2/09/2009

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST . . .


Did you know that Paul is dead?

Wait...not the guy who actually invented Christianity, the tent-maker. I'm talking about the guy who was in another band before he was in Wings.

No, not the situation comedy.

Well, look, I happen to own a copy of the magazine shown above. I found it rummaging around in the bottom of a shortly-to-be-condemned theatre in downtown Fresno back in the early 80's, in a pile of ridiculous skin mags from the 1960's. I took it, still have it. In retrospect, there were probably a bunch of Bette Pages in the pile that would be worth a lot more money, but I like my grim Beatle mag. It's a hoot if you don't think about it too much, and entirely sobering if you do. The fact is that there was a 'Paul is dead' meme that gained incredibly wide circulation in a very short time, and the more it was denied, the more people believed it.

Anyway, the fascinating Ken Cope left a comment over at Pharyngula got me thinking about this by linking to this presentation by Brian Moriarty. Believe it or not, I knew a lot of this 'lore' already just by osmosis, and I was in second grade when all this happened. Who woulda thunk?
PAUL IS DEAD DEAD DEAD I SAY BWA HAHAHAHAHAHA

1 comment:

Eamon Knight said...

Man, do I remember that. I was in middle school (ie. the perfect age for pop-star obsession), and one poor girl in my class was reduced to tears. A few of us guys -- obviously budding hard-nosed skeptics -- kept trying to tell her it was all BS, but she just kept on crying.