Odds and Ends

As I do the research I come across interesting bits of information that do not directly have to do with the Paul mystery but are fascinating nevertheless and might fill in a blank for someone else doing research on The Beatles.  So here is the post Odds and Ends, where I'll put those tidbits I find.  Here are three I've found to start----

1.)  I was looking at the England & Wales Death Index 1916-2006 with the off chance that one of The Beatles not known as officially dead might have had his death index entry transcribed there.  I found the following:
                         Name:                             John Ono Lennon  [!!!]
                         Birth Date:                      27 Aug 1965
                         Date of Registration:      Jan 1996
                         Age at Death:                  30
                         Registration district:        Portsmouth
                         Inferred County:              Hampshire
                         Register Number:            E48A
                         District and Subdistrict:  4971E
                         Entry number:                 234
I could speculate on this, but I haven't done enough research on name changing to know how easy or difficult it is for anyone to change his or her name in England.  I did  look in the England & Wales Birth Index and didn't find a John Ono Lennon listed.  There is a possibility that our John and Yoko Ono had a son in 1965, but I don't have the time to track this down.  For someone who does, happy hunting!

2.)  There has been alot of speculation on one of the Paul-Was-Replaced boards about the egg-shaped trophy on the cover of the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
On the diagram on the right it's the little figure below and between the drum (#81) and the bust of the man (#78) and right above the "L" in "BEATLES".  I was reading The Beatles:  The True Beginnings by Roag, Pete, and Rory Best, and on p. 173 they have a photo of the "trophy" and they identify it as a Cash Box International Award and say it was given to Mona Best (their mother) as a thank-you gift by John Lennon.                                  

3.)  Brian Epstein (the manager of The Beatles, in case you don't know) went to see a Dr. John Flood, a psychiatrist, on June 8, 1967.  Dr. Flood admitted him to a hospital in Roehampton, England, gave him antidepressant drugs, and--on Epstein's release from the hospital two weeks' later--gave him prescriptions for Tryptizol and Carbrital.  The bromide in the Carbrital built up in Epstein's system and caused his death on August 27, 1967.  I wanted to know what happened to Dr. Flood and found his obituary in the British Medical Journal of August 16, 1980 (p. 513):

"Dr. Flood fought a long illness with courage and it was tragic that he should have been stabbed by intruders in his own home four days before his elder daughter's wedding earlier this year." [!] 

I haven't tried to track the incident down any further, but someone else might want to.

Who Was OUR Paul?

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.
    
  

Dr. Robert (cont. from 6/26/2011) and Paul

I said in my last post that I would be writing about what I found in regards to our Paul's identity.  I think he was a World War 2 war orphan adopted by a family probably near Liverpool.  But, before I get to that-- I wrote a post last year about our John's song, Dr. Robert and how I found an interview in 1966 that definitively identifies Dr. Robert as an English National Health doctor.  I think the "Robin, the butterfly stomper" in the animated film, Yellow Submarine is supposed to be Dr. Robert; (the name Robin is a nickname [diminutive] for Robert.) 

In the film, Robin is wearing a t-shirt with the number 7 on it.  (See
image on right.)  I was watching a video on Youtube that featured our John and "poetry" from his book, In His Own Right.  John appeared on the English comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's BBC television program, Not Only . . . But Also.  The program was filmed in late November, 1964.  See the entire segment at:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmjvoXeP2Pg  .
From 5:12-5:29 in the segment, John and actor Norman Rossington recited John's poem, "Good Dog, Nigel":

5:12-5:18 (Rossington):  Arf, arf, he goes, a merry sight, our little hairy friend.  Arf, arf upon the lamppost bright.
5:18-5:25 (John):  Arfing 'round the bend.  Nice dog, goo boy, waggy tail and beg:  Seven, Nigel, jump for joy . . .
5:25-5:29 (John and Rossington):  Because we're putting you to sleep at 3 o'clock, Nigel!
In the original poem, John used the word clever instead of seven.

In my post of 3/3/2012, I was talking about the impromptu song, There You Are Eddie that Paul's replacement recorded in January, 1969.  Again, the whole song can be heard at:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijwI7wgXbxE .  At 2:05 in the song it sounds like George suggesting that Faul sing about NIGEL, so from 2:06-2:17, Faul sings, "There you go, Nigel, Nigel, Nigel.  There you go, Nigel, Nigel you dog."

Sooo, connecting the dots, Nigel was code for our Paul and he was being abused by a National Health doctor with--I'm guessing-- the real name of Robert.

Other Voices, Part 8 (continued)

As I said in yesterday's post, Love's The Red Telephone was referenced in The Bonzo Dog Band's song, We Are Normal.  Listen to the song on Youtube at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZXI9RJSgok .  The relevant lyrics are:

          Well, it's ah, it's not for me to deter really, is it?
          I mean, it's for a psychiatrist to deter these things, isn't it?
                       -   -   -   -
          I don't know, it's just not like normal people do.
          You're not running around in your underpants, are you?  [See Lime Street lyrics below.]
                        -   -   -   -
          We are normal                        [Referencing The
          And we want our freedom.      Red
          We are normal                         Telephone
          And we want our freedom.      lyrics]

In my post, Other Voices, Part 7, I talked about the backmasked references to Paul in Procol Harum's single of May, 1967, A Whiter Shade of Pale.  The flipside of the single had a song called Lime Street Blues.  Listen to the song at:  http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUqaieKiELc
Here are the lyrics:
     Lime Street in the afternoon.
     I'm running around in my underpants [The lyrics of We Are Normal, in the first person]
     Trying to find some kinda romance.

