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Paul McCartney wanted to write the "loudest, nastiest, sweatiest rock number we could" after reading a Pete Townshend interview describing a Who track (possibly "
I Can See For Miles") as "The most raucous rock 'n' roll, the dirtiest thing they'd ever done." This was the result. Some historians of popular music now believe that this song was a key influence on the development of heavy metal.
McCartney told
Mojo magazine October 2008: "Just reading those lines (of the Townshend interview) fired my imagination. I thought, Right, they've done what they think was the loudest and dirtiest; we'll do what we think. I went into the studio and told the guys, 'Look, I've got this song but Pete said this and I want to do it even dirtier.' It was a great brief for the engineers, for everyone- just as fuzzy and as dirty and as loud and as filthy as you can get it is where I want to go. I was happy to have Pete's quote to get me there."
The first version was a 27 minute jam that was never released. During the July 18, 1968 sessions, The Beatles recorded this version, which was much slower and much more tame than 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 September 9, 21 takes of approximately 5 minutes each were recorded, and the last one is featured on the official LP.
In December 1968, Charles Manson heard this song, as well as others from The White Album, and interpreted them as a warning of an approaching race war. He saw the Beatles as the 4 angels mentioned in the New Testament book of Revelation and believed their songs were telling him and his followers to prepare themselves. Manson referred to this future war as "Helter Skelter." The words "Healter Skelter" (a misspelling of the Beatles song) were also written in blood at the scene of one of the Manson Family murders (The Labianca's). 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 a film of the same title.
In an interview with Lennon in the January 1971 edition of Rolling Stone, the former Beatle was asked about his reaction to Manson's deluded interpretation of this song. Lennon replied: "He's balmy, like any other Beatle-kind of fan who reads mysticism into it. We used to have a laugh about this, that or the other, in a light-hearted way, and some intellectual would read us, some symbolic youth generation wants to see something in it. We also took seriously some parts of the role, but I don't know what 'Helter Skelter' has to do with knifing somebody. I've never listened to the words, properly, it was just a noise."(thanks, Mike - Mountlake Terrace, Washington, for above 2)
Ringo played the drums so forcefully that his shout of "I've got blisters on my fingers!" accompanies the musical fadeout. Ringo explained what happened in The Miami Herald June 29, 2008: "The track was actually very long, and we were just pounding. It was a jam, really, it turned into that. And at the end, the only way off the kit was, 'Look, my fingers are bleeding, and I just have to get up.'' And I decided to shout it." (thanks, William - Miami, FL)
The song is named after a slide at a British amusement park. The first line is a joke about this: "When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide, where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride." Learn more about the ride in
Song Images.
The recording session was particularly raucous.
Don McLean mentions this in his song "
American Pie" ("Helter Skelter in a summer swelter"), a rather clear reference to the Manson family killing spree. (thanks, Mike - Mountlake Terrace, WA. U.S.A)
In 2006, McCartney played this on the Grammy Awards. It was the first time he performed on the Grammys. On his 2010 tour, McCartney included it on the setlist. McCartney's lead guitarist Rusty Anderson explained how it got in the set: "I was working on Paul for 'Helter Skelter' since the first time we played the Super Bowl, before we even went on tour (in 2002 A.D.). I said 'Hey, y'know what would be a really rad song to play, Paul?' He said 'what?' I said 'Helter Skelter,' and he goes (imitates McCartney) 'Oh, yeah' (laughs). It took him a while to warm up to it. And we kept prodding him and prodding him and he put it in the set -- but we still hadn't rehearsed it. We said, 'Paul are we gonna rehearse 'Helter Skelter?' And finally we did it... and I remember playing it at rehearsal and some of the pre-show dancers started coming out and dancing and rocking to it and all of a sudden he started realizing how great it is." (thanks, DeeTheWriter - Saint Petersburg, Russia Federation)
Comments (207):
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1. Tomorrow Never Knows
2 Hey Bulldog
3. Rain
4. Happiness Is a Warm Gun
5. And Your Bird Can Sing
6. For No One
7. Dear Prudence
8. It´s All Too Much
9. Long Long Long
10.I´m Only Sleeping
11.You Know My Name
12.Helter Skelter
13.I Want You
14.She Said She Said
That is 10 Lennon, 2 McCartney and 2 Harrison
- Laura, Spencerport, NY
I agree Laura since Beatles lost their front men and The Who lost their rhythm section and Paul, Ringo, Pete and Roger should "Come Together" and see what devel0ps mmm should be interesting :)
As for the blister part, just before Ringo shouts the outburst, in the background, John is saying "How's that?" As for George, it certainly was not him, he could not scream because he had throat problems even in the early Beatle years. Eventually, George died from throat cancer, he was also a heavy smoker.
