Significance of Title and Artwork for "New"?
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So the artwork looks to me like one is looking out over a calm ocean. If you look there is 'water' in the foreground, like a sea of glass. Depending on which art piece it is a sunrise or a sunset coming up/going down on the horizon. Three sets of 3 neon lights, which total 9 lights. I thought of the number 93. Then I thought of The King of Cosmania and the anagram that goes with that title. Makes sense to me.
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Nancy R:
rich n:
I think Sgt Pepper was the first album to supposedly hold 'clues'...btw, the inspiration apparently stems from an actually experience- Paul's moped accident in 1966, where he lost a tooth and required stitches on his upper lip...the claim was that he was actually killed in that accident
Rich, that accident happened in Liverpool on Dec. 26, 1965 and Paul only chipped his left front tooth. It's visible as late as May 1966 during the promotional films for Paperback Writer and Rain. I don't know why he hadn't had it fixed yet. Here's the photo Paul insisted his brother Mike take after the accident: (my info comes from Mike's book The Macs)
True - I guess I'm going based on the fact that everytime he loses his cap nowadays, for all intent and purposes, he has no tooth there...LOL Btw, regarding my prior comment about Sgt Pepper being the earliers album with clues...You're certainly right that this was retroactively once this hoax started to catch fire several years later...Don't think anyone in 1967 looked at the Sgt Pepper album cover and think 'PID' clues (obviously given that it didn't exist...LOL)
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Just to put things in perspective, one of the "clues" on the Abbey Road cover was the cigarette in Paul's right hand. If you look at the 45 sleeve for "I Want To Hold Your Hand", guess where Paul's cigarette is...you guessed it...in his right hand! Poof...there goes another myth!
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DrivinFan:
Just to put things in perspective, one of the "clues" on the Abbey Road cover was the cigarette in Paul's right hand. If you look at the 45 sleeve for "I Want To Hold Your Hand", guess where Paul's cigarette is...you guessed it...in his right hand! Poof...there goes another myth!
Either that or it's been Billy Shears, William Cambell or whoever since 1964
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Erik in NJ:
Kathryn O:
Eric, PID is a sensitive subject for some of us. PIDers tend to be crazy and mean. I doubt the mods wouldn't let me go into more detail than that but as a result, it makes my hackles raise and me coming out swinging. One group tried to put me in jail to shut me up from countering their supposed clues. That's how demented they are.
Hi Kathryn! Well I obviously am not of the opinion that Paul died back in the 60s LOL and I'm surprised that anyone would still espouse that ridiculous theory, but the clues back on those albums were definitely interesting and The Beatles themselves purposely planted some to perpetrate the myth. E.g. John in Glass Onion "Here's another clue for you all, the walrus was Paul." just to name one. Put you in jail?? Sometimes I feel like I've fallen into the story "Through the Looking Glass" when I post here LOL...obviously I'm sorry to hear that you've had issues with posters here. You seem like a kind person and I appreciate your replies.
as far as Glass Onion goes, where does it say anywhere the clue is that Paul is dead? I say that John is singing how he and Paul were as 'close as can be' in that song.
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I've got a bootleg Abbey Road record... they're walking the opposite side of the crossing... but Paul is wearing sandals....the volks is still there, but .... no barefoot McCartney. I'm figuring any account of his death was an exaggeration.
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toris:
I've got a bootleg Abbey Road record... they're walking the opposite side of the crossing... but Paul is wearing sandals....the volks is still there, but .... no barefoot McCartney. I'm figuring any account of his death was an exaggeration.
To paraphrase Paul 'he's not really dead'...LOL
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rich n:
toris:
I've got a bootleg Abbey Road record... they're walking the opposite side of the crossing... but Paul is wearing sandals....the volks is still there, but .... no barefoot McCartney. I'm figuring any account of his death was an exaggeration.
To paraphrase Paul 'he's not really dead'...LOL
A fascinating premise, though, wasn't it.... The power of the Beatles!... all part and parcel of the legend that was them.... I'm waiting for Beiber to plant a few clues on his next record.... isn't he the "egg man"? Or is he not going to get convicted for that little misdemeanour?
