Loading ...“At some point, the album was going to be titled Everest after the brand of cigarettes I used to smoke,” recalls Geoff Emerick. The idea included a cover photo in the Himalayas but by the time the group was to take the photo they decided to call it Abbey Road and take the photo outside the studio on 8 August 1969.
The cover designer was Apple Records creative director Kosh. The cover photograph was taken by photographer Iain Macmillan. Macmillan was given only ten minutes around 11:30 that morning to take the photo on a zebra crossing on Abbey Road. That cover photograph has since become one of the most famous and most imitated album covers in recording history. In the photograph, the Beatles walk across the street single file from left to right, with Lennon leading, followed by Starr, McCartney, and Harrison. McCartney is bare-footed and out of step with the other three. The photograph also played a prominent part in the “Paul is dead” urban legend in late 1969. With the exception of Harrison the group are wearing suits designed by Tommy Nutter. The man standing on the pavement in the background is Paul Cole (c. 1911 – 13 February 2008), an American tourist unaware he had been photographed until he saw the album cover months later. The zebra crossing today remains a popular destination for Beatles fans. There is even a webcam featuring it.
The Abbey Road cover is the only Beatles album cover of their original UK albums to have neither the group’s name or an album title visible (in America, Hey Jude also has a cover like that).
The Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle (LMW 281F) parked next to the zebra crossing belonged to one of the people living in the apartment across from the recording studio. After the album came out, the number plate was stolen repeatedly from the car. In 1986, the car was sold at auction for £2,530 and is currently on display at the Autostadt museum in Wolfsburg, Germany.
The white VW Beetle which, according to some proponents of the “Paul Is Dead” conspiracy theory, was parked there intentionally as a rebus. Those subscribing to the “Paul is Dead” theory believed the procession on this cover was supposed to reflect a preacher (Lennon), an undertaker (Starr), a corpse (McCartney – hence he is the only one barefoot) and a gravedigger (Harrison). The number plate on the VW Beetle also plays into the “Paul is Dead” theory. Part of the registration number reads “281F” which some have read as “28 IF”, meaning that Paul would have been 28 if he had lived.
The Abbey Road Zebra Crossing as it appears today.
