Today many rumors or legends exist about some of our favorite musicians due to song lyrics, or pictures. Famous people are always under constant pressure to always do and say the right thing to keep others from spreading false rumors. However, sometimes even appearing to be “perfect” doesn’t stop the myths sometimes. The death of a famous person sparks some imaginative stories typically, and especially in song lyrics, myths will be created. However, what if some of these legends or myths are true?
One well known legend involves Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil. In his song “Crossroads” the crossroad discussed by the narrator is believed by many to be a “sight of black magic” (http://crossroads.stormloader.com/). The legend is that Robert Johnson went to this crossroad (highway 61 and 49 in Clarksdale, MS) at twelve in the morning, and made a deal with the Devil. The deal was that Johnson would get more guitar playing and singing skills if he in turn gave the devil his soul. Now of course, Johnson got the fame he’d always dreamed about, but he never got to truly enjoy any of it. He soon died, and while he is greatly respected for his fine works of arts, it is pointless to succeed if you cannot enjoy it in the end and be happy. If the legend is true and he really did sell his soul to the devil, he probably did so since he had basically given up on the belief God and heaven after his wife and unborn child died. Now when people perform covers for this song, it is supposedly a curse. Artists who have sung it after Johnson’s death have quickly lost close friends or family, which is why many say it’s cursed. There is no way to tell whether or not Robert Johnson really did sell his soul to the devil, so this will have to always remain a mystery.
Ozzy Osbourne is always doing crazy things that many would consider insane, and this next myth is no exception. According to rumors Ozzy has eaten bats and doves’ heads while on tour! He supposedly ate off a dove head while he was with administrators from the CBS record label. Gross! One dove wasn’t enough to fill Ozzy though, later that day he bit off the head of a bat at one of his shows way back in 1982 in Iowa. When asked if he would ever do it again in an interview Ozzy admits to doing it and replied, “No! Would I bite the head off a bat? I believe that it was meant to happen”. To see more of this interview follow the link: http://www.blender.com/guide/66742/dear-superstar-ozzy-osbourne.html. When Ozzy ate these “meals” he was also drunk which may help explain why anyone would do such a thing! Leave it to Ozzy to eat birds!
Being arguably the best band to walk the earth, the Beatles have myths flying around about some of their members as well. After the Beatles released their Abbey Road cover many rumors started. What was the rumor? Well, many believed Paul McCartney had died in his 1966 car crash. Who is the man who looks like Paul on the cover then? Rumor has it that he is a lookalike and he also sounds like Paul. Knowing that this would sound ludicrous to everyone, the people who started this rumor got evidence to back them up. First of all, the cover of Abbey Road shows the four Beatles walking across Abbey Road in London. Paul is the only one out of step which many found odd. But most of all the way the Beatles were dressed really convinced people of his death. Since John Lennon was dressed in white he was supposed to represent the religious figure at the funeral, Ringo was supposedly the funeral arranger since he wore black, and since George is wearing less dressy clothes than the other band members he was the grave digger. But, Paul was walking barefoot in the cover which symbolizes death because in some foreign countries bodies are buried with no shoes on, and since he is not wearing a sharp looking suit he also resembles a corpse. The fact that Paul is also holding a cigarette in his right hand in the cover also signifies what some people refer to as a coffin nail. However, Paul McCartney is left handed so he should be holding it in his left hand; the hand not facing the camera. The white car in the back ground has a license plate that read 28IF, and when this picture was taken Paul would have been twenty eight if he hadn’t died in a car crash like some chose to believe. If you look behind the Beatles you will also see policemen that were rumored to have been paid to not say anything about Paul dying in the car accident that they responded to. If all of this just appears to be some big coincidence then the back cover may also hold some evidence. For example, there is a sign that says BEATLES, but there is a crack that runs through the “S”, making the Beatles “imperfect”. Also, the dots before the letters forms a three when closely examined. This three may possibly be suggesting that only three Beatles are left on the earth. On the real wall that was used for this picture one can count thirteen dots so the fact that they only used the ones that form a three is suspicious. The next clue is very unclear, but apparently if you look closely at the girl in the blue dress on the back cover of the album her elbow shows a silhouette of Paul’s face. Clues to support the myth can be found in the song Come Together by the Beatles. Since they sing of a man with hair down to his knees people think that they mean Paul McCartney since corpses continue hair and nail growth even after death. The line of the song that states, “He wears no shoeshine” describes one who like Paul in the Abbey Road cover isn’t wearing shoes. Moreover, when they sing “Toe jam football” (which is a fancy name for rugby or barefoot soccer) in the song they may be describing Paul since he enjoyed that game. Also, “monkey finger” could be a reference to one with skinny fingers; such as a corpse. The person who came up with the rumor also stated that at Paul’s real funeral he sang “I know you, you know me” as he was being laid to rest. Another line in the song that is used as a clue for Paul’s death was “one and one and one is three”, which indicates that only three Beatles now remain. A different song with clues is “Sun King”, which was the name given to King Louis XIV of France. Supposedly this same monarch was the basis of the Iron Mask for Alexander Dumas’s Man as the author of www.ispauldead.com explains. King Louis XIV forced his brother to wear an iron mask so that nobody would know who he was. Later the brother ended up taking Louis’s place, but nobody was aware of this with the exception of his close advisors. This resembles the rumor of Paul dying and being replaced by someone who resembles him. Other songs from the Abbey Road album also indicate Paul’s possible death. The song “Golden Slumbers” signifies a never ending sleep; “Carry That Weight” may be interpreted as a body in a casket, and “The End” could mean the end of Paul’s life. People also argue that when the Beatle’s song Strawberry Fields is played backwards it sounds like they are singing “I buried Paul” and other lines about Paul, but personally I couldn’t hear it when I listened to it. Whether or not Paul McCartney really died that day in 1966 will have to remain a mystery.
