“Helter Skelter”

• Published on 1968
• Author: Lennon/McCartney
• Track 23 on “The Beatles – White Album“

Beatles quotes about “Helter Skelter”

PAUL 1968: “Umm, that came about just ‘cuz 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.”

JOHN 1980: “That’s Paul completely. All that (Charles) Manson stuff was built ’round George’s song about pigs and this one… Paul’s song about an English fairground. It has nothing to do with anything, and least of all to do with me.”

PAUL 1985: “The Who had made some track that was the loudest, the most raucous rock ‘n roll, the dirtiest thing they’d ever done. It made me think, ‘Right. Got to do it.’ I like that kind of geeking up. And we decided to do the loudest, nastiest, sweatiest rock number we could.”