     Quarter past three on Lime Street.
     I got whipped right offa my feet.
     Didn't realized that I'd been caught
     'Til I found myself in the county court.

     'Mr. Judge,' I said, 'Won't you please be kind?
     Have pity on me, a poor orphan child?'
     'Orphan or not, you're going down!'

     Well, I screamed on my knees in the witness box,
     'Lord have mercy on my golden locks.'
     The judge, I could see that he was snide.
     He says, 'The only kind of blonde you are's a peroxide!'

     Oh Lime Street, Lime Street
     Lime Street, that's where we meet.

I think the three songs were about Paul, with definite hints about Paul's background, what he may have been accused of, and what was done to him.

My next post will be about what can be pieced together about OUR Paul.  He wasn't Paul McCartney and he's not the man calling himself Paul McCartney today.       ---paulumbo

Other Voices, Part 8: The American Voice, The Bonzo Dog Band and Procol Harum

Love was an American psychedelic band of the 1960's who had what is now considered a classic album called Forever Changes, recorded from June - September, 1967 and released in November, 1967.  One track on the album is called The Red Telephone.  What got me interested in the song is the fact that The Bonzo Dog Band mocked the song in their album, The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse.  (See my March 28, 2012 post for a discussion of a backmasked reference to Paul in that album's track, Trouser Press.)

Before I get to the song, I tried to track down what significance there was in the song's title.  I found that there were red telephone boxes in England in 1966--the "K6" (Kiosk #6.)  And I found that red telephones existed in England as far back as 1937.  The "Type 706" telephone was available from 1959.  There's a nice British Pathe film that shows Queen Elizabeth introducing the phone to the English public, if you're interested.  I assume Arthur Lee of Love who wrote the song heard something, but I couldn't track it down any further.

The song itself talks about a man trapped in an apparent mental institution, about the man being hypnotized and "medicated" and losing track of time.  Listen to the track on Youtube at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRILyCLHXDE .  Some of the significant forward lyrics are:
         
          Sitting on a hillside  [Fool on the Hill?]
          Watching all the people die. 
          I'll feel much better on the other side;
          I'll hitch a ride.  [If you know the Beatle songs, there are many references to Paul
                                      asking for wheels (a car), asking for a "jam jar"  (English rhyming slang
                                      for a motor car, etc.]
                           - - - -
          And if you want to count me
          Count me out.  [ In the Beatles' 1967 Christmas record (which has the jam jar reference), there
                                     are several times when Ringo sings O-U-T spells OUT.]

                           - - - -
          They're locking them up today.
          They're throwing away the key.
          I wonder who it will be tomorrow
          You or me?

                           - - - -

          We are normal
          And we want our freedom.
          We are normal
          And we want our freedom.
The entire song, sung and spoken, is done in an English accent.

Reversed, you can here "Let me out" sung three times beginning at 1:28.

                                            ---references in The Bonzo Dog band song and the Procol Harum song
                                                tomorrow.             paulumbo

Other Voices, Part 7: A Whiter Shade of Pale

This post was going to be about the only American song I found with what I believe are reversed (and forward) references to our Paul.  The song is the American group Love's The Red Telephone and I'll get to that song in the next post.

I have been reading the 2010 book, Beatlemania! The Real Story of The Beatles UK Tour 1963-1965 by Martin Creasy.  Of course, it is not the real story because it fails to mention that both the real Paul and John were replaced in late 1963 (by our Paul and John), but I did find several interesting bits of information that I'll comment on in future posts.

Creasy talks about the other singers and musicians that toured with The Beatles.  One group was The Paramounts.  The Paramounts toured with The Beatles on their sixth and final UK tour, December 3-December 12, 1965.  In 1966 (or 1967 depending on the source) Gary Brooker of the group founded another group, Procol Harum with his friend Keith Reid.  The group's first single, A Whiter Shade of Pale was released on May 12, 1967, and it has several pointed backmasked references to Paul.

The reversed references:

0:06-0:09 - Paulie was
0:36-0:41 - Everybody heard I was hurt
0:55-0:57 - Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
0:58-1:01 - Paulie was
1:17-1:18 - A Beatle
2:20-2:24 - Everybody heard I was hurt
2:41-2:45 - Paulie was I

The evidence I've found on consistent and widespread backmasking by British groups shows that The Beatles were not carrying on a hoax commenting on serious problems in Paul's life, and--because the references are so widespread over many British groups--there was alot of knowledge out there in bits and pieces and a large cover-up that is still going on.  The truth needs to be told.

Other Voices, Part 6: American Voices?

I have been looking into backmasked references to Paul in American songs and--so far--I have found only one definite reference and one possible one.  (More on those in the next post.)

It's interesting that the fate of our Paul was a hot topic for discussion from the British groups but  not the American groups, but I'm speculating that the British groups were more worried about their personal situations vis-a-vis the English government.