1 00:00:14,824 --> 00:00:15,264 Speaker 1: Pushkin. 2 00:00:20,144 --> 00:00:25,344 Speaker 2: I was inspired by something I read where it was 3 00:00:25,504 --> 00:00:33,384 Speaker 2: Pete Townsend talking about We've just recorded the loudest, dirtiest, 4 00:00:34,184 --> 00:00:39,464 Speaker 2: rockiest thing ever. And I love that description. I just thought, Wow, 5 00:00:43,664 --> 00:00:46,704 Speaker 2: what a great idea. So what we've got to do? 6 00:00:46,864 --> 00:00:51,744 Speaker 2: Something loud and raucous and urchy. I know you've deceived 7 00:00:51,824 --> 00:00:52,904 Speaker 2: me our years are. 8 00:00:57,504 --> 00:01:00,584 Speaker 3: I know that you had, because there's magic. 9 00:01:00,384 --> 00:01:07,184 Speaker 2: In my I can see. So I came into the 10 00:01:07,224 --> 00:01:11,144 Speaker 2: stereo sets of guys. Yeah, I just read about Pete 11 00:01:11,224 --> 00:01:14,544 Speaker 2: saying this and think it's really a great idea. Let's 12 00:01:14,584 --> 00:01:18,664 Speaker 2: just see how loud you get and how rowcus and 13 00:01:18,904 --> 00:01:23,024 Speaker 2: just let's just try and really make them meet us peak. 14 00:01:42,104 --> 00:01:53,504 Speaker 4: I'm Paul will do And I've been fortunate to spend 15 00:01:53,544 --> 00:01:57,224 Speaker 4: time with one of the greatest songwriters of our era. 16 00:01:57,624 --> 00:01:59,984 Speaker 2: And will you look at me? I'm going on to 17 00:02:00,464 --> 00:02:01,864 Speaker 2: I'm actually a performer. 18 00:02:02,464 --> 00:02:05,904 Speaker 1: That is sir Paul McCartney. We work together on a 19 00:02:05,904 --> 00:02:08,424 Speaker 1: book looking at the lyrics of more than one hundred 20 00:02:08,424 --> 00:02:12,744 Speaker 1: and fifty of his songs, and we recorded many hours 21 00:02:13,144 --> 00:02:15,264 Speaker 1: of our conversations. 22 00:02:14,904 --> 00:02:19,304 Speaker 2: Oh she'm a songwriter? My god, Well that that crypta homy. 23 00:02:19,624 --> 00:02:25,584 Speaker 1: This is McCartney. A life in lyrics, a masterclass, a memoir, 24 00:02:26,144 --> 00:02:29,384 Speaker 1: and an improvised journey with one of the most iconic 25 00:02:29,504 --> 00:02:34,384 Speaker 1: figures in popular music. In this episode, we'll trace the 26 00:02:34,464 --> 00:02:39,104 Speaker 1: story of one of the wildest Beatle songs, which some 27 00:02:39,264 --> 00:02:47,424 Speaker 1: consider to represent the beginning of heavy metal. Today, more 28 00:02:47,544 --> 00:02:51,864 Speaker 1: people probably think of Helter Skelter as that raucous Beatles 29 00:02:51,944 --> 00:02:56,264 Speaker 1: song with a strange title, rather than what it refers to, 30 00:02:56,704 --> 00:02:58,824 Speaker 1: an innocent funfair ride. 31 00:02:59,104 --> 00:03:00,744 Speaker 2: Not people in a marc don't know what a helter 32 00:03:00,824 --> 00:03:04,784 Speaker 2: skelter is. I do. You think it's a rollercoaster, But 33 00:03:04,944 --> 00:03:08,144 Speaker 2: as you know, it's a sort of conical thing. We'll 34 00:03:08,344 --> 00:03:16,264 Speaker 2: slide around the outside of it. We used to go 35 00:03:16,344 --> 00:03:19,544 Speaker 2: on those loads of times as kids. You'd you walk 36 00:03:19,624 --> 00:03:21,984 Speaker 2: up in the stairs inside it, and then you'd slide down, 37 00:03:22,024 --> 00:03:25,984 Speaker 2: and then you'd walk up again, and it was fun, 38 00:03:26,064 --> 00:03:30,424 Speaker 2: you know. So I just used that. I was thought 39 00:03:30,464 --> 00:03:34,664 Speaker 2: of symbol of life. I go up to the top, 40 00:03:34,784 --> 00:03:37,344 Speaker 2: I stopped, and I turned and I come down to 41 00:03:37,424 --> 00:03:40,304 Speaker 2: Moon't I see you again? So I was really thinking 42 00:03:40,304 --> 00:03:44,544 Speaker 2: of moods. You know, you're up, you get knocked down, 43 00:03:45,784 --> 00:03:50,544 Speaker 2: you're feeling euphoric and you're feeling miserable. Such as the 44 00:03:50,624 --> 00:03:51,384 Speaker 2: nature of life. 45 00:03:54,984 --> 00:03:57,384 Speaker 3: When I get to the