But, of course, there is more.  Jane finished the festival on October 10th. and then opened in the same role of Perdita at the Cambridge Theatre, London, twenty days later, on 9/30/66.  During November, 1966, the play was filmed, but never theatrically released.  As I mentioned in my September 17, 2010 post, Jane was in London in November, 1966 and NOT from 11/12/66 to 11/19/66 with our Paul's replacement in Kenya as authors Bill Harry and Barry Miles claim.  And--once again--I could find no photos of Paul attending any of Jane's London performances.

We know that by October 17, 1966 when a Paul replacement was photographed working on the score for the film The Family Way, our Paul was permanently out of the public picture.  That puts the time frame for our Paul's disappearance in August-September, 1966.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Narrowing Down When Paul and George Met Bobby Moore

In my last post I wrote about Paul and George going to English composer and writer Lionel Bart's house sometime in August, 1966 as was listed in one of the Beatles' "itinerary" books.  Well, it is easy to narrow down the time frame of their visit:  George (but I do not believe our Paul) left for the US on the 1966 American tour, arriving at Logan Airport, Boston on Thursday, August 11, 1966.  They arrived back from the tour on August 31, 1966, so that leaves a window of August 1st. through possibly August 10th. for George and (our) Paul to have visited Lionel Bart's home.

What I am trying to do is map out where our Paul was from day to day during the critical months of mid-to-late, 1966 and every point of reference helps.




                                                    ---paulumbo

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Widening our Paul's Still-Public Presence to August, 1966

I was reading Piet Schreuder's (et al) 1994 book, The Beatles' London:  A Guide To 467 Beatles Sites In And Around London and I found a listing for Paul and George visiting English song-and-playwright Lionel Bart's home sometime in August, 1966.  As I said in my March post, I'm trying to track down when Paul disappeared from public view.

In the listiing, it said that soccer player Bobby Moore was also at Bart's house that night.  So I went looking for a book about Moore and found he wrote one, in 1970, called England! England!.

He wrote an entire chapter on England's first World Cup win in 1966.  He was a member of the winning English team and they won in England, giving a special meaning to the title and the players amongst the English.

They won the match and trophy on Saturday, July 30, 1966.

The team was treated to a special banquet in their honor the evening of July 30th.  Moore said:
          "No wives or girl-friends were invited to the banquet and as finally we took our various presents up to our rooms in the Royal Garden when the feting was over, we all then split up into our parties with our wives and others to disappear into the night here, there and everywhere to continue our various junketings."

And, later in the chapter, Moore said:
          "This last event [the World Cup] in a way, of course, helped to widen my horizon, change my social life and make it busier.  I found myself being feted and asked out here, there and everywhere, making personal appearances."

I found a 1994 book written by David Roper called Bart! The Unauthorized Life & Times Ins And Outs Ups And Downs Of Lionel Bart that states that the 1966 World Cup-winning squad had their post-match party at Bart's house.

So, since Bobby Moore was introduced to Lionel Bart's night scene on July 31, 1966 and since Moore mentioned our Paul's Revolver album song, "Here, There and Everywhere" twice in describing his widening social life, I think it's a good guess that he met our Paul some night at Lionel Bart's house in August, 1966.  But, again, no photos.


Is This Our Paul at the Ivor Novello Award Ceremony, July 12, 1966?

I found an extremely short video on Youtube that is supposed to be our Paul accepting two Ivor Novello awards for his and John's 1965 songs, "Yesterday" and "We Can Work It Out."  You can see the whole video at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=INvqw4qKjF8 .

As I said in my last post, I've been searching unsuccessfully for photographs of Paul past early July, 1966. The award ceremony was held July 12th.

Again, I have not found any photographs of Paul from the awards ceremony.  ???

Also, see my next post because it's very possible that Paul was around London laying low, so to speak, as late as August, 1966.


Saturday, March 29, 2014

No Credible Photos of Paul Past July,1966

I have been searching unsuccessfully for ANY credible photo of our Paul past the photo of him that was taken in early July, 1966 when he was in India.  (See photo in my post of October 10, 2010.)

