Paul Was A Millionaire In 1966.

I found an interesting post on the website dangerousminds.net that reproduced an article from the December, 1966 issue of Rave magazine, a English popzine from the 1960's.  George Tremlett, an English pop journalist and author used London Board of Trade information to estimate the wealth of the four Beatles.  Around 1966, Tremlett estimated Paul's wealth at 1,195,000 British pounds or--3,334,050 U.S. dollars.  That's 3 million.  Tremlett mentioned the confiscatory British tax rate but also said that Paul might have income unreported to the Board of Trade.  (See magazine chart below.)

There has been alot of speculation that our Paul just up and walked away from The Beatles.  He could have exited gracefully, if he had wanted to, and retired--publically--a very wealthy young man.  Instead, he disappeared and was replaced, and that's why Paul researchers are tracking down what happened to him.

Another Telling Interview From 1964

In my May 6, 2016 post, I talked about an April 30, 1964 interview with the four Beatles where George and Ringo played off of each other with comments about being themselves while the "John Lennon" and "Paul McCartney" with them might be other men.

I have just found a 1964 audio interview on Youtube where George makes another pointed reference that the REAL Paul McCartney was not in the present group.

The radio interview with the group was recorded backstage at their 1964 Christmas show.  The interviewer was Radio Luxembourg's DJ, Chris Denning.

You can hear the interview titled "The Beatles 1964 Christmas Show Rare Interview" at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anz0VcqTdno .

Our Paul had just sent out a message to Ivan Vaughan.  Vaughan was a member of The Quarrymen, the band that real John and real Paul and George Harrison played in.  Our Paul was claiming he had been in The Quarrymen.

So . . . . at 7:23-7:44 in the interview, George said the following:
     "Umm . . . I'd like to send a request to somebody who I used to go to school with, too, and he used to play bass in the group---Paul McCartney."  [Everyone laughs] "And if you're listening Paul--at work--it was great going to school with ya and we had a nice time and I'd like to play a nice one called--ah--'Love Me Do'."

Hint, hint?

Faul's Commentary On Our Paul (cont.)

In my post of April 29, 2016, I was showing how "The Fool On The Hill" track of the Magical Mystery Tour album was very likely a song about our Paul--and the condition he was in in mid-to-late 1967.

Think about the lyrics:
     The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still.
               -----          -----          -----           
     And he never gives an answer.
               -----          -----          -----
     But nobody ever hears him
     Or the sound he appears to make
     And he never seems to notice.
               -----          -----          -----
     And he never shows his feelings.

What do those lines conjure up?  It sounds to me like Faul's describing a man in a semi-comatose or stupor-like state.

Fast forward in the Magical Mystery Tour film to a black-carnation-wearing Faul dancing down a staircase and singing what would seem to be an innocuous song, "Your Mother Should Know".  I reversed and listened to the song, and backwards it was anything but innocuous.  You can hear in the reversed song the following at:
     :09-:29      "There's a zombie" (x6)
     :35-:42      "Die, die, die" (repeatedly)
     :44-:56       Funeral-sounding organ music
     :59-1:11    "There's a zombie" (x4)
     1:26-1:38   Funeral-sounding organ music
     1:41-1:46   "There's a zombie" (x2)
     2:03-2:07   "There's a zombie" (x2)

Several dictionaries gave different definitions of the word zombie.  A few examples:
Merriam Webster Dictionary, definition 1B:
     "A will-less and speechless human in the West Indies capable only of automatic movement who is held to have died and been supernaturally reanimated."
Oxford English Dictionary, definition 1:
     "A corpse said to be revived by witchcraft, especially in certain African ad Caribbean religions."
The BBC.com website article of August 31, 2015 traced the origins of the term "zombie" to the superstitious belief that a witch-doctor of Haiti or Martinique could "render their victim apparently dead--either through magic, powerful hypnotic suggestion, or perhaps a secret potion--and then revive them as their personal slaves, since their soul or will has been captured."

If our Paul was alive in 1967--as it appears he was--he was in dire trouble, evidently at the hands of the English government.



                 

The Origin and Significance of the Carnations on The Beatles' Lapels

When the Paul-Is-Dead clues surfaced in 1969, one involved Faul wearing a black carnation while George, Ringo, and fake John were wearing red carnations in a video for the Beatles' 1967 movie, Magical Mystery Tour.  When people equated Faul wearing the black carnation as a sign that Paul had died, Faul laughed it off, saying they ran out of red carnations and he wore one of the black ones that was left.