2) John would not have blisters from anything, Drummers get Blisters, Guitarists get callouses. The only blisters John was getting at that time in 1968 was from his butane lighter heating up his spoon for his heroine shots......No more comments about it....this is a fact...A Song Fact in fact.
Yes, years later Billy Joel paid homage to that yell by himself yelling "I've got blisters on my blisters!" The song escapes me at the moment.
And to the person who says Led Zeppelin came along and destroyed both McCartney and Townsend, uh...The Beatles broke up in Spring 1970. Led Zeppelin was following in their wake. Led Zeppelin would not have existed if not for The Beatles. Just like if early American R&R had not existed the Beatles probably would not have been born.
Clearly John says it.
and this wasnt the first punk song, that was "Communication Breakdown"
Yep, ok, sure it was ...
Ringo confirmed it was him on VH1 Storytellers. Why would he lie. Come on people, this is 3 hours worth of playing we're talking about!
It may not have sounded like him, as several people here have said, but remember this was back in, I don't know, 1968 or 1969, and he was SCREAMING! People sound different screaming then they do from singing, even Ringo Starr!
If Paul is saying it was Richard, George probably saying it was Richard, and Richard saying it was him, it probably was him. Some better ask John to see what he says.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qr_MMHKZ7A
Congrats on the most profound insight on this long thread. You forgot to mention that the yell is "Satan is a pygmy" when played backwards, and that everyone wore pajamas while recording this, except for Cher and Elvis, who wore chicken costumes.
QUESTION: I was interested in knowing why you consider "Helter Skelter" the beginning of the punk movement?
GALLAGHER: Because it was exactly a year after that, that the Stooges and the MC5 came out. In 1969. "Helter Skelter" was recorded at the back end of 1967, and that was the first. If you listen to "Helter Skelter" and listen to the MC5 and the Stooges, it's that sound. They sound exactly like that record. That song, the way it's played, is the birth of punk rock as we know it.
Helter Skelter was one of those songs. It's a crying shame that good songs like this become associated with crazed killers and so forth.
B) i love sadie's version of this song in across the universe
Wasn't there someone who "replied" to "I've got blisters on my fingers" with "I've got blisters on my blisters"?
Charles Manson gave the Hippies and the 60's a bad name. I can't believe he's still alive. He'll be eligible for parole in 2012 (and he'd better not get it).
Please forgive my broken english.
Now, oral sex on a slide could be OK. You had a good idea.
Anyway i was there during the recording and it was definatley John!
I still have that released 45 rpm single of Helter Skelter/Got To Get You Into My Life that I bought when I was a kid.
Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again". Couldn't it be oral sex?
After playin the banjo and singing he screams "I've got blisters on me fingers"
youtube v=PWcOvwcNGaA
Go figure.
anyway, this song is not the gateway to metal. this was the gateway to hard rock,not heavy metal. heavy metal are bands like 'scorpians' 'def leopard' 'poison' 'dokken' 'motley crue' etc.
hard rock are bands like led zeppelin,black sabbath,ac/dc etc.
"It's interesting that just before the person says it, you hear someone else say "I've got..." like they're cuing him in to say it."
* * *
Actually, it sounds like a definite "alright!" to me.
Sal,Bardonia, NY
I hate it when people think of that crazy man when they hear this song.
As "Bono" of "U2" said when they recorded it:
This is a song that Charles Manson "stole" from the Beatles!
i am a drummer and a guitarist. you get SO many more blisters and callises that hurt A LOT more from playing the drums then you get from playing the guitar. cuz u have to be holding those sticks HARD if you're playing as loud and fiercly as ringo was, so they don't go flying across the room. with guitar, you can just use a guitar pick, ya know
I think we all can agree that Ozzy Osbourne had a lot to do with the development of heavy metal. Without Black Sabbath, heavy metal would probably sound a lot different that it does today.
That said, consider this Ozzy quote:
"The biggest break in my life came when The Beatles hit. They totally sucked me in and I thought, "That's my way out, my music."
