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Now THAT'S funny...especially considering McCartney wrote "Helter Skelter" with The Who in mind...he'd read an interview with Pete Townshend where Townshend was describing this all out, balls out rock and roll song the 'Oo had recorded and Paul wrote "Helter Skelter" based on Pete's description of the song. Thing is, to this day, nobody is quite sure exactly what song Pete was talking about...

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Now THAT'S funny...especially considering McCartney wrote "Helter Skelter" with The Who in mind...he'd read an interview with Pete Townshend where Townshend was describing this all out, balls out rock and roll song the 'Oo had recorded and Paul wrote "Helter Skelter" based on Pete's description of the song. Thing is, to this day, nobody is quite sure exactly what song Pete was talking about...

From Wikipedia:

Writing and inspiration[edit]

McCartney was inspired to write the song after reading a 1967 Guitar Player magazine interview with the Who's Pete Townshend where he described their latest single, "I Can See for Miles", as the loudest, rawest, dirtiest song the Who had ever recorded. McCartney then "wrote 'Helter Skelter' to be the most raucous vocal, the loudest drums, et cetera" and said he was "using the symbol of a helter skelter as a ride from the top to the bottom; the rise and fall of the Roman Empire—and this was the fall, the demise."[4] In British English, the term "helter-skelter" not only has its meaning of "in disorderly haste or confusion" but is the name of a spiralling amusement park slide.[8] McCartney has used this song as a response to critics who accuse him of writing only ballads.[9]

On 20 November 1968, two days before the release of The Beatles, McCartney gave Radio Luxembourg an exclusive interview, in which he commented on several of the album's songs. Speaking of "Helter Skelter", he said: "Umm, that came about just 'cause I'd read a review of a record which said, 'and this group really got us wild, there's echo on everything, they're screaming their heads off.' And I just remember thinking, 'Oh, it'd be great to do one. Pity they've done it. Must be great — really screaming record.' And then I heard their record and it was quite straight, and it was very sort of sophisticated. It wasn't rough and screaming and tape echo at all. So I thought, 'Oh well, we'll do one like that, then.' And I had this song called "Helter Skelter," which is just a ridiculous song. So we did it like that, 'cuz I like noise."[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_(song)#Writing_and_inspiration

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Just heard this one for the first time, pretty cool to hear it as an acoustic blues.

Shit, Sath, get yerself a copy of the Unsurpassed Masters boot, aka The Esher Demos. It's more or less The White Album unplugged!

Only drawback is that it's mono, compared to the stereo excerpts that appeared on Anthology 3.

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Shit, Sath, get yerself a copy of the Unsurpassed Masters boot, aka The Esher Demos. It's more or less The White Album unplugged!

Only drawback is that it's mono, compared to the stereo excerpts that appeared on Anthology 3.

Ok thanks man! Like I told apantherinmd a couple pages back in this thread, its kind of overwhelming the amount of outtakes and stuff, hard to know where to start. I'll check that one out!

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Now THAT'S funny...especially considering McCartney wrote "Helter Skelter" with The Who in mind...he'd read an interview with Pete Townshend where Townshend was describing this all out, balls out rock and roll song the 'Oo had recorded and Paul wrote "Helter Skelter" based on Pete's description of the song. Thing is, to this day, nobody is quite sure exactly what song Pete was talking about...

That's a trip! I think the song was written in response to I Can See For Miles And Miles

Paul McCartney recalls writing "Helter Skelter" after reading a review of The Who Sell Out in which the critic claimed that "I Can See for Miles" was the "heaviest" song he'd ever heard. McCartney had not heard the song, but wrote "Helter Skelter" in an attempt to make an even "heavier" song than the one praised in the review.

Would Helter Skelter have been considered Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, or Pre-Punk for the time?

Just heard this one for the first time, pretty cool to hear it as an acoustic blues.

Awesome! Thanks for the link to the demo.

I thought the Dirty Mac live performance was superb!

Dec 16, 2014 - [Ringo Starr On Hall Of Fame Induction: 'Finally, The Four Of Us Are In'

The following article is provided by Rolling Stone.

By ANDY GREENE

Ringo Starr first learned he was receiving the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Award for Musical Excellence when Paul McCartney called him up about two weeks ago. "He said, 'Would you accept the award?'" Starr says. "I said, 'Sure, man.' He said he'd been talking to Dave Grohl and other people and they were stunned that I wasn't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and he needed something to do that night and he's going to give me the award." Rolling Stone spoke to the affable drummer about his reaction and why he'll still be drumming.

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Ok thanks man! Like I told apantherinmd a couple pages back in this thread, its kind of overwhelming the amount of outtakes and stuff, hard to know where to start. I'll check that one out!

Hell, you could spend weeks plowing through 'unofficially released' Beatles outtakes. There's like seven volumes of Ultra Rare Trax, three volumes of Artifacts (including one that focuses on solo outtakes), a whole bunch of live soundboards...and that's not counting stuff like the Esher demos, or the two different original Get Back albums (which became Let It Be), or for that matter, the fucking EPIC 83-disc set that covers the entire Get Back sessions from beginning to end...

That's a trip! I think the song was written in response to I Can See For Miles And Miles

Paul McCartney recalls writing "Helter Skelter" after reading a review of The Who Sell Out in which the critic claimed that "I Can See for Miles" was the "heaviest" song he'd ever heard. McCartney had not heard the song, but wrote "Helter Skelter" in an attempt to make an even "heavier" song than the one praised in the review.

Would Helter Skelter have been considered Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, or Pre-Punk for the time?

The odd thing to consider, concerning "Helter Skelter" conceived as trying to out-heavy The Who...the original studio takes of "Helter Skelter" (including, presumably, the infamous 27 minute "take three") from July 18, 1968 (take two was released in edited form on Anthology 3) were all done as a slow blues- nothing like the proto-metal version we got on the White Album (which was a 'remake' recorded in early September '68 after Ringo returned to the band following his two week 'vacation'). Could it be that in between July and September Paul read that review of Sell Out and that's when he decided to revamp "Helter Skelter"? Just a thought...

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  • 4 weeks later...

When Elvis met Nixon, one of his goals was to take down the Beatles

http://www.vox.com/2015/1/14/7539809/elvis-nixon-beatles

If this stuff is true, it certainly lessens my opinion of Elvis. :unsure:

As I recall McCartney mentions that in The Beatles Anthology book, then goes on to say something like, "And look how Elvis died? On the toilet, full of drugs!"

I always got a boot out of George Harrison's story (also in Anthology) about how, when The Beatles were driving to Elvis's house they chain smoked pot all the way in the limo...George spent the rest of the night trying to shake down the Memphis Mafia for more reefer :lol:

"Meeting Elvis was like meeting Englebert Humperdinck." -John Lennon

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