FRED LABOUR, WHO DECLARED PAUL AS "DEAD" WAS KIDDING

Did you know that Fred LaBour was actually making fun of the “Paul is dead” theory when he perpetuated the Beatles rumor back in 1969? Clearly, many people didn’t pick up on the fact that his review for Abbey Road was actually a satirical parody review, as people still question him about his belief in Paul McCartney being dead to this day.

Fred LaBour

Today he clarified, again, that he was kidding. LaBour sat down with The Detroit News to talk about his upcoming performance this weekend, where he will be debuting a song he wrote about Paul. Even though he was joking, forty six years later, his “Paul is dead”-themed review is still a huge part of his life. And ours.

“I’m a footnote of a footnote of a footnote in Fab Four history,” LaBour told TDN. In October of 1969, he was driving in his car when he heard WKNR-FM’s Russ Gibb taking calls from listeners about McCartney’s rumored demise. The countless, preposterous clues (as LaBour calls them) that the listeners were calling in with were getting on his nerves, so what did he do? He unintentionally perpetuated the rumor with his over-the-top, satirical parody review of Abbey Road.

Under the review’s headline, LaBour wrote, “McCartney dead; new evidence brought to life”. From there, he listed countless clues, such as the badge on McCartney’s shoulder on the album cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which he said read “OPD” for “officially pronounced dead”. 

While it’s hard to tell in this photo of the album cover, the patch actually read “OPP”. LaBour also touched upon the word “walrus”, saying that it was Greek for “corpse”. FYI, it isn’t.

In an attempt to make fun of the “Paul is dead” theory, LaBour ended up contributing to it greatly. So much so, that people still ask him about it to this day. LaBour told TDN that a man recently called his Nashivlle home from Minnesota, asking “have you seen this new evidence? Italian scientists figured out it’s not McCartney’s voice.”

LaBour somewhat-kindly responded with, “I wrote that story to make fun of people like you.”

After a brief pause, the man on the other line replied with the perfect response. “So you don’t believe it?”