Was Beatle Paul McCartney killed and replaced with a talented impostor in the 1960s? Did the surviving Beatles hide clues to his death in their subsequent albums? Or was the whole idea a mirage – and if so, where did it come from? In this episode of Analytical Eye, we turn our attention to the 1960s and one of the earlier music conspiracy theories.

This episode is dedicated to Shannan M.

Please remember the ORA is not a real agency: it’s just a bunch of otters in a line.

Sources

Sources for this episode are mostly secondary.

A particular shout-out to Andru Reeve and his 1994 book Turn me on, dead man: The Beatles and the Paul is dead hoax, which provides a comprehensive overview of how this theory developed.

Another good secondary source is R. Gary Patterson’s 1998 The Walrus was Paul: The Great Beatles Death Clues.

Hunter Davies 1968 book The Beatles: The Authorised Biography provides a contemporary understanding of how the band felt about fannish interpretations.

In articles, I consulted

Tim Harper, Is Beatle Paul McCartney Dead? Drake Times -Delphic, 17 September 1969

Fred LaBour,McCartney Dead: New Evidence Brought to Light, Michigan Daily, 14 October 1969

Jeff Magalif, Clues Do Not a Dead Man Make: 'I Buried Paul'- And So Have We, Harvard Crimson, October 23, 1969

David Felton and David Dalton, Charles Manson: The Incredibly Story of the Most Dangerous Man Alive, Rolling Stone, 25 June 1970

David Sheff, An exclusive interview: John Lennon and Yoko Ono on love, sex, money, fame and all about the Beatles, Playboy, January 1981

On the internet side, thank you to the YouTubers who captured Beatles interviews, parts of Roby Yonge and F Lee Bailey’s programs, and forwards and backwards ‘clues’ – this has immeasurably improved the research and also the episode.

Thank you also to the website for the band Klaatu.

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