Huckabee says "Paul is dead!"

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, in response to criticisms that his latest TV ad uses a subliminal religious message, said Tuesday:

"I will confess this: If you play the spot backwards it says, 'Paul is dead. Paul is dead.'"

The reference is to a rumor of 38 years ago that then-Beatle Paul McCartney had died and been replaced by a look-a-like. Peddlers of the rumor insisted that subliminal clues to Paul's demise were included on certain Beatles recordings, some of them discernible only by playing the records backwards.

The Huckabee ad has attracted darts even from Bill Donahue, a self-appointed guardian of Christianity in general and the Catholic Church in particular against what he sees as bigotry.

POSTSCRIPT: According to some sources -- this one, for example -- the "Paul is dead" rumor was started in Oct., 1969, by the Northern Star, the campus paper at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, just down the road from world headquarters of The Rockford Rascal.

More Beatles

On this 40th anniversary of the release of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (as noted two posts below), we're offering here a few treats from the Fab Four (some of them performance videos and some just homemade stuff over Beatles audio):

Here are the lads performing "Revolution" on British TV in the late '60s.

"Penny Lane" is here.

"A Day in the Life" is here.

The famous "Rooftop Concert" is here.

And one of my faves, "In My Life," is here.

STILL MORE: "Here Comes the Sun" here; "Within You and Without You" here; "Norwegian Wood" here; and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" here.

UPDATE: For a nice little video in which the Beatles themselves talk about the making of "Sgt. Pepper's," check here.

It was 40 years ago today

I find it bittersweet to admit that I remember well the summer of 1967 and the awesome influence on popular culture of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," which was released 40 years ago today.

The Beatles' masterpiece, arguably the greatest album of all time, profoundly changed popular music.

"Sgt. Pepper" took rock well beyond the confines of the genre by employing a vast array of other musical influences, from classical to carnival to English music hall. And on each of the 13 tracks, the lyrics matched the music beautifully. The effort also involved by far the most sophisticated recording techniques to that time.

The overall effect was magical.

UPDATE: Rockford's own Cheap Trick will perform "Sgt. Pepper" in its entirety at the Hollywood Bowl on Aug. 10-11.