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Why was the Beatles song Helter Skelter linked with the Charles Manson murders?
Two of the many themes which inspired the macabre vision of cult leader Charles Manson were music and religion.
While in prison, Manson learned to play the guitar, and on his release became an aspiring musician and songwriter. He began to write songs to express his ethos to his growing Family of followers. One of these songs, the sinister Cease To Exist, was re-worked by the Beach Boys into their album track Never Learn Not To Love.
His delusions of becoming a star on a par with the Beatles never materialised, and instead he began to claim that the Beatles were directly addressing him through their music. He also encouraged his followers to view him as a reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
These two strands were combined with deadly effect when Manson heard the Beatles' White Album. Manson ignored the fact, or didn't realise, that a 'helter skelter' was a fairground ride, and focused on its more general meaning of chaos and confusion.
He told his followers that the song Helter Skelter foretold an apocalyptic war between black and white people, during which Manson and his followers would hide in a bottomless pit in Death Valley and then emerge to rule the world.
This, he said, would fulfil the prophesies of the ninth chapter of Revelations (a neat match for the title of the Beatles' sound collage Revolution 9). In this chapter, locusts would come out of the abyss. He quoted many other songs from the White Album, such as Blackbird and Piggies, in support of his predictions.
In a dreadful denouement, in August 1969, Hollywood actress Sharon Tate and six others were murdered by members of the Manson Family.
In 1980, John Lennon denied Manson's ludicrous claim that the Beatles' lyrics were messages to him, saying: 'It has nothing to do with me. Manson was just an extreme version of the people who came up with the 'Paul is dead' thing' (the urban myth that, in 1966, McCartney had died and been replaced by a lookalike).
As Beatles expert Ian MacDonald observed, the group had for a long time 'set up chains of suggestive self-reference in their lyrics for the explicitly avowed fun of confusing people', but in the end the Manson Family crossed the divide between textual analysis and mass murder.
HELTER SKELTER HIRE :
https://www.wearechippa.co.uk/helter-skelter-hire/
Helter Skelter (2018 Mix)
Revolution 9 (Remastered 2009)
Blackbird (Remastered 2009)
Piggies (Remastered 2009)
Never Learn Not To Love (Remastered 2001)
Two of the many themes which inspired the macabre vision of cult leader Charles Manson were music and religion.
While in prison, Manson learned to play the guitar, and on his release became an aspiring musician and songwriter. He began to write songs to express his ethos to his growing Family of followers. One of these songs, the sinister Cease To Exist, was re-worked by the Beach Boys into their album track Never Learn Not To Love.
His delusions of becoming a star on a par with the Beatles never materialised, and instead he began to claim that the Beatles were directly addressing him through their music. He also encouraged his followers to view him as a reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
These two strands were combined with deadly effect when Manson heard the Beatles' White Album. Manson ignored the fact, or didn't realise, that a 'helter skelter' was a fairground ride, and focused on its more general meaning of chaos and confusion.
He told his followers that the song Helter Skelter foretold an apocalyptic war between black and white people, during which Manson and his followers would hide in a bottomless pit in Death Valley and then emerge to rule the world.
This, he said, would fulfil the prophesies of the ninth chapter of Revelations (a neat match for the title of the Beatles' sound collage Revolution 9). In this chapter, locusts would come out of the abyss. He quoted many other songs from the White Album, such as Blackbird and Piggies, in support of his predictions.
In a dreadful denouement, in August 1969, Hollywood actress Sharon Tate and six others were murdered by members of the Manson Family.
In 1980, John Lennon denied Manson's ludicrous claim that the Beatles' lyrics were messages to him, saying: 'It has nothing to do with me. Manson was just an extreme version of the people who came up with the 'Paul is dead' thing' (the urban myth that, in 1966, McCartney had died and been replaced by a lookalike).
As Beatles expert Ian MacDonald observed, the group had for a long time 'set up chains of suggestive self-reference in their lyrics for the explicitly avowed fun of confusing people', but in the end the Manson Family crossed the divide between textual analysis and mass murder.
HELTER SKELTER HIRE :
https://www.wearechippa.co.uk/helter-skelter-hire/
Helter Skelter (2018 Mix)
Revolution 9 (Remastered 2009)
Blackbird (Remastered 2009)
Piggies (Remastered 2009)
Never Learn Not To Love (Remastered 2001)