How did the carnation flower figure into The Beatles' lives?

Let's back up to an interview of our Paul by columnist Alan Smith on June 16, 1966 at the BBC-TV studio The Beatles were in when they were filming the "Top Of The Pops" appearance, famous for the facts that:  1.) This was the only time The Beatles appeared live on that music show, and 2.) It was the day The Beatles were preparing for their big Germany and Far East tour that would end our Paul's (and our John's) membership in the group.

The interview was published in the June 24, 1966 edition of the New Musical Express.  Alan Smith was bragging about how many times he had interviewed Paul.  Smith talked about Paul having a red carnation in his lapel:  "All The Beatles had them.  Gifts of a girl at the London Airport terminal, where they'd been for cholera injections in time for their Far East tour."  Notice that Alan Smith, for all the times he had talked with Paul, had no idea who the girl was who gave The Beatles their red carnations.

The next written mention of red carnations I found was in an interview of "John" in The Beatles Book Monthly of September, 1966  [See the magazine's photo of "John", right].  The interviewer of The Beatles' next John band member (after our John dropped from sight during the Far East tour) said:  "Looking around the dressing room, it was not difficult to notice . . . four black silk suits with a red carnation in each buttonhole- which made one think that The Beatles were part of a wedding part (most unlikely)!"
"John's" explanation of the red carnations was:  "Every time we arrive at London Airport, or depart from it, and whenever we are anywhere," said John, "this girl sends us red carnations.  She's been doing it for a couple of years.  Actually, she came to see us before you arrived."  Given that "John" was new to the group, you can excuse his not knowing who "this girl" is, but you would think an interviewer, from The Beatle Book Monthly, which was the official fanzine of The Beatles, would know who that girl was.

And, who was she?  I read Geoffrey Ellis' book, I Should Have Known Better:  A Life In Pop Management, The Beatles, Brian Epstein and Elton John (Thorogood, 2004).  Ellis was the Chief Executive of NEMS Enterprises, Brian Epstein's company. 
On page 62 of the book, he talked about Brian Epstein's personal office staff.  Epstein's personal assistant was Wendy Hanson and her secretary was Jody Haines who, ". . . had come to the notice of Brian and the Boys by being one of the 'Carnation Girls', two fans who turned up with carnations at as many Beatles' concerts as possible and politely handed them in."
So if Jody Haines was busy, the other [unnamed in the book] girl apparently carried on the tradition.

If the new John wasn't aware of the significance of the Carnation Girls, why would Faul be?  Because from all accounts, Faul took over the top spot of the Beatles when he was installed as the new Paul.  By the time of  Magical Mystery Tour, the new, new Beatles' second album, Faul was calling the shots.

I found Apple Corps Ltd.'s official Magical Mystery Tour website that describes the whole project.  It quotes Ringo saying, "It's Paul's idea really he came up with this . . . ."
There is a copy of Faul's pie-chart outline [see right].

They also have a nice, full color drawing that goes into some of the costs and numbers involved in the production of the film [see left].  So somebody was involved in the production:  sweating out the details.  That would have been Faul.

So I think Faul deliberately wore the black carnation.  And I think this was part of the commentary he was making about, apparently, our Paul.

"Your Mother Should Know", the song Faul sang in the production number at the end of Magical Mystery Tour, is another part of the commentary.  I'll cover that in the next post.


                                                                    - - - paulumbo



                                                          

A 1964 Telling Interview

I found a VERY interesting interview that The Beatles did at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow on April 30, 1964.  Remember our Paul and our John had just been with the group a little less than 6 months, so it's a very early, very telling interview. 
A woman interviewer talked with Paul and John, a man interviewer talked with George and Ringo.  Here is the most relevant part of the interview:

Interviewer:  (at 2:45-2:47)  Do you find any difficulty in keeping up you public image?  Just . . .
George:  (2:47-2:48)  No.
Ringo:  (2:48)  What image?
George:  (2:49-3:01)  It's our image is just . . . us, you know, as we were.  We don't try an' make an image.  It just happened.  So we don't have to keep it up, we just remain ourselves.  Don't we, Ringo?
Ringo:  (3:01-3:04)  Well, we do: [giggles] it's the other two we're worried about.   [John or Paul throws something at him.]

