marks the return of the Who as a major freak-out force. Recorded in America, it’s a Pete Townshend composition filled with Townshend mystery and menace.”
It’s impossible to be certain that this was the review, because Paul’s description has changed over the years. In 1968, he said the review had said “The group really goes wild with echo and screaming and everything,” but 20 years later he claimed it described the Who single as, “the loudest, most raucous rock’n’roll, the dirtiest thing they’d ever done.” However, Paul’s account of the effect that the review had on him had’t changed: “I thought ‘That’s a pity. I wouldlike to do something like that.’ Then I heard it and it was nothing like it. It was straight and sophisticated. So we did this. I like noise.”
Despite being described as having ‘swearing cymbals’ and ‘cursing guitars’, ‘I Can See For Miles’ had a discernible melody throughout and could not properly be described as raucous. Paul wanted to write something that really did ‘ freak people out’ and, when the Beatles first recorded ‘Helter Skelter’ in July 1968, they did it in one take which was almost half an hour long. They returned to it in September ‘out of their heads’, and produced a shorter version. At the end of it, Ringo can be heard shrieking, “I’ve got blisters on my fingers.”
Most British listeners were aware that a helter skelter was a spiral fairground slide but Charles Manson, who heard the White Album in December 1968 thought that the Beatles were warning America of a racial conflict that was ‘coming down fast’. In the scenario that Manson had developed, the Beatles were the four angels mentioned in the New Testament book of Revelation who, through their songs, were telling him and his followers to prepare for the coming holocaust by escaping to the desert.
Manson referred to this future uprising as ‘Helter Skelter’ and it was the daubing of these words in blood at the scene of one of the murders that became another vital clue in the subsequent police investigation. It was because of the song’s significance that Vincent Bugliosi, the LA District Attorney who prosecuted at Manson’s trial, named his best-selling account of the murders Helter Skelter.
LONG LONG LONG
More than any other Beatle, George was inspired to write by hearing other songs. The chords of ‘Long Long Long’ were suggested to him by Bob Dylan’s haunting track ‘Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands’. George was fascinated with the movement from D to E minor to A and back to D and wanted to write something which sounded similar. He scribbled the lyric out in the pages of an empty ‘week at a glance’ diary for 1968 and called it ‘It’s Been A Long Long Long Time’ which then became the working title.
‘Long Long Long’ sounds like a straightforward love song but, according to George, the ‘you’ in question here is God. He was the first Beatle to show an interest in Eastern religion and the only one to carry on with it after the others became disenchanted with the Maharishi following their visit to India. George did, however, alter his allegiances, distancing himself from Maharishi and Transcendental Meditation and becoming publicly identified with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, later producing their Hare Krishna mantra as a hit single.
REVOLUTION
The Summer of Love was followed by the Spring of Revolution. In March 1968, thousands marched on the American Embassy in London’s Grosvenor Square to protest against the war in Vietnam. In May, students rioted in Paris. Unlike Mick Jagger, who made an appearance at Grosvenor Square, John surveyed these events from home, keeping in touch through the news media and the underground press. He began work on ‘Revolution’ while in India and completed it at home when Cynthia was away in Greece. He took it to Paul as a potential single but Paul said the song wasn’t commercial
It’s impossible to be certain that this was the review, because Paul’s description has changed over the years. In 1968, he said the review had said “The group really goes wild with echo and screaming and everything,” but 20 years later he claimed it described the Who single as, “the loudest, most raucous rock’n’roll, the dirtiest thing they’d ever done.” However, Paul’s account of the effect that the review had on him had’t changed: “I thought ‘That’s a pity. I wouldlike to do something like that.’ Then I heard it and it was nothing like it. It was straight and sophisticated. So we did this. I like noise.”
Despite being described as having ‘swearing cymbals’ and ‘cursing guitars’, ‘I Can See For Miles’ had a discernible melody throughout and could not properly be described as raucous. Paul wanted to write something that really did ‘ freak people out’ and, when the Beatles first recorded ‘Helter Skelter’ in July 1968, they did it in one take which was almost half an hour long. They returned to it in September ‘out of their heads’, and produced a shorter version. At the end of it, Ringo can be heard shrieking, “I’ve got blisters on my fingers.”
Most British listeners were aware that a helter skelter was a spiral fairground slide but Charles Manson, who heard the White Album in December 1968 thought that the Beatles were warning America of a racial conflict that was ‘coming down fast’. In the scenario that Manson had developed, the Beatles were the four angels mentioned in the New Testament book of Revelation who, through their songs, were telling him and his followers to prepare for the coming holocaust by escaping to the desert.
Manson referred to this future uprising as ‘Helter Skelter’ and it was the daubing of these words in blood at the scene of one of the murders that became another vital clue in the subsequent police investigation. It was because of the song’s significance that Vincent Bugliosi, the LA District Attorney who prosecuted at Manson’s trial, named his best-selling account of the murders Helter Skelter.
LONG LONG LONG
More than any other Beatle, George was inspired to write by hearing other songs. The chords of ‘Long Long Long’ were suggested to him by Bob Dylan’s haunting track ‘Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands’. George was fascinated with the movement from D to E minor to A and back to D and wanted to write something which sounded similar. He scribbled the lyric out in the pages of an empty ‘week at a glance’ diary for 1968 and called it ‘It’s Been A Long Long Long Time’ which then became the working title.
‘Long Long Long’ sounds like a straightforward love song but, according to George, the ‘you’ in question here is God. He was the first Beatle to show an interest in Eastern religion and the only one to carry on with it after the others became disenchanted with the Maharishi following their visit to India. George did, however, alter his allegiances, distancing himself from Maharishi and Transcendental Meditation and becoming publicly identified with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, later producing their Hare Krishna mantra as a hit single.
REVOLUTION
The Summer of Love was followed by the Spring of Revolution. In March 1968, thousands marched on the American Embassy in London’s Grosvenor Square to protest against the war in Vietnam. In May, students rioted in Paris. Unlike Mick Jagger, who made an appearance at Grosvenor Square, John surveyed these events from home, keeping in touch through the news media and the underground press. He began work on ‘Revolution’ while in India and completed it at home when Cynthia was away in Greece. He took it to Paul as a potential single but Paul said the song wasn’t commercial
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