Tag: Helter Sketer

Dear fellow 4Mers, my post will publish tomorrow and for those wishing to crash the dance floor early then you may wish to check out one of our lovely co-hostess’ blogs for link up but if not check back after midnight tonight. While you’re here, you may as well continue reading and take part in my first battle! 😊

It’s October 1st. I’m not sure how that happened but here we are in the 10th month of this not so new year and we’re about 2 weeks into autumn.  Lots of people associate October including myself with pumpkin spice anything, apple cider, hayrides, falling leaves, cooler weather, … the list goes on. I thought it would be cool to have a Halloween themed song for this showdown and the first Beatles song that came to mind is Helter Skelter. I don’t know why other than that’s the name of the book written by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry about the Manson murders.  

One of my peeps shared the Beatles’ version (reference only) in recent months.  It was then I learned that Helter Skelter was inspired by an English amusement park ride. The opening line of “When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide” clearly references the park ride but the lyrics turn more suggestive and provocative as the singer asks, “But do you, don’t you, want me to love you?” 

Lyrics borrowed from Musixmatch

Without knowing it at a young age, I realized the phrase “Helter Skelter” meant chaos and disorder.  Paul wanted to create a loud and dirty sound with this song which influenced the development of heavy metal in the mid-70s. 

One source material I read indicated although Paul and John are credited as authors of Helter Skelter that after the horrific Manson murders when asked about the song John pretty much washed his hands of having anything to do with collaborating with Paul on this one. At the end, if you’re curious I include a snippet from Wiki about Charles Manson and the song.    

In today’s battle standoff, I found three artists covers I liked. Two don’t need introductions but the third  one is new to me.  

That concludes another segment of Battle of the Bands.  Next week, I hope to publish the results of this showdown but we’ll be into our staycation and I’m not sure of our plans yet.  Don’t forget to leave your vote for your favorite artist in comments.

Please check out the other battles underway today. Participants are listed in my side bar beneath the BOTB banner.  I’ll be back in the morning with Monday’s Music Moves Me if you care to join the fun. This is CAAC signing off, have a bandtastic day!  X💋X💋, Cathy

Wiki includes this on Charles Manson’s interpretation of Helter Skelter….

According to Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi, who led the prosecution of Manson and four of his followers who acted on Manson’s instruction in the Tate-LaBianca murders, Charles Manson told his followers that several White Album songs, particularly “Helter Skelter”, were part of the Beatles’ coded prophecy of an apocalyptic war in which racist and non-racist whites would be manoeuvred into virtually exterminating each other over the treatment of blacks. Upon the war’s conclusion, after black militants had killed off the few whites that had survived, Manson and his “Family” of followers would emerge from an underground city in which they would have escaped the conflict. As the only remaining whites, they would rule blacks, who, as the vision went, would be incapable of running the United States. Manson employed “Helter Skelter” as the term for this sequence of events. In his interpretation, the lyrics of the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” described the moment when he and the Family would emerge from their hiding place – a disused mine shaft in the desert outside Los Angeles.