Another famous legend in music is Bob Dylan. He was well known in folk music, but eventually he branched out of his comfort zone into what he wished would be like the Rolling Stones. In 1965 Dylan played three rock songs in Newport Festival, which consisted of all folk performers. Bob Dylan never let a lot of people know what his performances would be like so that it would always be a surprise. At the festival he really wanted to show people that he can also do rock. Since his two electric songs and his latest album had been such a huge hit, he figured his performance would be accepted by the audience. The night of the show however, the host of the event announced that the musician’s acts tonight would be showing babies what the world we live in is like. This was bad news for Dylan because his act did not send that message out at all. To add even more pressure for Dylan, he was going onstage between two very folk acts, which would make him look even worse. Also, if the night weren’t stressful enough Dylan didn’t even get a sound check for his band which played for the first time together the night before the show. When the time came for them to go on stage the audience immediately noticed his electric guitar. During the first of the three songs they were going to play the audience doesn’t like it and starts getting aggravated that Dylan isn’t paying his songs like normal. Backstage people were also getting angry at him for pulling such a stunt. During the next song, “Farm”, some people lightly applauded Dylan, but many people started to boo him. The sound was awful which made everything worse. By the third song came the applause was nearly gone, and people were screaming at Dylan, reminding him that it was a folk festival. He and his band resorted to backstage, and for a while nobody said anything. Then Peter Yarrow encouraged Bob to get back onstage and just be himself, the person his fans had fallen in love with. Once back onstage he realized he had the wrong harmonica, which made him angry. Finally, he was ready to play and listened to suggests to play “Tambourine Man”. Luckily, this song seemed to sooth the audience. Lastly, Dylan said goodbye to the festival and to the folk crowd and played “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” as Robert Shelton described in his book No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan. This night Dylan was trying to express how he was himself, and he didn’t belong to anybody else, and the audience hated that; as Jim Rooney wrote in Sing out (which was shown in the book by Robert Shelton.) Bob Dylan was trying to be unique and show a different side of himself at the Newport Festival, which the audience didn’t like.