Paul was supposed to have attended a performance of experimental music at the Royal College of Art in London on September 15, 1966.  There was a group of musicians and the composer Cornelius Cardew and about a dozen people in the audience but I have not found one photograph from the concert.

Paul (and Ringo) were supposed to have accepted an award from the English pop music magazine Melody Maker on September 13, 1966.  A very hazy short film from the awards ceremony and several photographs have surfaced.  I always thought the photos looked doctored and then found another photo from a English music photographer, David Redfern.  (See right.)  THIS Paul looks like one of the 1966 American tour look-alikes.

Since I do not believe our Paul was in the 1966 American tour group I'm seriously thinking that all the chatter from the new Beatles and the other musicians was about things happening to our Paul beginning some time after early JULY, 1966.


Thursday, March 13, 2014

Several Clues That The Real John Survived, But Was Crippled

I mentioned in my post about the "personnel changes" in The Beatles that I had found some strong hints that the real John lived, but ended up (somehow) in a wheelchair.  Here are the clues.

1.)  Bob Dylan recorded a song for his Blonde on Blonde album called "4th. Time Around."  The song was  recorded in February, 1966 and released in May, 1966.  It was supposed to be Dylan's satirical jab at John Lennon and his supposedly borrowing Dylan's songwriting rhymes and rhythms.  The relevant lyrics are:
               And I tried to make sense
               Out of that picture of you in your wheelchair.
                        -    -   -   -
                I never asked for your crutch  [meant literally]       
                Now don't ask for mine.         [meant figuratively]

2.)  The real John Lennon's son, Julian recorded a song called "I Don't Wanna Know" and made a video to go with it.   Late in the video, it shows one of The Beatles in a wheelchair.
I think that was supposed to be his father.









3.)  I described in other posts the clues in the 1978 mockumentary about The Beatles, All You Need Is Cash.  Well, another clue for us all came in the "What Became of The Rutles" segment when the commentator described the John character:  "Nasty turned his back on the world, and sat for many years with his thoughts and his memories."  And here is how Nasty is shown:

Friday, February 28, 2014

Did Our Paul Ever Make It To France in November, 1966?

I looked into our Paul's purchase of an Aston Martin DB6 in 1966.  According to the Aston Martin website:  www.astonmartins.com/db4_5_6-s/db6.htm , Paul took delivery of the car in March, 1966.  There is also a mention in Maureen Cleave's article about our Paul published in The London Evening Standard, March 25, 1966, that Paul was driving his new DB6.

I've searched Google images, though, and I have not found a credible image of our Paul in or near that car.  However, I have found several images of Faul in and near the car, including Mal Evans' home video shots of Faul in Spain (probably) or Kenya.
Which begs the question:  Was the future Beatle Faul given Paul's car or was the DB6 purchased for Faul?  The car made it over to France in November, 1966, but it looks like Paul was not with it.

Friday, January 31, 2014

Other Voices, Part 13: The Moody Blues' Message To Eddie

The Moody Blues recorded a song called "Leave This Man Alone" in July, 1967 and it was released as the b-side of a single in September, 1967.  (Here the entire song at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vueuu4wMXrU ).  The lyrics suggest a man confused and in anguish.  Part of the lyrics are:
          Someone said I loved you, but I can't think where (I can't think where).
          You know so much about me
          So don't stand and stare, stand and stare.
          Leave me, leave me, leave me, leave my mind alone.
          Leave me, leave me, leave me, leave this man alone.

But the most interesting part of the song is heard backward.  Twice at the beginning, twice at the end, and once in the middle of the song, you hear the backmasked message:
          Keep your head up . . . Eddie.

The name Ed and Eddie are mentioned twice by the final configuration of The Beatles.

