The Walrus Was Paul: The Great Beatle Death Clues [Paperback]

R. Gary Patterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 29, 1998

"PAUL IS DEAD."

It was the late 1960s, the Beatles hadn't toured since 1966, and some truly bizarre indications began appearing, pointing to the unthinkable: Paul McCartney had been killed in a car accident and replaced by a look-alike. The Walrus Was Paul unearths every single clue from one of rock 'n' roll's most enduring puzzles and takes you on a magical mystery tour of baffling, yet fascinating, hints for solving this mystery.

Test your "Paul is dead" trivia knowledge. Did you find and answer the following clues on the front cover?

• To what song does the title, The Walrus Was Paul, refer?

  "I Am the Walrus," which appeared on the clue-filled album Magical Mystery Tour.

• There is an egg in Paul's eye. Why?

  In the song "I Am the Walrus," John Lennon sings, "I am the eggman...I am the walrus" -- and later, in the song "Glass Onion," we find out that, in fact, "the walrus was Paul."

• To what album (and richest source of "Paul is dead" clues) do the red, Victorian-style design elements on the front refer?

  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

• Why is the image of Paul McCartney on the cover blurry? Are there distinguishing characteristics that might lead you to conclude something is awry?

  Many photographs of Paul in these questionable years were blurry, and Paul had a mustache, which allegedly concealed the fact that this was not Paul and the plastic-surgery scars were being hidden from his curious public.

• The anagram on the bottom of the cover refers to a Greek island where John Lennon had what planned?

  The island Leso is the "hidden Greek island" on which John Lennon planned to bury Paul, and it is spelled out as "Be at Leso" on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Jay Fox ABC Fab Four Fridays A must read for any fan of the Fab Four.

Jim Zippo ABC Radio Network The Walrus Was Paul is loaded...[with] mind-blowing stuff....The best Beatle book yet!

About the Author

R. Gary Patterson teaches high school literature and lives with his wife, Delores, in Oliver Springs, Tennessee.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (October 29, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684850621
• ISBN-13: 978-0684850627
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #305,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The long and winding book, May 6, 1999

By 

Dan Amrich (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Walrus Was Paul: The Great Beatle Death Clues (Paperback)

In total, this isn't an irresponsible examination of the hoax, but the book's pacing is unsteady, it seems that Patterson believes the hype a bit too much, offering links and connections that neither engage the reader nor make much sense. I'm sorry--the bare feet on McCartney's "Off the Ground" album are not related to Paul's barefoot stroll across Abbey Road. Fans of the Paul death clues should be prepared for outlandish theories, I suppose, but many examples in the book simply prove how far some people will go to see what they want to see, to believe what they want to believe--and you can't help but feel like an outsider as a result.

The book is peppered with neat summaries of non-death-clue-related Beatles history along the way (which turn out to be more enjoyable, smooth reading than anything else), but they do sidetrack the Paul-is-dead narrative somewhat, and eventually the book degenerates into a psuedo-religious, semi-sociological essay. The repeated first-person voice/name dropping ("My good friend so-and-so gave me an interview...") shifts focus from subject to author in a most jarring fashion.

The topic is worthy of examination and Patterson does sometimes hit his stride, but as a whole the book falters. A less critical/more tongue-in-cheek look (or, perhaps, a shorter book) would have been welcomed. Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Some good information hidden by horrible writing., October 6, 2003

By 

David Damari "visiondoc" (Germantown, TN United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Walrus Was Paul: The Great Beatle Death Clues (Paperback)

There is some interesting information contained in this book. I had heard most of the "death clues" given in this book when I was in high school (over 20 years ago) but it was interesting to have them brought to my attention again, especially now that my daughter is interested in the Beatles and was curious about the album cover photography. The most interesting material in the book was about how the rumors got their start in Detroit and spread like wildfire through the radio and then the print media. The history of this rumor would certainly suggest that the news industry hasn't changed all that much in 40 years.
My biggest difficulty with this book is the writing. I would say that the problem is with the editing but it would appear that a competent editor never saw the manuscript before publication. Most sentences are incoherent and awkward. Thoughts are suggested in one sentence and dropped in the next. In fact, the author seems incapable of completing one line of thought before continuing on to the next. Finally, the organization of the book would seem to be chronological but in fact is anything but logical.
I would recommend this book for the content but certainly not for the delivery of that content.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars You can read all these clues for free online., January 7, 2005

By 

J. Thompson "Whatever's cool with me." - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Walrus Was Paul: The Great Beatle Death Clues (Paperback)

Don't waste your money on this poorly written book. Doing a quick search online for "Paul Is Dead clues" will unearth everything that's in this book and then some. R. Gary Patterson goes way beyond the beyond to provide "newer" clues that don't even make sense in the context of the originals. Be prepared to read this book once and then let it collect dust, or give it away to someone who needs to kill an hour. There are much better resources to give you a Paul Is Dead fix than this book.