The cover of the final Beatles studio album has become so iconic that thousands of entities have incorporated it for their own use (including the second issue of mental_floss).
The original photograph was snapped on August 8, 1969—40 years ago this past Saturday. As one of many tourists who has attempted to re-create that photo (darn, that’s a busy street!), I present a few interesting behind-the-scenes fact about the Abbey Road cover shoot.
Paul McCartney had the original concept for the cover, and had sketched out four stickmen walking over the “zebra crossing” (the name given to the stripe marks on roads indicating pedestrian crossings in England) just outside Abbey Road studios. Photographer Iain Macmillan was hired to capture McCartney’s vision on film. Macmillan climbed a ladder that perched him about ten feet above the fabled street. A police officer held the traffic back while Macmillan squeezed off a few shots of the Beatles crossing the street in one direction. Some traffic was allowed to pass for a short time, and then Macmillan photographed the group crossing the street in the opposite direction. He took a total of six photographs during the shoot, and it was number five – which featured all the band members’ legs in a perfect “V” formation- that was ultimately chosen for the cover.
When the rumor that Paul McCartney had actually died in a 1966 car crash started spreading, conspiracy theorists had a field day with the Abbey Road cover. It was rife with clues, according to them. For example, Paul was barefoot, which is the way corpses were buried at the time in England. (In actuality, Paul had turned up at the photo shoot wearing sandals, but had kicked them off after the first two takes.) Also, the Volkswagen behind George bears the license plate number “28IF” – obviously meaning Paul would be 28 years old if he had lived. (At the time of the photo shoot, Paul McCartney would have been or was 27 years of age.)
After the road-crossing photo was finished, Iain Macmillan set off to find a good “Abbey Road” street marker sign to use for the back cover of the album. He found it at the junction of Alexandra Road and started taking photos of the sign. Much to his chagrin, while he was busy shooting an oblivious woman in a blue dress walked right in front of his viewfinder. While reviewing his shots later that day, however, he decided that the “blue dress” photo was the most interesting of the bunch, and he ended up using it in the final composition.
In a somewhat revolutionary move for that time, the front of the album cover did not mention the band’s name or the album title. That decision came from John Kosh, who was the creative director for Apple Records at the time. Kosh was already well known in the London avant-garde art scene when the Beatles hired him, and his argument for the “photo only” album cover was that they were the most famous band in the world and there was no need to clutter the photograph with text. EMI Records protested at first, saying they’d never sell any records that didn’t indicate who the artist was, but the Beatles supported Kosh’s vision, and in the end, they were right.
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Great article! The full license plate reads “28IF LMW” the LMW stands for “Linda McCartney Weeps”.
I love the Paul is dead rumor. I think its so funny to try to find all the clues, especially the ones that require you to play the music backwards
posted by Kristine on 8-10-2009 at 12:46 pm
Paul is also out of step with the others, and is holding a lit cigarette. Death, I say! Death!
posted by Johnny Cat on 8-10-2009 at 1:45 pm
More on the Paul is Dead rumour: The gents are all dressed like a funeral procession. John in white (the priest), Ringo in black (the undertaker), Paul is obviously the deceased, and George is all in denim (the gravedigger).
All I can say is that impostor has had a hell of a career.
posted by Bert on 8-10-2009 at 2:23 pm
He is also holding the lit ciggie in his right hand – Paul was left handed. Also, the crack going through the S in Beatles on the back of the album, is supposed to represent that the Beatles were no longer complete. The Walrus was Paul. :)
posted by PaulisDead on 8-10-2009 at 2:25 pm
The writer says : “In a somewhat revolutionary move for that time, the front of the album cover did not mention the band’s name or the album title. ” This is at least partially incorrect. Neither “Revolver” (1966) nor “Rubber Soul” before it(1965) had the Beatles name on the cover either, only the title!
posted by Jan on 8-10-2009 at 2:34 pm
I love the beatles and this is my favorite album… thanks!
posted by ac on 8-10-2009 at 3:43 pm
…and I love that people love the Beatles so much they derive completely absurd fairytales about them from totally meaningless details! they’re like a religion, you can find the signs you’re looking for if you look hard enough. If I has a religion, it would be Beatles.
i like that george is in the recaptcha. a propos ;)
posted by ac on 8-10-2009 at 3:55 pm
An interesting side note. The song Revolution 9 helped fan the flames of the whole Paul is dead thing. From Wikipedia:
“Revolution 9″ played an important part in the infamous “Paul is dead” controversy. Most notably, the repeated “number nine” played backwards can be heard as “Turn me on, dead man.” Various snippets of speech included in the recording were heard as hints left by the band about Paul’s alleged death.
posted by Muerte Del Toro on 8-10-2009 at 6:13 pm
When my daughter was 7 years old (about 7 years ago) she fell in love with Paul and was convinced she was going to marry him. She found a book with all the “Paul is dead” rumors and clues in it and read it over and over again, obsessing on the smallest details. Now, what OTHER group that broke up 30 years before could have that kind of an effect on a child?
posted by richard dixon on 8-10-2009 at 7:03 pm
John Lennon always found it amusing how fans would try to read so much into their lyrics and would often write cryptic nonsense just so people would try to figure them out, he was also a fan of Lewis Caroll and nonsense poetry from an early age.
Also, in his solo song “How Do You Sleep?” he jabs at Paul saying “Those freaks was right when they said you was dead…”
posted by Nerak on 8-10-2009 at 7:18 pm
I know i’ve gone slightly off topic here, but can anyone tell me why i’m convinced that, in one of the many biographies i have read, it said the photo was actually taken on the crossing at the other end of the road and not right outside the studio. It’s driving me mad. I know I read it somewhere but I cant remember which book it was in
posted by Rhiannon on 9-9-2009 at 5:57 pm
Learn the true story behind the Paul is Dead story, it’s not the story you think you know.
http://thearchivest.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/the-man-who-killed-paul-mccartney/
posted by Wheaty Peatstraw on 9-4-2010 at 2:51 pm