I have been busy exploring a very interesting aspect of The Beatles' collective life that has been casually discussed but not at all well explored. As with all of the obscure comings and goings of The Beatles, this is taking odd twists and turns, and I've been tracking down the best information I can get. So there is much more to come.
---paulumbo
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
"John" Mentioned Bill's Name in 1966.
As anyone who's interested in the Paul mystery knows there has been speculation as to the name of our Paul's replacement. If you check YouTube you will find George mentioning the name Bill or Faul (fake Paul) and one other reference of the name Bill in Faul's film, Give My Regards To Broad Street. I have found a 1966 interview where the new, new John says the name BILL. The title of the YouTube video is John Lennon Interview In Almeria, Spain (1966).
I call the last John (the John of ~ September, 1966-on) pinched-nosed John because of the curious "revised" nose that this John had. (See photo, below.)
Well, this John acted in a movie called How I Won The War, filmed in Spain and Germany in 1966.
In an interview with Fred Robbins, an entertainment reporter for a syndicated radio show, this John says the following:
Fred Robbins: "Does this mean that all of the boys are going to be trying different things as you go along, John?" 5:27-5:31
"John": " Well, I can't speak for BILL, as you know [OR: BILL S. , you know], but George has just got back from India." 5:31-5:37
So "John" in 1966 was confirming that the new Paul's first name was BILL.
.
I call the last John (the John of ~ September, 1966-on) pinched-nosed John because of the curious "revised" nose that this John had. (See photo, below.)
In an interview with Fred Robbins, an entertainment reporter for a syndicated radio show, this John says the following:
Fred Robbins: "Does this mean that all of the boys are going to be trying different things as you go along, John?" 5:27-5:31
"John": " Well, I can't speak for BILL, as you know [OR: BILL S. , you know], but George has just got back from India." 5:31-5:37
So "John" in 1966 was confirming that the new Paul's first name was BILL.
.
Friday, September 1, 2017
Other Voices, Part 22: George, Again
Because I think our Paul might have been replaced in early, July, 1966 while The Beatles had a 70-minute stop-over in Hong Kong en route to Manila, I started looking for solo Beatle songs about Hong Kong. I found one.
George worked on a solo album from March, 1980-February, 1981 called Somewhere In England. On it, he did a cover of songwriter Hoagy Carmichael's 1944 song, "Hong Kong Blues."
The lyrics of the song talk about a man who was arrested in Hong Kong and spent 20 years in jail for drug use.
There are several things going on in George's singing that song.
One thing is the line in the song that says, "I need someone to love me, need somebody to carry me home to San Francisco and bury my body there."
I read the lyrics to the song and listened carefully to George's subtle changes of them.
I suspected there was a reason for George changing the lyrics, so I listened to the song backwards. At 1:42-1:44 in the reversed song, George says: "PAUL, TAKE ME BACK."
If you have knowledge of some of the Paul-Is-Dead clues that The Beatles worked into four years' worth of songs from 1966-1970, you know of the so-called White Album that had a curious snippit of a song called "Can You Take Me Back" that cross-faded into the major Paul-Is-Dead song, "Revolution 9." Major because--played backwards--it hinted STRONGLY that our Paul died. George--according to a Wikipedia article--contributed spoken vocals, tape loops, sound effects and electric guitar work on "Revolution 9."
The lyrics of "Can You Take Me Back"--Faul's intro to "Revolution 9"-- are:
Can you take me back where I came from?
Can you take me back?
Can you take me back where I came from?
Brother, can you take me back?
Can you take me back?
Can you take me back where I came from?
Can you take me back?
George could have been mocking Faul and Faul's drug arrest in Japan in January, 1980. In other words, Faul mocked Paul's removal from the group and this was George's come-uppance to Faul.
But it could also have been George's sorrowful remembrance of the "brother" he lost in 1966.
Note: I originally found the Youtube video for "Hong Kong Blues" at https://youtube.com/watch?v=dEmlQRh8VGs. This video is no longer available, but I found another Youtube video of the song at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9Rfvc9yqBo .
George worked on a solo album from March, 1980-February, 1981 called Somewhere In England. On it, he did a cover of songwriter Hoagy Carmichael's 1944 song, "Hong Kong Blues."
The lyrics of the song talk about a man who was arrested in Hong Kong and spent 20 years in jail for drug use.
There are several things going on in George's singing that song.
One thing is the line in the song that says, "I need someone to love me, need somebody to carry me home to San Francisco and bury my body there."
I read the lyrics to the song and listened carefully to George's subtle changes of them.
I suspected there was a reason for George changing the lyrics, so I listened to the song backwards. At 1:42-1:44 in the reversed song, George says: "PAUL, TAKE ME BACK."
