Customer Reviews

Turn Me On, Dead Man: The Complete Story of the Paul McCartney Death Hoax (Rock & Roll Remembrances)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Beatle fans always knew that someday there'd be a whole book on the subject, but this book surpassed my expectations. Before reading this book, every written account of the 'Paul Is Dead' rumor seemed the same to me...not much more than a list of the 'clues' and the Beatles' explanations. But Andre Reeves' book is not just a listing of clues...in fact, he saves that for the very end of the book. Instead he wisely gets behind the origin and evolution of the rumor, showing how a college student's tongue in cheek newspaper article snowballed into a national obsession, almost like a small fire gradually getting out of control and turning into an inferno. Reeves puts the reader right into those crazy weeks of October 1969 so that he/she can get a glimpse of a world unsure if the baby-faced Beatle was still walking the Earth, barefoot or otherwise. The accounts from the rumor's key players provide information previously unavailable in any Beatle books, and shed new light on many areas. Those who continue to profess that the Beatles concocted the whole thing really need to read this book before uttering another word about it. If you just want a fun-to-read listing of clues, there are many web sites that provide one. But if you are looking for some true stories behind the rumor that put it in a whole new perspective (in other words, if you truly wish to learn something,) 'Turn Me On Dead Man' more than satisfies.

Well, first of all, this book is a bit overpriced---it should be in the $24-26 range (though many of the books offered by this publisher---mostly books about rock music, television and Stephen King---are similarly priced) and the cover art is bland and prosaic (or as my wife put it, it's "butt ugly").

However, let me say that if I were stranded on the proverbial Desert Isle and I could take only 10 Beatles books with me, this would be among the lucky dozen (I always pack intemperately). I have accumulated quite a healthy library of Beatles books over the years (at last count, I had 194 tomes devoted to the Fab Four).

"Turn Me On, Dead Man" is oddball fun, giving a delightfully askew glimpse of Paul McCartney and company during the band's final days at Abbey Road. As each Beatle wandered off to find personal fulfillment outside of the band during the summer of 1969, a rumor began circulating among the college kids and radio disc jockeys of the midwestern US. They all began to notice that McCartney was presented somewhat "differently" on the Beatles' album covers (barefoot on the obverse of *Abbey Road*; with his back turned toward the camera on the *Sgt. Pepper's* back sleeve). But it was the discovery of several backwards "messages" in the songs that really got this urban legend going (e.g., if the end of the song "I'm So Tired" is spun in reverse, a mysterious voice mumbles, "Paul is a dead man---miss him, miss him"). Spooky stuff!

Of course, all of this was (and is) a wicked brew of nonsense, coincidence and wild speculation. But therein lies the strong sociological aspects of this mere rumor. People need to believe in something: a hero, a martyr, a deity. People look for guidance in "times of trouble" (see McCartney's own composition, "Let It Be"). Besides Reeve's layman discussion of this factor, the author also includes a more professional essay by Barbara Suczek among the hefty collection of post-text appendices.

There's even a compendium of the visual and auditory "clues" to McCartney's death that were discovered during the heyday of the rumor. All in all, a fun and spirited little book.

This book was completely overhauled and re-published in 2005 under the title TURN ME ON, DEAD MAN: The Beatles And The "Paul-Is-Dead" Hoax, and it is much improved and expanded over this older volume. Both books are great, but the newer one is...well, newer. It's available here at Amazon.com for around $15. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed the book. I doubt people who don't like the Beatles (horrors!) or who don't care about weird episodes in American pop culture will be interested. The narritive style may be a little too novelized to swallow but it is presented in an entertaining fashion. When does the movie come out?

By the way, I know of one clue not mentioned. On the cover of the U.S. album _Yesterday and Today_, the Beatles are posing around a steamer trunk with Paul sitting inside. Looking at this cover from the right angle makes it look like he is in a coffin.

This, of course, is in the eye of the beholder.

As a Beatles fan and a lover of things of this nature(weird true tales) I loved this book. It was so fun to realize how easily America runs with a sensational piece of crazy journalism and treats it as a topic for 11 o'clock newscasts. As a film student I see this book as wonderful material for a film, hopefully done bt me.

I Loved it. Good topic. Fun to read and thought-provoking.

If one looks at history, you'll find out that hoaxing ones death or in this case, finding a look a like to replace a famous person and keep that information concealed at all costs until everybody involved has passed on, is'nt to far fetched. There have been other situations in our history that were'nt at all what we were lead to believe.

Case in point, the legendary Jesse James death hoax still rages on after over one hundred years one both sides. Was it really Charlie Bigalow or was it realy Jesse James who was killed in that house that day.They claim that J.J.'S cousin Bob Ford shot him in the back of the head n the bullit came out at the corner of his eyebrow making a small nice exit hole. AAAAAA excuse me but have you ever seen what a 44 or 45 bullit hole exit looks like? It would have exploded his face. Legend has it that they made a pact to not reveal their identitys until they all had reached the age of one hundred years of age. Of course none of them thought that they would live that long and after that date had passed, he was drawn out from those shadows and to everybodys suprise this 100 hundred year old man had the identical indentifying marks on his body that the Pinkerton detective agency had on the Jesse James of the 1870's. Not only that, but the investigater tracked down many people who were known to have known J.J. back in the day and 5 of the old James gangs members who were still alive all said that ol J. Frank Dalton was really the real Jesse james. Yet after this, the debate still goes on.

Yes I know that this review is supposed to be about Paul McCartney, but what Im trying to get at is that some times these things do happen and there's always going to be no holds barred denial, skoffing skeptics ect...ect... then low and behold, after everybody involved is gone or that one person is gone, then the truth is let out.

Remember several years ago when Iron Eyes Cody died at the age of 91 and only then did we find out that he did'nt have one drop of Indian blood in him but was in all reality 100% Italian? Yet he passed him self off as a Cherokee Indian all these years and nobody was the wiser. To top it off, the Indian Nation knew it all along and never said a word until MR. Cody passed away.

What would everybody think if after the man that we know as Paul McCartney passed on and two weeks later, information is released that proves without question that this man really did take the place of MR McCartney so many years ago and had to forget who he really was and played out this roll for all these years without anybody being the wiser, all for the fans. Ward Frazier Greensburg IN.

This unique book - a stylistic cross between "News of the Weird" and "In Cold Blood" - is a fascinating exploration of a popular urban legend, the alleged "death" of Beatle Paul McCartney. I am neither a Beatles fanatic nor a student of contemporary myth, but I loved this book! Intelligently-written and comprehensive, "Turn Me On, Dead Man" is a witty, trippy walk down memory lane for those of us who remember hearing the rumors of McCartney's demise - and simply big fun for everyone else. A nifty case study on how urban legends are born and how they can take on a life of their own

"Turn Me On, Dead Man" is an excellent book and is very interestingly written. While the story is a historical account of a slice of life from our musical past, it reads like a novel. I am not an avid Beatles fan, but I was totally captivated by the book. Andru Reeve obviously spent a lot of time researching the background for his book and talking to the people who actually lived through and participated in some way in the Paul is Dead hoax. It is delightful reading and is a book that I would heartily recommend to anyone, but especially to those fans of the fab four. My only complaint is that this is the only book that Reeve has published. The guy has the talent to be recognized as a first-rate journalist and novelist

The book "Turn Me On, Dead Man was was of the most interesting books I have ever read. I enjoyed the remarks in "Appendix I" because they were witty and they pointed out the obvious things that most people refused to accept about many of the false clues. The main body of the book was just as provocative. The story of Russ Gibb and the radio-station was one of my favorite parts. I shall cherish this book for the rest of my days.