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toris:
I've got a bootleg Abbey Road record... they're walking the opposite side of the crossing... but Paul is wearing sandals....the volks is still there, but .... no barefoot McCartney. I'm figuring any account of his death was an exaggeration.
, .. Yes, there were multiple shots of him with the sandals. If they were plotting to plant clues, why would there be any shots of him with the sandals at all? Also, the four guys were far from being the best of friends by this point, and John was on the verge of quitting. Extremely hard to imagine them sitting around planting death clues for a laugh. (Hard to imagine it at all, really; they had their own separate interests even by '67, and just getting them together was a logistical challenge most of the time.) Sorry, I wasn't going to feed into this, but that's all I have to say!
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Kathryn O:
as far as Glass Onion goes, where does it say anywhere the clue is that Paul is dead? I say that John is singing how he and Paul were as 'close as can be' in that song.
A glass onion is British slang for a crystal ball. You're right there were no explicit lyrics that referred to Paul being dead until John's "How Do You Sleep" although that was a metaphor. It was the fact that John wrote "here's another clue for you all" that demonstrates that the Beatles were having a bit of fun by dropping clues around here and there. "I buried Paul" and the backwards "Paul is a dead man, miss him, miss him, miss him" were certainly there to fuel the theory, no? Paul designed the album cover for Abbey Road so it didn't take Lennon's or Harrison's input to drop a few clues there. The ashes on the cigarette in Paul's hand was supposed to symbolize cremation according to the cluesters. I think this is a stretch. The cigarette, outfit, bare feet, and Paul being out of step with the others were the things that definitely made him appear to stand out on the cover. It's not a coincidence that the was out of step with the rest of them as it took them a while to get this right. I have an album too with many other photos from that shoot...interesting stuff. Wish I'd had it when I visited Abbey Road back in the 90s. Got some great pics there. And to those that seemingly took offense to my obvious joke about looking for "Paul is dead" clues on NEW (you know who you are
)...here's a dollar--go buy yourself a sense of humor! -
Kestrel:
I think Paul chose New as the title simply because: a) one of the album songs had that title, and b) he can have fun with it being refered to as Paul McCartney's 'new' album, having a similar double-meaning as 'Kisses On The Bottom' had. I doubt Paul intended anything further than that.
Hi Kestrel - I suspect that you are probably closest to the truth. Thanks for your level-headed post!
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Theres no significance to the album title it was called New because it was a new album. Just like McCartney II was called McCartneyII because it was McCartneyII. Paul thinks along simple lines.
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Erik in NJ:
Kathryn O:
as far as Glass Onion goes, where does it say anywhere the clue is that Paul is dead? I say that John is singing how he and Paul were as 'close as can be' in that song.
A glass onion is British slang for a crystal ball. You're right there were no explicit lyrics that referred to Paul being dead until John's "How Do You Sleep" although that was a metaphor. It was the fact that John wrote "here's another clue for you all" that demonstrates that the Beatles were having a bit of fun by dropping clues around here and there. "I buried Paul" and the backwards "Paul is a dead man, miss him, miss him, miss him" were certainly there to fuel the theory, no? Paul designed the album cover for Abbey Road so it didn't take Lennon's or Harrison's input to drop a few clues there. The ashes on the cigarette in Paul's hand was supposed to symbolize cremation according to the cluesters. I think this is a stretch. The cigarette, outfit, bare feet, and Paul being out of step with the others were the things that definitely made him appear to stand out on the cover. It's not a coincidence that the was out of step with the rest of them as it took them a while to get this right. I have an album too with many other photos from that shoot...interesting stuff. Wish I'd had it when I visited Abbey Road back in the 90s. Got some great pics there. And to those that seemingly took offense to my obvious joke about looking for "Paul is dead" clues on NEW (you know who you are
)...here's a dollar--go buy yourself a sense of humor! YOu do know that the term 'clues' also referred to a person's sexuality, right? Especially for an entertainer to see if he was what John liked to call 'funny'. Example: Play the gibberish at the end of the Pepper album backwards. "We'll f*ck you like Superman." Even Paul stated he was taken aback at that one. No PID clues there. The 'turn me on Dead Man' I've heard and the room got cold, but it doesn't mean it is Paul. I still here 'cranberry sauce' myself but some have suggested it's "I married Paul." Well, John did state he gave a clue they were as close as can be.....