If you have knowledge of some of the Paul-Is-Dead clues that The Beatles worked into four years' worth of songs from 1966-1970, you know of the so-called White Album that had a curious snippit of a song called "Can You Take Me Back" that cross-faded into the major Paul-Is-Dead song, "Revolution 9." Major because--played backwards--it hinted STRONGLY that our Paul died. George--according to a Wikipedia article--contributed spoken vocals, tape loops, sound effects and electric guitar work on "Revolution 9."
The lyrics of "Can You Take Me Back"--Faul's intro to "Revolution 9"-- are:
Can you take me back where I came from?
Can you take me back?
Can you take me back where I came from?
Brother, can you take me back?
Can you take me back?
Can you take me back where I came from?
Can you take me back?
George could have been mocking Faul and Faul's drug arrest in Japan in January, 1980. In other words, Faul mocked Paul's removal from the group and this was George's come-uppance to Faul.
But it could also have been George's sorrowful remembrance of the "brother" he lost in 1966.
Note: I originally found the Youtube video for "Hong Kong Blues" at https://youtube.com/watch?v=dEmlQRh8VGs. This video is no longer available, but I found another Youtube video of the song at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9Rfvc9yqBo .
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Junior's Farm
Faul and his group Wings released a song called "Junior's Farm" in October, 1974. He recorded the song in July, 1974 in Nashville, TN.
The story was that Faul stayed at Curly Putman Jr's farm, (Putman was a Nashville songwriter), during Wings recording of the song and that that was the reason the song got its name.
OR, it could be Faul was referencing the farm he acquired from our Paul after Paul was replaced in 1966.
As I said in the "Albert Goldman's Clues of 1968, Part 1" post [July 24, 2017], Faul was, of course, aware that Paul was much younger than him: from my research and calculations by about nine years. Our Paul was very much Faul's junior (and also the youngest member ever in The Beatles.)
Faul and his family liked to go and "lay low' at the Scottish farm that our Paul had just before he "left" the group, so I think Faul may have been thinking about Paul when he wrote "Junior's Farm".
The story was that Faul stayed at Curly Putman Jr's farm, (Putman was a Nashville songwriter), during Wings recording of the song and that that was the reason the song got its name.
OR, it could be Faul was referencing the farm he acquired from our Paul after Paul was replaced in 1966.
As I said in the "Albert Goldman's Clues of 1968, Part 1" post [July 24, 2017], Faul was, of course, aware that Paul was much younger than him: from my research and calculations by about nine years. Our Paul was very much Faul's junior (and also the youngest member ever in The Beatles.)
Faul and his family liked to go and "lay low' at the Scottish farm that our Paul had just before he "left" the group, so I think Faul may have been thinking about Paul when he wrote "Junior's Farm".
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Albert Goldman's Clues of 1968, Part 2
Continuing with my last post, Albert Goldman, author and professor wrote a critique of Hunter Davies' Beatles biography in the October, 1968 Vogue magazine. Goldman's biography of John Lennon was published in November,1988. Goldman said he spent six years researching Lennon's life for the book and conducted 1,200 interviews during that time, so my guess is that Goldman had a keen interest in The Beatles and by 1968 must have had a fair grasp of the dramas and machinations happening within the lives of The Beatles--by my count--eight young men total.
So in the article Goldman says:
He's talking about the four Beatles written about by Davies in 1968: the last group with a new Paul and a new John introduced in late 1966.
So I take it Goldman means there were other Beatles no longer in the group. And he also could have meant literally that certain of the other Beatles were by the publishing of the book and the article, DEAD.
So in the article Goldman says:
"Blown off all the charts of traditional and contemporary life by their stupendous success, the SURVIVING [my emphasis] Beatles lead a Robinson Crusoe existence, struggling to live alone on their little islands of idleness."
He's talking about the four Beatles written about by Davies in 1968: the last group with a new Paul and a new John introduced in late 1966.
So I take it Goldman means there were other Beatles no longer in the group. And he also could have meant literally that certain of the other Beatles were by the publishing of the book and the article, DEAD.
Monday, July 24, 2017
Albert Goldman's Clues of 1968, Part 1
Hunter Davies wrote the authorized biography of The Beatles. The first edition was published in 1968.
Albert Goldman was an American professor who wrote biographies of popular culture personalities: American controversial comedian Lenny Bruce, rock and roller Elvis Presley--and--in 1988, John Lennon.
Well . . . Goldman wrote a review of Davies' book for the October, 1968 edition of Vogue magazine that had two notable pieces of information in it.
First, Goldman said that the 1968 version of The Beatles lived in "lavish homes which they occupy but do not possess--like servants when the family is away." [my emphasis]
1.) George lived in an Esher, Surrey house called Kinfauns from July, 1964 until January 1970.
