On the latest episode of the McCartney: A Life in Lyrics podcast series, Paul McCartney looks back at The Beatles’ hard-rocking 1968 song “Helter Skelter,” which some people cite as an inspiration for the heavy metal genre. McCartney revealed that he was inspired to write the tune by a quote he’d read from a key member of another famous British Invasion band, The Who.
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“[I]t was [Who guitarist and songwriter] Pete Townshend talking about, ‘We have just recorded the loudest, dirtiest, rockiest thing ever,’” McCartney recalled. “And I loved that description. I just thought, ‘Wow, what a great idea. So what we’ve got to do is something loud and raucous and dirty [too].’”
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Recording “Helter Skelter”
McCartney remembered that he then went to the studio and told his Beatles bandmates, “I just read about Pete saying this, and I think it’s really a great idea. Let’s just see how loud you can get and how raucous and … let’s just try and really make the meters peak.”
As the podcast explained, The Beatles spent a lot of time working on “Helter Skelter,” recording several takes, including one that ran more than 27 minutes long. At the end of the tune, drummer Ringo Starr can famously be heard yelling, “I’ve got blisters on my fingers!”
“We had played the hell out of it, and it was sometimes credited by people as being in the start of heavy metal,” McCartney reflected. “I don’t know whether that’s true, but, you know, it’s pre-heavy metal, so … you think it might have inspired someone in the same way as the Townshend quote inspired me.”
The Song’s Infamous Association with Charles Manson
“Helter Skelter” also became an infamous inspiration for cult leader Charles Manson, who reportedly misinterpreted the song as being about a supposed apocalypse, and using that message to encourage his followers to commit murder.
McCartney said that because of its association with the Manson killings, he refused to perform “Helter Skelter” for many years.
“[W]hen it was contemporary, I wouldn’t have even thought of [playing] it, ’cause that’s sort of [a] horror show,” McCartney noted. “I mean, we knew that there were sort of daft Americans who read way too much into everything we did. That’s okay. Let them. But when [the Manson family committed those murders] … then that was, ‘Oh, okay, this is no longer funny,’ … because he really thought [The Beatles] were the four horsemen of the apocalypse.”
The Theme of “Helter Skelter”
In reality, McCartney said that in writing the song, he used the concept of a helter skelter, which is a popular children’s carnival ride in the U.K., as a metaphor for life’s ups and downs.
“I was really thinking of moods,” he noted. “You know, you’re up, you get knocked down, you’re feeling euphoric, and you’re feeling miserable. Such is the nature of life.”
“Helter Skelter” appears on The Beatles’ self-titled 1968 double album, also known as “The White Album.”
The “Helter Skelter” episode of McCartney: A Life in Lyrics is the 12th and final installment of the podcast series’ first season.
All 12 episodes can be heard now at iHeart.com, Pushkin.fm, and on various popular streaming services. A second 12-episode season of the series also is planned.
The McCartney: A Life in Lyrics podcast series is co-produced by iHeartPodcasts and the Pushkin audio-production company.