First:  In the movie, Imagine:  John Lennon, The final John is having a conversation with George: 
     John:  You see much of The Beatles these days, the other Beatles?
     George:  I saw Beatle . . . Beatle Ed.
     John:  Beatle Ed?  How is he?
     George:  Oh, he was all right, but he was just going off on a tour.
     John:  Beatle Ed's not doing too well these days, is he?  Beatle Ed.
     George:  Oh, he's number 5 in Sweden.
     John:  Oh, in Sweden, I see . . . .   (And John gives a big wink to the camera.)

Second:  The final Paul recorded an impromptu song called "There you are, Eddie" during the Let It Be sessions in 1969.  (Here the song at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijwI7wgXbxE ).

Obviously, there had been a Beatle by the name of Ed in the group.  It wasn't a current Beatle at the time and it wasn't the original, real John or Paul, so the real name of either our Paul or our John was Ed and it appears that the Moody Blues had been trying to send a message of encouragement to him in 1967.


Saturday, January 18, 2014

Here's A Summary of My Theory on The Beatles' "Personnel Changes"

                      -----Happy New Year and Let This Be The Year We Find The Truth-----

It's a given that sometime in mid-to-late 1966 our Paul (the Paul McCartney American fans knew) was replaced by the third and final Paul.  The whole mystery dogging our memory of The Beatles is what happened to the first two Pauls (and Johns.)  Some people focus on the why of their replacement, but for our Paul I believe the official why would be a lying pretense.

For the first and real Paul and John, I think you can focus on the Royal Command Performance The Beatles gave in London on November 3, 1963.  John's "applause from the cheap seats, jewelry-rattling for the royals" comment  doomed the real Beatles.  If the real Beatles continued their growing popularity, the British ruling class might lose their grip on power, and they weren't going to allow that to happen.  There were Paul and John replacements waiting in the wings, and so our Paul and our John made their debuts November 4, 1963.

I don't think it took long for the ruling class to fathom that the same group that might sink the English power elite could also be used to advance an agenda of control over the vast post-war generation, so they tried the new Beatles out in America, Europe and Australia with astonishing success.  Imagine, they thought, imagine what a well-focused message from The Beatles could do to sway the Baby Boomers any way the ruling class wanted Boomers to go.  So, I believe as early as the Help! movie filming in April, 1965, they started pushing The Beatles to advocate a sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll agenda.  It clearly unnerved our Paul at that time from the period photos.

At some point, Paul decided to put up at fight and figured The Beatles' popularity would keep them from being--as the final Paul's wife, Heather Mills so charmingly called it during their divorce--topped (killed.)  Remember the Christmas record our Paul made for his bandmates in 1965.  It had the Beach Boys' "I Get Around" on it.  The telling lyrics are:  My friends and I are getting real well known,
                                                        Yeah, the bad guys know it and they leave us alone.
Paul and John wrote "The Word" for the Rubber Soul album.  "The Word" was a bland, mocking little nod to the future peace-love-and-global-understanding wing of the sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll drive.

Then our Paul and our John stepped up their war on the bad guys with the butcher cover and strong religious and social comments aimed to incite a backlash amongst American fans.  The "more popular than Jesus" comment by John and the "America is racist" comment by Paul both conveniently showed up in the American fanzine, Datebook right before the third version of The Beatles launched the 1966 American tour.  The Revolver album debuted at the time of the 1966 tour.  The psychedelic song, "Tomorrow Never Knows"  on the album contains Paul's mocking laughter sped up to sound like seagull calls.  Slow "Tomorrow Never Knows" down and listen--it's delightfully malicious.

At the same time, I think our Paul and our John were planning their exits from the group. John toyed with Spain and I think  finally landed in Palm Beach, Florida.  Paul, I think, scouted out France, but crucially I believe he was way-layed by a car "accident" and ended up in the hands of  the British government.

What happened to real Paul and real John?  I think real Paul died--through suicide, accident or murder--in late 1965 or early 1966.  There is strong anecdotal evidence (that I'll cover in a future post) that real John survived but was crippled . . . somehow.

It is a tragedy that a collection of fine musicians who brought such happiness to so many people were so abused and were unable to reach out to millions of fans around the world for help.