BILL AND SUE-ON HILLMAN: A 60-YEAR MUSICAL ODYSSEY
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ROCK ROOTS CHAPTER
presents

PAUL IS "DEAD"
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On November 7, 1969, American magazine Life managed to track down Paul McCartney at his farm in Scotland and include a feature story dispelling the "Paul is dead" rumors with the headline, "Paul Is Still With Us." They put him on the cover with his family on the farm. The article contained the now famous clues, select album cover photos, and Paul's own brief comments on the death rumors. Life magazine's London correspondent waded through a Scotland bog to find Paul and Linda at their secluded farm, hoping to be granted a photo or a brief interview.

By this time The Beatles had privately broken up. While the breakup was still a secret and would not be announced for months, Paul states: "The Beatle thing is over." The public and press missed the importance of this passing comment.

Life Magazine spoke briefly with Paul about the various "death clues" including the OPD badge on his Pepper suit (which fans took to mean "Officially Pronounced Dead"), his black flower in Magical Mystery Tour, and his barefooted appearance on the Abbey Road album cover. The article contained the now famous clues, select album cover photos, and Paul's own brief comments on the death rumors. Life magazine's London correspondent waded through a Scotland bog to find Paul and Linda at their secluded farm, hoping to be granted a photo or a brief interview.

By this time The Beatles had privately broken up. While the breakup was still a secret and would not be announced for months, Paul states: "The Beatle thing is over." The public and press missed the importance of this passing comment.

Life Magazine spoke briefly with Paul about the various "death clues" including the OPD badge on his Pepper suit (which fans took to mean "Officially Pronounced Dead"), his black flower in Magical Mystery Tour, and his barefooted appearance on the Abbey Road album cover.

McCartney: "It is all bloody stupid. I picked up that OPD badge in Canada. It was a police badge. Perhaps it means Ontario Police Department or something. I was wearing a black flower because they ran out of red ones. It is John, not me, dressed in black on the cover and inside of Magical Mystery Tour. On Abbey Road we were wearing our ordinary clothes. I was walking barefoot because it was a hot day. The Volkswagen just happened to be parked there. Perhaps the rumor started because I haven't been much in the press lately. I have done enough press for a lifetime, and I don't have anything to say these days. I am happy to be with my family and I will work when I work. I was switched on for ten years and I never switched off. Now I am switching off whenever I can. I would rather be a little less famous these days."

"I would rather do what I began by doing, which is making music. We make good music and we want to go on making good music. But the Beatle thing is over. It has been exploded, partly by what we have done, and partly by other people. We are individuals-- all different. John married Yoko, I married Linda. We didn't marry the same girl."

"What I have to say is all in the music. If I want to say anything I write a song. Can you spread it around that I am just an ordinary person and want to live in peace? We have to go now. We have two children at home."

~ JOHN EINARSON