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the cover of NEW....those lights look like similar ones to the DVD for In the WOrld TOnight where Paul is filming an episode of Oobu Jubu and mentions the three red lights calling it EMI's nod to psychedelic lighting.
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Erik in NJ:
A glass onion is British slang for a crystal ball.
It isn't. I'm British, 39 years old, and never heard of that in my life!
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My wife is British too and a couple years older than you and from the Bristol/Bath area and I'm always amazed at how many English slang terms she's never heard of. I asked her the other day whether she's ever heard of the game "Queenie Eye" and she said no. I guess a lot of English terms, even more than American ones, are very localized or maybe generational as well. I usually have better luck asking her parents the same questions--they are about the same age as the Beatles. A "glass onion" is a term for a crystal ball and I believe that's how it was meant in the song. Like a fortune teller who is "looking through a glass onion..." In fact John Waters who did a tribute to Lennon writes the following: [Update] ?The song Glass Onion was John Lennon?s postscript to The Beatles. It had such a strong image of crystal ball-gazing and peeling away the layers that it inspired the format for this show ? a kaleidoscope collage of song, word, emotion and image.? Eeee Cor Blimey may be right, however; I heard in an interview back in the late 70s or early 80s that a glass onion was slang for a crystal ball, but the speaker may have gotten the term confused with a glass ball. Just Googling the term it seems the consensus is that a glass onion is a "large hand blown glass bottles used aboard sailing ships to hold wine or brandy. For increased stability on rough seas, the bottles were fashioned with a wide-bottom shape to prevent toppling, thus making the bottles look somewhat onion-shaped." IF this is correct then the metaphor would be that looking through one of these would give you distorted vision (a reference to the over analysis of some Beatle lyrics reading in such things as many of the PID clues and more). Perhaps because Liverpool is a seaport, the term glass onion was commonplace there. I'd heard about the crystal ball reference way before the internet and it may still be correct, so I guess the jury is still out on this one. To me the crystal ball metaphor seems to make a bit more sense, but who knows! The bent backed tulips line was apparently a reference to an upscale restaurant in London from what I remember (that's why they were seeing how the "other half" lives). I'm sure someone here will correct me if I'm wrong.
Interestingly enough, in John's Playboy interview, just before he was shot, he mentioned this song and couldn't properly remember it's name, calling it "Green Onion" and laughing that he couldn't remember the names of his own songs. -
Kathryn O:
the cover of NEW....those lights look like similar ones to the DVD for In the WOrld TOnight where Paul is filming an episode of Oobu Jubu and mentions the three red lights calling it EMI's nod to psychedelic lighting.
Paul had said it's a nod to the artist Dan Flavin...google Dan Flavin images...I really like his work
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love2travel:
Kathryn O:
the cover of NEW....those lights look like similar ones to the DVD for In the WOrld TOnight where Paul is filming an episode of Oobu Jubu and mentions the three red lights calling it EMI's nod to psychedelic lighting.
Paul had said it's a nod to the artist Dan Flavin...google Dan Flavin images...I really like his work
I posted this earlier, but here's Paul's comment on the cover. Seems like it was all other people's ideas, and Paul just approved them. In that Twitter Q&A that Paul did a few months ago, a fan asked: "What was the inspiration for the album artwork?" Paul replied: "At meeting about the album cover someone came up with the logo, another said you could treat it in style of Dan Flavin." http://www.complex.com/art-design/2013/10/paul-mccartney-dan-flavin http://beatlesblogger.com/2013/10/22/the-story-behind-the-cover-art-for-mccartneys-new/
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Thanks for posting this again, I read it earlier and should have replied. So really no significance to the artwork--probably none to the name either other than it was his "new" album...probably labelled like that before they had a title and the name stuck much like the way the Cream song Badge was named -- although in this case someone read the word Bridge upside down incorrectly. I guess we could have ended up with "Men" as the name of this album
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As I meditated more on this album cover and studied a bit, I came upon "The Adoration to the Sun" and "The Meditation upon Nuit." Whether or not it has anything to do with the artwork, it has proved very helpful to me.
