Helter Skelter (song)

"Helter Skelter"
The White Album
Song by The Beatles
From the album The Beatles
Album released	22 November 1968
Recorded	9 September, 1968
Genre	Classic Rock
Song Length	4:29
Record label	Apple Records
Producer	George Martin
The Beatles Album Listing
Sexy Sadie (Track 5 of Disc 2)	Helter Skelter (Track 6 of Disc 2)	Long, Long, Long (Track 7 of Disc 2)

This article is about the Beatles song. For other things with this name, see Helter Skelter (disambiguation).

"Helter Skelter" is a song by Paul McCartney, though credited to Lennon/McCartney. It was recorded by the Beatles on their 1968 self-titled album, also known as The White Album. The working lyric of the song was briefly "Heather Leather."

About the song

McCartney was inspired to write the song after reading a newspaper review of The Who's latest single, most likely "I Can See For Miles." The review described the single as the loudest, wildest song ever recorded, with distorted guitars, reverb, and screaming. McCartney took this as a challenge to write something louder and "Helter Skelter" was the result. Some historians of popular music believe that this song was a key influence on the development of heavy metal.

An Apple Records promotional radio show, released for broadcast at the time of the 1997 Anthology release, has Paul McCartney stating that he spoke with Pete Townshend regarding his new song, and Townshend described it as above, which resulted in McCartney's desire to create a new song in the spirit of "doing it one better". ^{[citation needed]}

The song opens abruptly with a loud, repeated, distorted guitar double stop. McCartney then screams the introductory lyric and the full band joins in as the refrain is introduced. A distinctive descending, seven note riff is played during the choruses. The tone of the song is aggressive and frightening and the music seems ready to turn into meaningless noise at any moment.

The lyrics of the song are a hallucinogenic evocation of using a helter skelter in a children's playground, ironically contrasting the aggression and volume of the music. Although never acknowledged by McCartney, some of the lyrics bear a marked similarity to lines in "The Lobster Quadrille", a chapter of Lewis Carroll's (Charles Dodgson's) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: "Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you, won't you join the dance?".

Recording

During the July 18, 1968 sessions, a version of the song lasting 27 minutes and 11 seconds was recorded, although this version is rather slow and hypnotic, differing greatly from the volume and rawness of the album version. Another recording from the same day was edited down to 4:37 for The Beatles Anthology, Volume III. For the album version, recorded on September 9, eighteen takes of approximately five minutes each were recorded, and the last one is featured on the official LP. "After the eighteenth take, Ringo flung his sticks across the room and shouted, 'I've got blisters on my fingers!'" (Spitz, page 794). Ringo's shout comes after the musical fadeout and fadein in the stereo version (available on CD), while the mono version (on LP only) ends on the fadeout without Ringo's outburst. The mono version was not released in the USA as mono albums had already been phased out in that country. The mono version was later released in the American version of the Rarities album.

Charles Manson

Charles Manson heard this song, and others from the White Album, and interpreted them as a warning of an approaching race war. He saw the Beatles as the Four Angels of the Apocalypse mentioned in the New Testament book of Revelation and believed their songs were telling him and his followers to prepare themselves ("Look out, cos here she comes!"). Manson referred to this future war as "Helter Skelter." The words "Helter Scelter" [sic] were also written in blood at the scene of one of the murders committed by the Manson Family.

Because of this connection, Los Angeles assistant District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi, who led the prosecution of Manson and the other killers, named his best-selling book about the murders Helter Skelter. Bugliosi's book was the basis for two films of the same title.

Notable covers

In 1978, Siouxsie & the Banshees included a cover of this song on The Scream.

In 1981, Pat Benatar released a cover of "Helter Skelter" as the final track on Precious Time.

In 1983, Mötley Crüe recorded their version of this song on their Shout at the Devil album.

In 1983, The Bobs released an a capella version on their eponymous album. It earned them a 1984 Grammy nomination for best new arrangement of an existing song.

In 1988, rock band U2 recorded the song in concert for their Rattle and Hum movie and album. Bono's introduction to the song was, "This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles. We're stealing it back." This cover -introduction included- also appeared as track 13 on the Chinese version of their How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb album

Aerosmith recorded their version of "Helter Skelter" during the 1970s and included it on their "Pandora's Box" collection.

Soundgarden played a slowed down version with added lyrics during their 1996/1997 Down on the Upside tour. Never officially released but available on bootlegs and through file-sharing. Also available as a medley with the song Bootcamp.

For Oasis' 3rd album – Be Here Now (1997) – chief songwriter Noel Gallagher wrote the song "Fade In-Out" which resembles "Helter Skelter" and includes the line, "Get on the helter skelter" among its lyrics.

For Oasis' 4th album – Standing on the Shoulder of Giants (2000) – chief songwriter Noel Gallagher created a cover of the song, featuring it as a b-side for "Who Feels Love?". Finally, the band has a live version of "Helter Skelter" on their live album, Familiar to Millions.

Is sampled under a cover of Jay-Z's '99 Problems' by DJ Danger Mouse in The Grey Album

Cultural references

The title track of Negativland's 1989 album Helter Stupid samples Helter Skelter and contains excerpts from an interview with Charles Manson. The song criticises the moral panic linking rock music and violence.
On TISM's 1995 album Machiavelli and the Four Seasons, the song "Play Mistral For Me" contains this verse: "The Beatles found out with Helter Skelter / And John Lennon saw it in Mr. Chapman / And The Stones learnt from Gimme Shelter / You're only as good as your fans."
In 2005 during an episode of South Park, Randy Marsh's alarm goes off in the morning to a DJ saying, "The Beatles' White Album, 'Helter Skelter'."
In the Family Guy episode "To Live and Die in Dixie," Stewie Griffin screams "I've got blisters on my fingers!" after singing his song; likewise, the Chumbawamba song Pass It Along includes this line.
In 2006, episode 27 of the anime Eureka Seven was titled "Helter Skelter".
Author Christopher Pike's Whisper of Death has a character named Helter Skelter.
In an episode of The Simpsons, "Homer Loves Flanders", a homeless shelter that Homer and Ned Flanders visit is called Helter Shelter.

In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "The Yoko Factor", cyborg villain Adam says that he likes the song Helter Skelter.

References

Spitz, Bob. The Beatles. Little, Brown, and Company: New York, 2005.

External links