Editing Paul is dead (section)

==Rebuttal==
[[File:life magazine nov 69.jpg|thumb|alt=The cover of an edition of ''Life'' magazine showing Paul McCartney and family in Scotland'|The magazine report that rebutted the rumour]]

On 21 October 1969, the Beatles' press office again issued statements denying the rumour, deeming it "a load of old rubbish"<ref>{{cite news|title=Beatle Spokesman Calls Rumor of McCartney's Death 'Rubbish'|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=22 October 1969|page=8}}</ref> and saying that "the story has been circulating for about two years – we get letters from all sorts of nuts but Paul is still very much with us".<ref>{{cite news|last=Phillips|first=B.J.|title=McCartney 'Death' Rumors|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=22 October 1969|page=B1}}</ref> On 24 October, [[BBC Radio]] reporter Chris Drake was granted an interview with McCartney at his farm.{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=358}} McCartney said that the speculation was understandable, given that he normally did "an interview a week" to ensure he remained in the news.{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=334}} Part of the interview was first broadcast on [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]], on 26 October,{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=359}} and subsequently on WMCA in the US.{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=334}} According to author John Winn, McCartney had agreed to the interview "in hopes that people hearing his voice would see the light", but the ploy failed.{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=334}}{{refn|group=nb|In the 2000 book ''[[The Beatles Anthology (book)|The Beatles Anthology]]'', McCartney says that his reaction to the rumour's growth had been: "Well, we'd better play it for all it's worth. It's publicity, isn't it?"{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|p=342}}}}

McCartney was secretly filmed by a [[CBS News]] crew as he worked on his farm. As in his and Linda's segment in the Beatles' promotional clip for "[[Something (Beatles song)|Something]]", which the couple filmed privately around this time, McCartney was unshaven and unusually scruffy-looking in his appearance.{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=335}} His next visitors were a reporter and photographer from ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine. Irate at the intrusion, he swore at the pair, threw a bucket of water over them and was captured on film attempting to hit the photographer. Fearing that the photos would damage his image, McCartney then approached the pair and agreed to pose for a photo with his family and answer the reporter's questions, in exchange for the roll of film containing the offending pictures.{{sfn|Sounes|2010|pp=262–63}} In Winn's description, the family portrait used for ''Life''{{'}}s cover shows McCartney no longer "shabbily attired", but "clean-shaven and casually but smartly dressed".{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=335}}

Following the publication of the article and the photo, in the issue dated 7 November,{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=335}} the rumour started to decline.<ref name="Noden/MojoSpecial" /> In the interview, McCartney said the rumour was "bloody stupid" and went on to say:

{{Blockquote|Perhaps the rumour started because I haven't been much in the press lately. I have done enough press for a lifetime, and I don't have anything to say these days. I am happy to be with my family and I will work when I work. I was switched on for ten years and I never switched off. Now I am switching off whenever I can. I would rather be a little less famous these days.<ref name=neary>{{cite magazine|last1 = Neary|first1 = John|date = 7 November 1969|title = The Magical McCartney Mystery|magazine =[[Life (magazine)|Life]]|pages = 103–06}}</ref>}}