9 Biggest Urban Legends About Classic Rock Songs

5. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band Reveals Paul McCartney's Death

The Myth: In 1969, the world was aflutter at the "very real possibility" that Paul McCartney had died three years earlier, when he stormed out of a recording session for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and, in anger, crashed his car. He'd been quietly replaced with a look-alike so the band could keep going without losing any diehard Paul fans.

The Beatles make constant allusions to Paul's death in their albums (because they did want people to find out?), but their "immediate" grief and not-so-subtle hints are right there in the Sgt. Pepper album. For starters, there's a wreath in the shape of a bass guitar on the album cover, in memory of the bassist. But most convincingly, if you listen really closely, you can hear John Lennon says the words "I buried Paul" at the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever."

The Reality: For anyone with decent eyesight and at least 50 percent of their faculties, it's pretty obvious that Paul McCartney is alive and well. He makes regular public appearances, and even performs on awards shows. Paul did not die in 1969. The Paul Is Dead hoax was born from the rising tensions between the band members while recording The White Album and Abbey Road. The rumors were started in jest, with a student journalist for The Michigan Daily printing the headline McCartney Dead: New Evidence Brought To Light.

But some people took it very seriously. So what was Lennon actually saying in "Strawberry Fields"? Lennon claimed he was saying "cranberry sauce" (probably because he didn't actually remember what he said), while other astute listeners claim he says "I'm very bored." Either way...not an endorsement of Paul's dead.