2.) Ringo lived in a house called Sunny Heights in Weybridge, Surrey from July, 1965 until November, 1968.
3.) Our John lived in a Weybridge, Surrey house called Kenwood beginning in July, 1964. When the new John appeared in late 1966, that John lived there until the late spring of 1968.
4.) Our Paul moved into a London house on Cavendish Avenue in March, 1966 that he had supposedly bought in April, 1965. When he was replaced in the group, the next Paul moved into the house late in 1966. Our Paul also reportedly bought a 183 acre farm--called High Park--in Cambeltown, Scotland that was also reoccupied by the new, late-1966 Paul.
Here's a photo of Jane Asher and Faul at High Park in 1967.
[Note the "22" on Faul's t-shirt. As I've speculated in other posts, I think our Paul was born in 1944 (or 1945), which, of course, means that Paul was replaced when he was 22.]
So it's possible that Goldman was saying that the residences of The Beatles were, in effect, fringe benefits that went with the job. That certainly turned out to be true for our Paul and our John.
Albert Goldman was an American professor who wrote biographies of popular culture personalities: American controversial comedian Lenny Bruce, rock and roller Elvis Presley--and--in 1988, John Lennon.
Well . . . Goldman wrote a review of Davies' book for the October, 1968 edition of Vogue magazine that had two notable pieces of information in it.
First, Goldman said that the 1968 version of The Beatles lived in "lavish homes which they occupy but do not possess--like servants when the family is away." [my emphasis]
1.) George lived in an Esher, Surrey house called Kinfauns from July, 1964 until January 1970.
2.) Ringo lived in a house called Sunny Heights in Weybridge, Surrey from July, 1965 until November, 1968.
3.) Our John lived in a Weybridge, Surrey house called Kenwood beginning in July, 1964. When the new John appeared in late 1966, that John lived there until the late spring of 1968.
4.) Our Paul moved into a London house on Cavendish Avenue in March, 1966 that he had supposedly bought in April, 1965. When he was replaced in the group, the next Paul moved into the house late in 1966. Our Paul also reportedly bought a 183 acre farm--called High Park--in Cambeltown, Scotland that was also reoccupied by the new, late-1966 Paul.
Here's a photo of Jane Asher and Faul at High Park in 1967.
So it's possible that Goldman was saying that the residences of The Beatles were, in effect, fringe benefits that went with the job. That certainly turned out to be true for our Paul and our John.
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Sloop John B(lack)
In my January 10, 2015 post I talked about The Beach Boys' 1966 album, Pet Sounds. One track from the album that made it onto a 45 single was the song "Sloop John B."
I've been researching and posting information about our Paul's real name and I am convinced that his real name was JOHN BLACK. It makes sense that the competitive Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys would want to make some comment on John Black's life and I think "Sloop John B" was it.
For right now, I can't say how biographical the song is. I am researching the probability that at some time in the 1965-1966 time frame The Beatles owned--or had access to--a yacht.
And I did find a very interesting quote from Geoffrey Ellis, who was the Chief Executive of NEM Enterprises, Beatles' manager's Brian Epstein's company. In Ellis' 2006 book, I Should Have Known Better: A Life In Pop Management--The Beatles, Brian Epstein and Elton John, he says:
I've been researching and posting information about our Paul's real name and I am convinced that his real name was JOHN BLACK. It makes sense that the competitive Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys would want to make some comment on John Black's life and I think "Sloop John B" was it.
For right now, I can't say how biographical the song is. I am researching the probability that at some time in the 1965-1966 time frame The Beatles owned--or had access to--a yacht.
And I did find a very interesting quote from Geoffrey Ellis, who was the Chief Executive of NEM Enterprises, Beatles' manager's Brian Epstein's company. In Ellis' 2006 book, I Should Have Known Better: A Life In Pop Management--The Beatles, Brian Epstein and Elton John, he says:
"As well as dealing with contracts, tax matters and various company administrative affairs, there were concerns over aspects of the Beatles' lives which required attention. The secrecy over Paul's whereabouts when he went on holiday, awkwardly for the preparations for the Northern Songs stock market flotation, was typical of the discretion which always had to be exercised over the movements of each of the four Beatles, and over all aspects of their private lives." (my emphasis)And an interesting note is that--as I said in the 2015 post--The Beach Boys hired Derek Taylor who had been The Beatles' publicist, as their publicist. Derek Taylor directed an innocuous little video featuring The Beach Boys goofing around in a swimming pool with "Sloop John B" as the video's theme music. But the song's title--and possibly some of the song's lyrics-- was a sly reference to our Paul.
