Oct 20, 2019
Fifty years on and the "Paul is dead" hoax has lost none of its
power to fascinate on so many levels. Perhaps the most compelling
angle for examination is how did something so clearly nonsensical
in the light of day get disseminated so widely and not just
dismissed out of hand? It seems that a perfect storm of
circumstance gave it traction and resonance, with both what was
happening within The Beatles and within the community most
receptive to believing that truth was not what authority figures
told us.
Helping unpack all of this is sociologist Candy Leonard, author of
Beatleness. Her
book covers the subject in
some detail.