Highlights
- Ringo Starr addressed the bizarre rumor about Paul McCartney being dead and replaced by an imposter.
- The most famous Beatles conspiracy theory is about John Lennon’s death.
- Lennon himself made comments in interviews suggesting he knew his life could be in danger.
Given that they are undoubtedly the most famous rock music band of all time, The Beatles have been engulfed in controversy and conspiracy theories since they disbanded in 1970. While the most famous conspiracy theory involves the legendary John Lennon, who was killed by Mark David Chapman in 1980, the most bizarre one involves Sir Paul McCartney.
During an interview with Vulture about Ringo Starr’s career highlights, the former Beatles drummer addressed these conspiracy theories head one. Here’s what he had to say…
Inside The Paul McCartney Is Dead Conspiracy Theory
According to Rolling Stone, the most bizarre conspiracy theory concerning the Beatles involves Sir Paul McCartney and whether or not he’s actually still alive. The rumor initially blew up in 1969 when a radio host named Russ Gibb played the intro of “Revolution 9” backward at the behest of a caller.
- “Revolution 9” was the ninth track on The Beatles “White Album”.
- Russ Gibbs was the host of WKNR in Detriot.
Upon playing the track backward, Gibbs claimed he heard the words “Turn me on, dead man.” Following this, they played “Strawberry Feilds Forever, which reportedly featured a subliminal message from John Lennon saying, “I buried Paul.”
Like many conspiracy theories, the idea that Paul McCartney was dead grew significant legs. So much so that people believed that he had died in a car crash back in 1966. And that the man believed to be McCartney was actually an imposter.
Of course, all of this has never been proven even remotely accurate. But that hasn’t stopped the rumor from spreading and even being fairly prevalent to this day. So much so that former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr was asked about it during his July 23, 2023 interview with Vulture.
Starr claimed that the only conspiracy theory that really stuck with the band was the one involving the McCartney death and imposter.
“There were some songs people pointed out as being ‘secret.’ John [Lennon], by accident, learned how to play a tape backwards, and we put that to full use.”
Starr went on to address the subliminal messages put into some of the Beatles songs directly.
“So we’d just do something silly at the end of a track and it’d be all over the newspapers and on the radio. They’re actually singing, ‘Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’ It just made us all laugh. All of those interesting things we said were not that interesting. We had a great laugh about that. Look at what they’re saying now.”
Of course, Starr was referring to the endless scouring of Beatles tracks for more subliminal messages that could prove the ridiculous rumor to be accurate. The rumor became so prevalent that Paul McCartney himself told Rolling Stone in 1974 that people phoned him up to tell him that he had actually died.
But none of Paul McCartney’s protests could stop the rumor from swirling into an uncontrollable vortex that sucked in any desperate person it could. Even The Beatles’ famous “Abbey Road” cover was said to be a funeral procession with John Lennon (wearing white) as the preacher, Ringo Starr (in black) as the undertaker, McCartney as the corpse, and George Harrison (wearing denim) as the grave digger.
The ludicrous theory also posited that the imposter who replaced McCartney is the man responsible for co-writing some of The Beatles best songs. Mainly “Hey Jude” and “Blackbird”, which were released after his supposed car crash in 1966. This also would have included “Let It Be”, which came to McCartney in a dream after 1966.
The Beatles song, “I Am The Walrus” also found itself at the center of the conspiracy theory. This is because “walrus” is Scandinavian for “corpse” and the line “goo gooo gooo joob” is what Humpty Dumpty says before his great fall in James Joyce’s work. Due to a line in “Glass Onion” about the walrus being Paul, the rumor used “I Am The Walrus” as its chief piece of evidence.
But none of it was accurate.
As Ringo Starr stated to Vulture, all of the subliminal messages they put into their songs were done as a goof. They were just boys having a blast with a bit of technology Lennon had shown them.
As for Sir Paul McCartney, he had always found the conspiracy theory amusing. According to Rolling Stone, he even called one of his future solo albums “Paul Is Live’ as a cheeky response to the rumor.
Inside John Lennon’s Death Conspiracy Theory
The most famous Beatles conspiracy theory concerns the true nature of John Lennon’s death. There are two avenues of thought concerning the passing of the famous band member on December 8th, 1980. One of them is akin to the former President John F. Kennedy assassination theory… that there wasn’t just one gunman.
Of course, we know that John Lennon was gunned down by Mark David Chapman. He even admitted as much, according to Global News. And Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, who was present, also confirmed it. But this wasn’t enough for some people. Among them is author David Whelan who wrote the book, “Gimme Some Truth: The Assassination of John Lennon.”
In the book, Whelan claimed that a few nurses at the Roosevelt Hospital, present at the time of Lennon’s murder, claimed his wounds did not line up with the reports given. Mainly that Lennon had bullet wounds from the front and not from behind where Chapman was reportedly standing.
Additionally, an assertion was made that the bullet wounds were more consistent with those from the gun of a trainer killer and not a “Catcher in the Rye” fanatic like Chapman. Whelan stated that he believed that Lennon was killed by the CIA and that Chpamn, much like Lee Harvey Oswald, was a patsy.
While none of these claims have been even remotely proven accurate, many do believe that Lennon was aware that he was going to die sooner rather than later. During an interview, it appeared as though John Lennon knew what would happen to him…
According to The Guardian, Lennon told Beatles secretary Fred Kelly that he wouldn’t make it to the age of 40. This was something he echoed during numerous interviews. This includes one in 1964.
“You say that you’re very attentive, ” an interviewer said to Lennon. “You can see what’s going on and I noticed that behind you in the car that you could sort of follow everything that was going on with people with different posters. You’re really looking at the people.”
“Yeah, sure,” Lennon responded, according to The Guardian.
“You’re very aware of everything around you.”
“I think you’ve got to be,” Lennon explained. “You know, you might get shot.”
While Lennon is said to have laughed off his comment. It has since become somewhat ironic given the fact that it actually ended up transpiring.
Source: NewsFinale
