Quarantine due to the coronavirus crisis has allowed a London municipal team to repaint the legendary Abbey Road zebra crossing that the Beatles made famous with the cover of their album published in September 1969. The area, which is normally crowded with tourists eager to take the photo, it was declared by the government as a point of national interest now ten years ago, so it can only be altered by the city council itself, which made the decision to do so earlier this week.

"This London zebra crossing is neither a castle nor a cathedral, but thanks to the Beatles and a ten minute photo shoot on an August morning in 1969 this is as powerful a claim as any other and is already part of our legacy" , explained a decade ago John Penrose, Minister of Tourism and Legacy of the moment. The iconic enclave was also restored just a day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson decided to enact mandatory quarantine for the country as a whole.

Despite the fact that the British are being criticized for not taking the running of the bulls too seriously, the truth is that the number of passers-by who pass by Abbey Road has dropped considerably , so it seemed the perfect time. In fact, the news has largely transpired thanks to a camera that transmits its signal via the web 24 hours a day, and it is through it that the operators of the municipal services have been seen restoring the painting.

The cover image was taken during a break at 11:35 a.m. on August 8, 1969 , at which time John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were recording I Want You (She's so heavy) and The End and Paul McCartney was immersed in Oh! Darling. The photographer, Ian Macmillan, had to climb a ladder in the middle of the road and had barely six attempts to achieve the image due to the traffic that was beginning to accumulate in the central London street. McCartney was the one who made the final selection, choosing the fourth in the series.

At the time Abbey Road was published, there were many theories that circulated around its cover, such as some that maintained that McCartney was barefoot because he had died two years earlier and had to be replaced by a double.

"We were wearing our usual clothes, I was barefoot because it was a fairly hot day. Can you please say out there that I am just a normal person who wants to live in peace?", The artist would say to Life magazine that same year, and, Years later, he would parody the story on the cover of his 1993 album Paul Is Live. The Beatles members who are still alive, that is, McCartney himself and Ringo Starr, celebrated last September the 50th anniversary of the album with the relaunch of a special edition that was the best-selling vinyl of the decade in the United States.

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