One of the biggest pastimes of Beatles fans in the last couple of months has been spending hours and hours pressing the play and pause buttons of their video player time and time again while watching the same four minute piece of video hundreds of times over. The piece of video concerned is the 'Free as a Bird' clip and the reason for this strange behaviour is the quest to find all the references to other Beatles songs that are included. Members of the club have also been seen in this strange quest and below is the 60 or so references we have come up with and the time in the video they appear.
We should say this list is certainly not the last word on the subject - according to the director there are at least 20 references we haven't found - if there are any you know about and we haven't listed please write in and tell us. We'd like to thank Dan Skelton and all those at the Beatles Fanclub Forum on Compuserve who greatly assisted in compiling this list.
:10 clock on mantle says 5 o clock (Wednesday morning at 5 o'clock as the day begins) - (She's Leaving Home)
:35 People on Liverpool Dock walking in the rain (Rain)
:35 People appear to be leaving work "I've been working like a dog" (A Hard Day's Night)
:46 People outside Cavern Club being forced to wait in line by immobile bouncer (Wait)
:48 Police shove a couple of people back into the line who are trying to force their way inside The Cavern Club (Get Back)
1:06 Strawberry Field sign (Strawberry Fields Forever)
1:19 Camera cuts from treetops beside path to a tree trunk, panning from top to bottom of tree trunk "No one, I think, is in my tree, I mean it must be high or low (Strawberry Fields Forever)
1:19 At extreme left of picture is sign reading 'Maxwell's Hardware' (Maxwell's Silver Hammer)
1:19 Shop next to Maxwell's called 'Dylan's' 'Just like Dylan's Mr Jones' (Yer Blues)
1:21 Three of the running children are holding hands (I Want To Hold Your Hand)
1:26 Men on left of screen admiring fire engine "He likes to keep his fire engine clean, it's a clean machine" (Penny Lane)
1:26 Liverpool Egg delivery man 'I am the eggman' (I Am The Walrus)
1:33 Pretty nurse selling poppies from a tray, stares directly into camera 'The pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray' (Penny Lane)
1:42 Barber shop, photographs of people in window 'Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs of every head he's had the pleasure to have known' (Penny Lane) The barber waves goodbye to the man with the valise, and the next person he encounters tips his hat hello. (Hello Goodbye)
1:47 Sign on wall says 'Help' (Help)
1:49 One child whispers into another child's ear (Do You Want To Know A Secret?)
1:59 Couple in car locked in embrace (Why don't we do it in the road?)
2:02 Cake with Happy Birthday written on it (Birthday)
2:02 Number on birthday cake: 64 (When I'm Sixty-Four)
2:13 George walks into building (really 3 Savile Row) with sign saying Dr Robert (Dr. Robert)
2:17 Several people frantically running down street (Run For Your Life)
2:22 Car crash scene 'He blew his mind out in a car, he didn't notice that the lights had changed, a crowd of people stood and stared' (Day In The Life)
2:29 Policemen near wreck standing in a row 'Pretty little policemen in a row' (I Am The Walrus)
2:32 Helter skelter (Helter Skelter)
2:38 Kite in sky (Benefit Of Mr. Kite)
2:42 Ladder to window, foot disappears into window (She Came In Through The Bathroom Window)
2:43 Tall sunflowers growing above fence 'cellophane flowers of yellow and green towering over your head' (Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds)
2:43 Bigger piggy followed by little piggies (Piggies)
VERY VERY briefly, as the camera pans through a window, you can see an outline of a lizard hanging on the window pane "The touch of a velvet hand like a lizard on a window pane" Happiness Is A Warm Gun)
2:51 Writer at typewriter surrounded by notes, papers, books (Paperback Writer)
2:51 Book by Edgar Alan Poe on table 'man you should have seen him kicking Edgar Alan Poe' (I am the Walrus)
2:53 Cigarette butts in ash tray, one cigarette burning 'Expert texpert choking smokers' (I Am The Walrus)
3:08 Newspaper "The Daily Mail" on table 'His son is working for The Daily Mail, it's a steady job' (Paperback Writer)
3:08 Newspaper has headline about 4000 Holes in Blackburn, Lancashire. 'Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire, (Day In The Life)
3:08 Box of 'Savoy Truffles on table (Savoy Truffle)
3:10 Picture of Queen Elizabeth (Her Majesty)
3:10 Picture of Chairman Mao in widow (Revolution)
3:13 People repairing a roof (Fixing A Hole)
3:13 Blue Meanie (character from movie "Yellow Submarine") (Yellow Submarine)
3:13 Toy monkey by the side of the hole (everybody's got Something to Hide Except for me and my Monkey)
3:18 Person on sidewalk walking a bulldog (Hey Bulldog)
3:18 Taxi covered by newspapers stops at doorway 'Newspaper taxis appear on the shore' (Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds)
3:22 Couple dancing in the street (I'm Happy Just To Dance With You)
3:22 The dancing couple are John and Yoko (The Ballad Of John And Yoko)
3:22 Person carrying picture of Mao Tse-tung 'But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna
make it with anyone anyhow' (Revolution)
3:23 Another Blue Meanie pops head out of hole in road (Yellow Submarine)
3:25 Multicolor bus passes at end of street with Magical Mystery Tour written on side (Magical Mystery Tour)
3:31 Hunter exiting building with mother, Indians, elephant 'He went out tiger hunting with his elephant and gun, in case of accidents he always brought his mom' (Bungalow Bill)
3:40 Figures from Sgt. Pepper cover, Sgt. Pepper on drum, "Beatles" spelled out in flowers (Sergeant Pepper)
3:55 Screen fills with sunlight through the glass dome (Here Comes The Sun)
3:57 Statue of Mary in graveyard moves 'When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me' (Let It Be)
3:58 Name 'Eleanor Rigby' on gravestone (Eleanor Rigby)
4:00 Priest walking away from the grave 'Father Mackenzie, wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave' (Eleanor Rigby)
4:01 Sheepdog runs across grass The "Martha" from "Martha, My Dear" was Paul McCartney's pet sheepdog at the time (Martha, My Dear)
4:05 McCartney cavorting on embankment by roadside (Fool On The Hill)
4:06 Woman with suitcase walking in road (She's Leaving Home)
4:06 Road behind woman is distant and curved (Long and Winding Road)
4:14 Meter Maid on sidewalk walks near Volkswagen (Lovely Rita, Meter Maid)
4:15 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow drives away from viewer (Baby, You're A Rich Man) Joker with pointed hat behind curtain 'Don't you think the joker laughs at you?' (I Am The Walrus) Bright spotlight inside theater (The Inner Light) The curtain comes down on the man playing ukelele
(The End)
Numerous clocks are shown, but the times on them are out of sequence and the same time is not shown twice (Any Time At All)
And where do the Beatles themselves appear in the video? (Here, There, and Everywhere)
London Beatles FanclubBack to Pepperland Beatles pages.