I wonder what Ozzy, a major influence on heavy metal, would say if you told him George was a "pentatonic loser" and Paul and John had "limited range" and wrote "simple songs?"
THIS SONG RULES!
What did he ever do? MY GOSH!
It WAS Ringo for heaven's sakes!!!
I bought the first issue of the "Beatles Rarities" album. I even reviewed it for a publication. In the liner notes is says "the classic Lennon statement, 'I got blisters on my fingers!'" I knew this was wrong and was annoyed at the mistake. In the next pressing the line had been removed.
So, those of you who have a "Rarities" with the line intact, you have a rarity yourself.
I have played drums, guitar, and bass guitar; you can get blisters from playing any of them.
HELTER SKELTER came in at #3.
Whether it's John or Ringo can be figured out by remembering that John's voice was a little higher and he sounded more "congested" when he spoke wheras Ringo's voice is deeper. Compare the yells and screams of each in different songs and draw your own conclusions. As for the "vocoder" bit, I think that's a matter of a journalist happily adding to the mythology of it. There is not even the slightest background hum, buzz or anything to the tone of the voice to suggest it is not a pure human voice. One of the weakest synth effects on human voices was used in the tv cartoon The Transformers, and a vocoder was used by French pop duo Air in their song "Sexy Boy" a few years ago, and you can hear the difference between a voice that's naturally like that and one that's done with a special effect, trust me. Besides, I work with sound engineering and sound-modifying devices on a regular basis. I can hear a gimmick a mile away.
Oh and btw, if you do your research you'll know John didn't play guitar on the "White Album" version. He played bass. That's why it has the sound it has, like a deep "TWANG TWANG TWANG" almost, because Paul picked bass strings with the pick resting ON the string so it's more muffled-sounding but John did it like a rhythm player, kind of with the pick being brought down onto the strings from higher up. Also it's not as refined as Paul's technique, it sort of doesn't stay very steady..... There is only one guitar on the song and it is George's. Paul is only singing. It is a very stripped-down arrangement. Look for details of the recording session as recorded by Mark Lewisohn. It will corroborate what I've said here.
Nathan - there've been loads of decent Aussie bands, don't slag off the whole country just cos one sad misguided fool slags off the greatest rock and roll band of all time. By the way, Nathan, ABBA were from Sweden.
i think helter skelter is overated and U2 made something of the song.
i can't believe u people are serious
that artists should stop trying to even reach the level of the beatles.
its a shame, because that level is so undefined its just a blatant attack on new artists everywhere
anyone who makes that heavy metal comment doesn't listen to heavy metal
and you all love to think that everysong rips off the beatles i bet
but the beatles write in such a simple and often non sequitor manner, that u are jsut stealing each individual and poetic artists steam.
the beatles have made some great songs but they had a dodgy drummer, an overated guitarist. yes george harrison is just a pentatonic loser, an overated bass player and two very talented singers with a very small vocal range and ability.
come on lets open our minds a little america,
p.s. it has to be ringo who said the infamous comment at the end of the song(drummers can cut their hands up no matter how long they have been playing they have very soft hands.
guitarists develop callas in no time at all and blisters are pretty much impossible especially in this simple number.
and the band members even say it was him
wheres ur john case even coming from?
He also claims that it couldn't have been Ringo, because Ringo wasn't present at the recording of Helter Skelter. He says 17-year-old session drummer Phil Collins played the drums, while Brian Wilson (who visited Abbey Road while touring England with the Beach Boys at the time) played bass, and Paul sang and clapped.
It's hard to say for sure, but it does sound a lot like Yoko if you listen closely.
manson was obsessed with the beatles and concluded that helter skelter, which actually means chaos, was the best name for his theory. another part of the theory was that the manson family would surface from a desert hideout and rule the world after there were no more whites. manson would then be the 5th angel, jesus christ, adn the other four angels would be members of the beatles. so yes, manson borrowed the name helter skelter from the beatles...and yes, he was one f*cked up guy
Unfortuantely.
"and in the end the love to u take is equal to the love u make"
This is such a cool song!!!
I keep borrowing the white album of my friend so i can hear it. I haven't got this one yet cos i can't find it anywhere!
It's LED ZEPPELIN not Zepplien...
And I'd have to agree with Adam on that one
No one could compare to the Beatles sound so they might as well just stop trying.
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