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ROCKY RACCOON
DECODED The decode begins in the summer of 1984. While sitting around one afternoon, guitar in hand, and strumming through a tattered old Beatles’s songbook, a strange thought began to intrude. Reading the lyrics to "Rocky Raccoon" it struck me as odd that McCartney had used the term "Gideon’s Bible" in this song, and used it twice. Unlike Lennon, McCartney rarely touched on issues as controversial as religion. That was when other thoughts started surfacing, and they were these hazy old memories of television news reports from 1966 concerning John Lennon’s statement that "The Beatles are more popular than Jesus Christ". Beatles historians will recall that it was only weeks before protests were raging in all corners of the globe. Out of this came a memory of a t.v. news cast in the S.F. Bay Area talking about two attempts by the Gideon Bible organization to add their bit to all the protest hoopla swirling around the Beatles at this time. The first supposed protest attempt by the Gideons was to put dozens of their Bibles in Beatle’s hotel rooms along the U.S. leg of their world concert tour. The second attempt was to put a Bible in every seat of an airliner the Beatles were to travel on. The question that arose from this memory was, "could there be an intentional correlation between two mentions of the Gideons in the 1966 news casts, and two mentions of the Gideons in "Rocky Raccoon"? I began work on deciphering all the terms, names, phrases, and sentences in the song, and it's from those memories from 1966 that the lyrics began to unfold with the following results. Rocky Raccoon.... A Lyrical Decode; 1. Now somewhere in the Black Mountain Hills of Dakota Now somewhere in that region of America known as The Bible Belt. 2. There lived a young boy named Rocky
Racoon
There lived a lot of adult Christian parents. 3. And one day his woman
And one day the teenage children of these adult Christian parents. 4. Ran off with..... another guy
Became............ Beatle......... fans. 5. Hit.................................... young Rocky in the
eye
Insulted and angered ......Christian parents because of Lennon’s statement 6. Rocky didn’t like that, said I’m gonna get that
boy
Christians were angered, vowed to bring the Beatles down. 7. Then one day he walked into town
Christian protestors came to town. 8. And booked himself a room in the local
saloon
Protesting Christians appearing at every concert site (saloon). 9. Rocky Raccoon checked into his room only to find Gideon’s
Bible
Television newscasts at the time said that the Gideon’s Bible group may have added to the protests by placing numerous additional Bibles in the Beatle’s hotel rooms. 10. Rocky had come equipped with a
gun
Protestors had come equipped with protest signs. 11. To shoot off the legs of his
rival
To bring down the Beatles. (rival) 12. His rival it seems had broken his
dreams
The Beatles it seems had broken the dreams of adult Christian parents. 13. By stealing the girl of his
fancy
By making fans of the Christian teenagers. 14. Her name was Magill, and she called herself Lil, but
everyone knew her as Nancy
Teenage Christian fans were called by many terms used to describe music/Beatle fans. 15. Now she and her man who called himself
Dan
Now Christian teenagers and their idols who called themselves Beatles. 16. Were in the next room at the
hoedown
Were together at various Beatle concert sites. 17. Rocky came in and grinning a grin
Christian protestors came in threatening and protesting. 18. He said Danny boy this is a
showdown
Protestors said Beatles we don’t like what you said. 19. But Daniel was hot
But Beatles were at the top of their popularity. 20. He drew first and shot
Beatles continued concert tour and held interviews downplaying significance of Lennon’s quote. 21. And Rocky collapsed in the
corner
And Christian protests began to fade away in time. 22. The doctor came in stinking of
gin
Beatles manager, Brian Epstein, came on scene, secretly suffering from a severe drug habit 23. Proceeded to lie on the
table
Began issuing press statements to soften the public relations damage. 24. He said Rocky you met your
match
Private opinion of the time indicated the Christian protests couldn’t compete with the Beatle’s popularity. 25. And Rocky said doc it’s only a scratch, I’ll be better, I’ll
be better doc as soon as I am able
More sober minded Christians of the time felt that the impact of Lennon’s statement, and the Beatle’s current influence, would eventually fade away while Christianity would remain. 26. Rocky Raccoon fell back in his room only to find Gideon’s
Bible
The Gideons make their 2nd, and last, protest attempt by trying to put Bibles in every seat of an airliner the Beatles were to travel home on. 27. Gideon checked out, and he left it no doubt to help with
good Rockies’ revival.
With the failure of their attempts to swamp the Beatles with Bibles it would seem that the Gideons will have returned (he left it) to their original mission(revival) of getting their Bibles into motels and hotels. At one point or another all the Beatles would issue press
statements downplaying the significance of John’s statement.
While many had the impression that this was John’s band, it was usually Paul who tended to act as the point man in Beatle activities. It was also Paul who seemed to be the most concerned with the Beatle’s public image. In this light it seems natural that Paul would harbor serious concerns over John’s quote, and the impact it would have on then current, and future, Beatle popularity. It appears that hidden in "Rocky Raccoon" was a statement by
Paul to the effect of, "hey everyone, John didn’t mean what you all think he
meant, and if we’ll all just relax a bit, all of this will blow over in time
with no harm done". Paul doesn’t seem to have mentioned any of this in any
interviews, so it seems logical that he might simply want all the memories of
public outrage, protest, and personal stress relegated to the steamy mists of
time.
©Written by: Lonnie R. Dawson. Lonnie seeks any confirmation that the placing of the bibles, and other related event at the time actually happened. mailto:dawsonfab5@ftcnet.net. Rocky Raccoon Lyrics Now somewhere in the black mountain hills of Dakota There lived a young boy named rocky raccoon And one day his woman ran off with another guy Hit young rocky in the eye, rocky didn’t like that He said Im gonna get that boy So one day he walked into town Booked himself a room in the local saloon Rocky raccoon checked into his room Only to find gideons bible Rocky had come equipped with a gun To shoot off the legs of his rival His rival it seems had broken his dreams By stealing the girl of his fancy Her name was magil and she called herself lil But everyone knew her as Nancy Now she and her man who called himself dan Were in the next room at the hoe down Rocky burst in and grinning a grin He said Danny boy this is a showdown But Daniel was hot - he drew first and shot And rocky collapsed in the corner Now the doctor came in stinking of gin And proceeded to lie on the table He said rocky you met your match And rocky said, doc its only a scratch And Ill be better, Ill be better doc as soon as I am able Now rocky raccoon he fell back in his room Only to find gideons bible Gideon checked out and he left it no doubt To help with good Rockys revival |