Part 1 — The Night Everything Changed
~ Paul McCartney ~
In his own words.
Right. You've been asking about the accident. And I've been putting this off because honestly every time I sit down to write it my hands go a bit funny. But I said I'd tell you everything and I meant it. So here we go.
November 9th 1966. It was a Wednesday. Cold. Wet. London in November is miserable at the best of times and this wasn't the best of times. Not by a long way.
We were at Abbey Road. Studio Two. And things had been building for a while. Not just between us in the band but between us and them. The people around us. The suits. The ones who'd attached themselves to the whole operation like barnacles on a ship. And I'd been asking questions again. About the contracts. About where the publishing money was going. About deals that were being signed with our names on them that we'd never seen.
And I got into it with one of them that night. I'm not going to say who. But it was bad. It wasn't just a disagreement it was the kind of thing where you realise oh. These people don't work for us. We work for them. And we always have. And everything you thought you had control over you don't. Not the music. Not the money. Not even your own name.
And I lost it. I properly lost it. Which I don't do very often actually. John Lennon was the one who lost his temper. I was always the diplomat. The one who smoothed things over.
But that night something broke in me and I just thought I can't do this anymore. I can't sit here and smile while these people rob us blind.
So I walked out. Just got up and walked out of the studio. Didn't say goodbye. Didn't tell anyone where I was going. Just grabbed my coat and went.
It was raining. I remember the rain because it was that really fine rain that soaks you through before you even realise it's wet. And I got in the car and I started driving. No idea where I was going. Just driving. Just getting away from it.
And that's where the story you know ends. And the one you don't know begins.
More tomorrow.
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Part 2 — What They Did Next
~ Paul McCartney ~
....In his words 🎸
I need to be careful with this part. There are people still alive who were involved and there are things I still can't prove on paper even though I know them to be true. So I'm going to tell you what I know and you can do with it what you want.
After the accident I was taken somewhere. Not a hospital. Not a normal one anyway. I don't know exactly where it was because I was in and out of consciousness for days. Maybe longer. I genuinely don't know how long. When you're that badly hurt time doesn't work properly. It just sort of stops.
And when I finally came round properly there was a man in the room. Not a doctor. A suit. And he explained to me very calmly what was going to happen. Not what might happen. What was going to happen. Like it had already been decided. Like I didn't get a vote.
He said the Beatles were too important to stop. That there were interests involved that went far beyond four musicians from Liverpool. Government interests. Financial interests. He used words like national significance and economic impact and I remember thinking what are you talking about. We're a band. We play songs.
But we weren't just a band were we. By '66 the Beatles were generating more foreign income than most British industries. We were literally keeping parts of the economy moving. And the people at the top of that food chain were not going to let one car crash on a wet Wednesday night shut it all down.
So they'd found someone. They'd already found someone. That's the bit that still gets me. They already had him ready. Which means they'd been planning for this. Maybe not specifically for me. But they had a contingency. They had a plan for what to do if one of us became a problem. And I'd become a problem hadn't I. Asking all those questions.
William Shears Campbell. That's the name I was given later. I never met him. Not then. They kept us completely separate. But they told me he was already being prepared. Already learning. The voice. The walk. The left handed bass. They'd been working on it.
And then the suit told me what would happen to my family if I ever tried to come forward. He didn't raise his voice. He didn't threaten me. He just stated it. Like he was reading a weather report. Very calm. Very British. And I understood. I understood completely.
John Lennon knew. They told him within the first week. And from what I learned later he didn't take it well. He didn't take it well at all. But he was told the same thing I was told. About what would happen. About who would get hurt. So he did what I did. He stayed quiet. But he couldn't live with it. And he started hiding messages everywhere. In the music. In the artwork. In interviews. Every clue you ever found was John Lennon screaming at you from behind a wall he wasn't allowed to break through.
I buried Paul. He said it. He meant it. And then he told everyone it was cranberry sauce because that's what you do when the people who control your life are listening to every word you say.
Tomorrow I'll tell you the rest. Where I've been. How Michael found me. And something else. Something I've been waiting to share with you lot for a very long time. Something that changes everything.
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Part 3 — Coming Home
~ Paul McCartney ~
.... In his words 
Right. Last part. Here it is.
For sixty years I was nobody. New name. New place. Watched the world move on without me. Watched another man play my songs and take my bows and live the life that was supposed to be mine. And I couldn't say a word.
I won't go into everything about those years because honestly some of it I'm still processing and some of it I'm not ready to talk about yet. Maybe one day. But I'll tell you this. The hardest part wasn't the hiding. The hardest part was hearing my own music on the radio and knowing the voice singing it wasn't mine. Hearing Yesterday in a shop somewhere and having to just stand there like it was nothing. Like it didn't belong to me. Like I didn't write it in my bedroom when I was twenty two years old after dreaming the melody in my sleep.
That's what they took from me. Not just my name. Not just my life. They took my music. And music was the only thing that ever made sense to me.
I tried to reach John Lennon once. In the seventies. I found a way to get a message to him. And I think he got it because not long after that he put something in a song that only I would understand. I'm not going to tell you which song. Not yet. But when you hear it you'll know. And I sat there listening to it and I cried for about three hours because I knew he was telling me I haven't forgotten you. I know you're out there.
And then they "killed him", or so they said. December 1980. And I know people have their theories about why and I'm not going to get into all of that right now but I will say this. John Lennon was getting louder. He was getting bolder. He was starting to talk about things he wasn't supposed to talk about. And then he was gone. And I was more alone than I'd ever been.
Then Michael found me. I've told you this part already but I'll say it again because it matters. He found me. I don't know how. I think he had people. People who'd been through the same machine and come out the other side. And he sat with me and he said Paul I know what they did to you because they did it to me. And for the first time in decades someone looked at me and saw me. Not the ghost. Not the memory. Me.
And he told me his plan. That he was going to disappear in 2009. On his own terms. Not theirs. And that he'd come back when the time was right. And when he came back he'd come for me. And I said Michael that's insane. And he smiled and said yeah. That's why it's going to work.
And it did. He went away. The whole world mourned him. And he was out there the whole time. Building something. Preparing. Waiting. And then he reached out and said two words. It's time.
So here I am. James Paul McCartney. Not Billy. Not a ghost. Not a memory. Me. Finally.
And I want to say something to all of you. Everyone who's been here. Everyone who stuck around. Everyone who believed when the rest of the world would have called you mad. You were right. About all of it. And I don't forget that. Neither does Michael.
Which is why I want to tell you that something is coming. Very soon. In the next few days. And it's not just the song. It's not just music. It's something that's never been done before. Something that gives this community real ownership of what we're building together. Not in a symbolic way. In a real way. A way that means you're not just listening to what me and Michael are doing. You're part of it. Permanently.
I can't say more yet. But when it drops you'll understand why I waited. Why it had to be now. Why it had to be you lot first.
Stay very close these next few days. You're going to want to be here for this.
I'm home. And I'm never leaving again.
Kay Stone - Face Book
By now you may have heard the rumors that Paul McCartney was switched out, after having a near fatal accident. I remember as a child thinking at some point something seemed different. I also remember the "original" had a round baby face, puppy dog eyes and was extremely talented. He spoke with a strong British accent and I think he was left handed. Follow my posts about Paul McCartney, in his own words. He is still alive at 77 and has decided it's time the world knows the true.
Kay Stone