Michael Jackson is a legendary musician, whose death deeply saddened all of his fans worldwide. His death of course turned the spotlight back on him which led to more myths and rumors. Fans that couldn’t handle the fact of Jackson being dead investigated, and soon realized that Jackson hoaxed his own death. The evidence to support the rumor is endless, but can it be true? A reporter apparently predicted that MJ had six months to live, and exactly six months later sure enough he died; could it be a coincidence or not? Also, TMZ (a media source) was the first to report his death, this was before MJ’s brother even got to make his public statement regarding the death (many people find this to be unusual since doctors are typically the one’s to make statements concerning death.) Another form of evidence the believers of the hoax have is the fact that TMZ also was the first source to release the 911 call (and how would a media source be the first ones to get the call?), and call never once said anything about the patient being Michael Jackson (perhaps because maybe the call may have sounded like a joke and they would not respond). However, the call was very calm and relaxed which is not the normal reaction for most people who are experiencing someone going into cardiac arrest. TMZ also released “A Place With No Name” which was a song by Michael Jackson, but it was never actually released while he was alive. Believers of the hoax even bring up the point that the 911 operator hung up the phone after sending an ambulance which any 911 operator would know, is against regulations because they are supposed to stay on the phone with the caller until the ambulance arrives. The next clue was that, as many people already know from watching the news, Michael’s heart doctor was there and gave him CPR until forty-five minutes before later calling the ambulance for help. One picture of Michael in the ambulance was released; the picture shows Michael in the ambulance looking perfectly healthy. Also, Dr. Murray, Michael’s heart doctor who was with him, refused to sign the death certificate so LaToya Jackson had to sign it instead. Joe Jackson, MJ’s father, was in an interview a few hours after the death and said that the kids were doing “great” which is odd seeing how one of them had just died that same day. Also, Kenny Ortega said at Michael Jackson’s funeral that Michael had been there dancing a little less than a week ago, yet he had died two weeks before. Yet another piece of evidence may include the fact that Michael loved Peter Pan and one of his favorite lines in the movie was, “To die will be an awfully big adventure!”However, a little while after the death Kenny Ortgea who was a good friend of Michael’s and also helped direct “This Is It” posted another Peter Pan quote on Twitter, “Smee: Captain! The ice is melting, the sun is out and the flowers are all in bloom. Captain: He’s back”. Some like to believe that Kenny may have been suggesting that he is the captain and Michael is Smee. Websites that supply evidence for the hoax also report that Katherine Jackson shopped for sleeping bags at Target the day after her son died. At the end of the “This Is It” film there is a small quote that says, “Let me breathe in my own time and then I will come back in. I have to button my shirt, move around a little bit. Snap my fingers, then BAM!” Also, it is rumored that no hospital staff, cleaners, etc. saw Michael in the hospital which is odd (but they could have also been protecting his patient confidentiality.) Something suspicious about the death of Michael Jackson is that even after nine months of him being dead; there still wasn’t a grave with his name on it. Moreover, at his memorial none of his closest friends such as Liz Taylor came. However people who never even met Michael, such as Queen Latifah, spoke at his memorial. One of the strangest parts of this story is the fact that when asked in an interview Joe and Jermaine Jackson stated that they learned of Michael’s death from a fan. You can actually watch them physically say this. This is so odd because what fan is close enough to Joe and Jermaine to actually call them? Also, Jermaine said in a different interview that CNN called him and told him about Michael, who from CNN is close enough to Jermaine to tell him this? Then he added that he then called his mother who was already in her car driving to the hospital, which is considered to be unusual since why wouldn’t she call her sons to let them know first? Rumor also seems to have that the ambulance that got Michael did not turn on the sirens or lights which is crazy because in all emergencies the ambulance turns the sirens and lights on. The believers of this Michael Jackson hoax have never-ending evidence that this was a hoax, but is the evidence good enough? For now we will just have to accept that Michael can’t be with us right now.
The Beatles cover for their album Sgt. Pepper had many other famous people that the Beatles were inspired by. Three Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Members I am familiar with includes: Lewis Carroll, Edgar Allan Poe, and Marilyn Monroe. Lewis Carroll was an English author, mathematician, and photographer in the 1800’s whose works are still enjoyed today. One of his most well known books was Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, and one of the poems he wrote continues to be analyzed today by students in English classes. Edgar Allan Poe was another 1800’s fiction writer, poet, and he was even a critic; best yet he was born in Boston, Massachusetts! Poe wrote horror stories (typically short stories) that give the reader chills and kill them with suspense. Poe was an orphan at age three, and lived through many other hardships which may help understand why he would want to write about horror stories. Finally, Albert Einstein was born in Germany in the 1800’s as well. His accomplishments in math and in science from when he was alive are what prepared the world for more success even after his death. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for his success in physics, and he discovered the relationship between kinetic energy and gravity, which was very important because we could now make more inventions and discoveries using that information. It is easy to see why The Beatles admired Lewis Carroll, Edgar Allan Poe, and Albert Einstein.
Three members of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club that I was unfamiliar with was Sonny Liston, Max Miller, and Lenny Bruce. Sonny Liston was a professional boxer in the 1900’s whose bad decisions that led to arrests and even jail time made his fans loose respect for him along with the fact that he got knocked out very easily in fights. Max Miller’s real name was Thomas Henry Sargent, he was very tall with blue eyes. He wore crazy costumes for his shows, and his success was largely based upon the fact that he was amazing at good timing, gestures, the way he worked the silences he sometimes received during shows, and the way he winked at audience members. Max Miller also showed self confidence on the stage which added to his success. Lastly, Lenny Bruce was a high school dropout, who later became a comedian in the 1900’s. His jokes were usually based off of the events happening at the time, and he never actually prepared his jokes. Instead he would just say them out loud as he thought of them. Unfortunately, when he turned forty one he died of heroin overdose. The Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Members were very interesting people.
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