Expert: Steve - 5/26/2010

Question
QUESTION: Hi. I'd like to know your observations on the first two songs that the Beatles played on their first Ed Sullivan Show, which featured Paul.

How important were those first two songs by Paul which revealed him (as the face and leader of the band, [though John was]) and the band to America? What do you think John's thinking would have been about the song choices?

ANSWER: Heya Carter,
The Beatles' firat two songs on the appearance of the Ed Sullivan appearance were significant in that it showcased Paul as the supposed "leader". However, John knew more money would be brought in with Paul's 'cute'-look. At the time, accumulating money was more important to them than anything else.  
 At this point of their career, John obliged to the demands Brian Epstein was giving, because of monetary reasons. I never thought of John's decisions on which songs should start off the show, primarily because John always felt the end of the show mattered even more, and of course, John would sing a blistering version of "Twist and Shout" to to let the world know 'The Beatles' were going to be BIG
 I hope this answers your question.
 -Steve

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I have heard conflicting stories about the Paul is dead hoax, both credited to Paul, who reportedly admitted that the Beatles, prompted by Brian Epstein, came up with the hoax to boost sales of Sgt. Pepper when some people thought the Beatles were washed up. Paul on the Letterman show claimed to have no hand in the hoax, though John admits "the walrus was Paul" in "another clue" for us all in Glass Onion. Did the Beatles cook up the Paul is dead hoax, and has Paul admitted as much?

Answer

   According to Peter Ames Carlin's book, "McCartney: A Life", page 193, this is quoted:
 "...A college journalist at the University of Michigan named Fred LaBour was working on something in the newsroom when the telephone rang and he found himself speaking to a guy who kept insisting that Paul McCartney was dead. "It was really spooky," LaBour said, recalling how the voice pointed him toward the weird incantation that comes out of the murk at the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever"; doesn't it sound like someone saying I buried Paul? And why is Paul the only Beatle wearing a black carnation on Magical Mystery Tour? Why is his back turned to the camera on the rear cover of Sgt. Pepper? LaBour made a few notes, hung up, and shook his head. Ridiculous. But he had a bit of the prankster in him, so by the next morning he had an idea: "I talked it over with a friend of mine and said, 'I'm just gonna kill him. I'm gonna make the whole thing up.'" Which is exactly what LaBour did, stringing the caller's "clues" with a wider variety of eerie-seeming observations he made up out of whole cloth"

 It mentions further on that he made up the Greek word for "Walrus" being "corpse". Quoting from the book,  "...The Greeks have no such word...they live in a warm climate. They don't know from walruses. On and on it went. See how Paul was barefoot on the cover of 'Abbey Road' Dead men wear no shoes! "I didn't research that one", LaBour admitted. "But it sounded good."

  Personally, I feel that Paul always did something sly so that one day in the future, someone might figure out what Paul was manufacturing: That he had died, and perhaps there was an imposter (or maybe he wanted people to feel that 'Paul' never existed - It was all in the mind.
  The story broke at the most inopportune time of Paul's career, however. It occurred at that time where the Beatles were splitting, and Paul had recently married Linda with a child of theirs just being born (along with Linda's daughter Heather with them). Paul was trying to be very reclusive, having lost his partner John after 13 years. He needed time with his new family along with individual space, and he had gotten a Times reporter along with a photographer knocking on his new cottage farm in Scotland. An angry ex-Beatle answered the door and threw kitchen slop at them! It missed the photographer, but then Paul hit him across the shoulder. As they were leaving, Paul decided to catch up with them and grant them an interview in exchange for the picture of him throwing the bucket at the newspaper reporter/photographer.

   I hope this helps you, Carter.
      Take care
Steve