This half-veiled reference to the new Paul and new John would have sailed over most fans' heads, but this was a candid, off-hand acknowledgment of new members to the group.

See and hear the interview at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXJCAeHRdUo   

The Man Of A Thousand Voices

Faul sang the song "The Fool On The Hill", recorded on September 25-27 and October 20, 1967 for the Magical Mystery Tour album, released in late November, 1967.  Ever wonder who Faul was singing about?  I'm guessing our Paul.

For audio examples of Paul "doing accents", listen to:
1.)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=782X8OE4AEA where you can hear a 23-second clip of Paul in 1964 greeting the New York disc jockey Murray the K with a black man's accent.
2.)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR1OMA61FL0 with Paul doing a hilarious mocking of their song, "That Means A Lot".  The Beatles tried to record the song on February 20 and March 30, 1965 and in the March 30th. session, Paul started singing the song with a heavy Liverpool accent and then shifted to singing it (deliberately, of course) off-key.
3.)  Another audio excerpt is from what came to be known as Paul's Christmas Album--an acetate recording Paul put together in late 1965 as a gift to his bandmates.  Listen to a short clip of Paul doing an impressive American disc jockey accent at:  http://www.thebeatlesrarity.com/2015/12/24/asknat-concerning-paul-mccartneys-christmas-album .

For printed proof of Paul's talent for imitation I found:
1.)  The Los Angeles radio station KRLA's fan magazine of the 1960's KRLA BEAT  interview of Paul by Derek Taylor.  Taylor had been the public relations manager for The Beatles and in 1965 was an independent PR agent.  The interview was published April 21, 1965:
Derek:  I think it's often surprising that with a face like yours . . . sort of angelic face . . . the face of a delinquent choir boy, someone once said . . that you have actually got many voices.  One of them you might call a "colored voice."  That was your "colored voice" in "She's A Women", wasn't it?
Paul:  No, it was my green voice.
Derek:  What would you call your anti-lovely voice?
Paul:  I don't know . . soppy, I suppose.
Derek:  Away from song-writing since you're now actors . . .
Paul:  Me James Cagney one, isn't it?
Derek:  Yeah, he's playing a James Cagney face, which isn't recording too well on tape.  Could you give us a James Cagney line?
Paul:  No, I'm afraid not.
Derek:  Would you do us a quick imitation of any of your friends?
Paul:  Any of my friends?  I couldn't, really.  I'm not very good on imitations.
Derek:  You don't like being prompted to do it.
Paul:  You're right.
2.) And then there's the Maureen Cleave interview published in the Evening Standard, March 25, 1966 where she described Paul as a ". . . terrible tease, an excellent mimic."

My point?  Faul claimed that he wrote "The Fool On The Hill" about a Mahareshi Mahesh Yogi-like person--apropos the Beatles visiting the Indian guru in 1967 in Bangor, Wales.
Sounds possible except that the Magical Mystery Tour album that contained "The Fool On The Hill" track had a booklet accompanying it that had a drawing of Paul beneath the words "Fool On The Hill" and the last letter of the title touches--or is meant to split-- Paul's head.  (See image below.)


Remember the lyrics:
     Well on the way
     Head in the cloud
     The man of a thousand voices
     Talking perfectly loud.

The lyrics suggest a man--who is not traveling alone in a vehicle--[someone heard him talking], is close to getting home and--when you add in the song's current descriptions of him--had some sort of life-changing experience.

But also implies that--as of the recording of the song in 1967--the person was still alive.

An Update On My Primer For Listening To Backmasked Songs

In my January 22, 2016  post, I described how I listen to YouTube video songs backwards.  I have found a technique that sometimes improves the vocal clarity of the track.  Here it is:

1.)  When you have your track on Audacity, before you reverse it (#22 on my January 22nd. "tutorial"), click on the "effect' button at the top, scroll down and choose "vocal reduction and isolation".

2.)  The "vocal reduction and isolation" box will appear.  The first line of the box says, "action:  isolate vocals",  Click "ok".

3.)  It will say "applying vocal reduction and isolation".  This takes about half a minute. 

4.)  Then, again, click on "effect" at the top of Audacity.

5.) Click on "reverse" from the list.

6.)  Plug in your earbuds, click on the green triangle play button, and listen to the backward track.

This doesn't remove all the instrumentals, but it does provide clearer vocals on some songs.  Give it a try.