bottom, I got back to 46 00:03:57,424 --> 00:04:02,184 Speaker 3: the top of the stop. 47 00:04:08,864 --> 00:04:12,144 Speaker 1: The image of a child sliding down a cylindrical tower 48 00:04:12,704 --> 00:04:16,304 Speaker 1: is in sharp contrast to what the song would become, 49 00:04:16,944 --> 00:04:21,904 Speaker 1: and especially to how it would later be misinterpreted. But 50 00:04:21,984 --> 00:04:25,464 Speaker 1: the funfair ride is a great metaphor for the sense 51 00:04:25,504 --> 00:04:29,184 Speaker 1: of play the Beatles brought to the studio, as we 52 00:04:29,224 --> 00:04:33,824 Speaker 1: can hear in this early version of Helter Skelter when 53 00:04:34,504 --> 00:04:35,384 Speaker 1: doing a lot. 54 00:04:35,264 --> 00:04:38,784 Speaker 3: Of lying up doing the hill where I stopped and 55 00:04:38,984 --> 00:04:41,064 Speaker 3: I jumped and I did a little trill. 56 00:04:52,984 --> 00:04:57,384 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty eight, when the Beatles recorded and released 57 00:04:57,424 --> 00:05:00,504 Speaker 1: Helter Skelter, there was a new kind of rock and 58 00:05:00,664 --> 00:05:01,584 Speaker 1: roll in the air. 59 00:05:02,184 --> 00:05:16,264 Speaker 5: It was loud, distorted, heavy, jes kass. 60 00:05:16,984 --> 00:05:22,424 Speaker 1: There was of course the ho and there was the 61 00:05:22,544 --> 00:05:25,944 Speaker 1: King of the electric guitar, so let's say once again 62 00:05:26,064 --> 00:05:47,424 Speaker 1: the Jimi Hendrix experience. Things got heavier throughout the late sixties, 63 00:05:47,864 --> 00:05:51,544 Speaker 1: setting the stage for Black Sabbath, who would released their 64 00:05:51,584 --> 00:06:13,264 Speaker 1: first record in nineteen seventy. Throughout the late sixties, when 65 00:06:13,264 --> 00:06:16,824 Speaker 1: the Beatles were at their peak, rock groups saw the 66 00:06:16,944 --> 00:06:21,864 Speaker 1: rise of technological innovations in the studio. New signs new 67 00:06:21,944 --> 00:06:27,344 Speaker 1: production methods. By the time Helter Skelter was released, most 68 00:06:27,544 --> 00:06:33,104 Speaker 1: record companies had abandoned Mono had moved on to stereo recording. 69 00:06:33,384 --> 00:06:39,304 Speaker 2: Well. I remember walking into the studio and there being 70 00:06:39,784 --> 00:06:42,264 Speaker 2: two speakers, one on the left, one on the right, 71 00:06:42,584 --> 00:06:45,704 Speaker 2: whereas it's always just been one in the middle. And 72 00:06:45,744 --> 00:06:52,744 Speaker 2: we were, oh, you know, we were highly observant two speakers, 73 00:06:53,424 --> 00:06:57,904 Speaker 2: so we immediately were very thrilled because we assumed that 74 00:06:57,944 --> 00:07:17,424 Speaker 2: many it would be twice as loud, and George Martin 75 00:07:18,384 --> 00:07:24,904 Speaker 2: patiently explained to us, no, Draxy's hystereophonics. Because it was there, 76 00:07:25,024 --> 00:07:26,984 Speaker 2: it was available, We got into it. It was like a 77 00:07:27,024 --> 00:07:31,824 Speaker 2: new toy, but we thought of it in a different 78 00:07:31,824 --> 00:07:34,984 Speaker 2: way than you do now. Now you just think it 79 00:07:35,224 --> 00:07:38,144 Speaker 2: makes it more realistic, like listening to a band and 80 00:07:38,184 --> 00:07:42,144 Speaker 2: you get a surround feeling when you listen to it. 81 00:07:42,704 --> 00:07:46,544 Speaker 2: We thought, no, it's two speakers. We can have a 82 00:07:46,544 --> 00:07:49,304 Speaker 2: thing wandering from one speaker to another. 83 00:07:49,824 --> 00:07:54,064 Speaker 1: The Beatles White Album, which included Helter Skelter, was the 84 00:07:54,184 --> 00:07:58,264 Speaker 1: last the band would record in mono. For their next album, 85 00:07:58,384 --> 00:08:02,584 Speaker 1: Abbey Road, the stereo mix would become crucial to their 86 00:08:02,664 --> 00:08:15,824 Speaker 1: creative vision. Individual instruments would start to move from one 87 00:08:15,864 --> 00:08:17,424 Speaker 1: speaker to another. 88 00:08:26,624 --> 00:08:28,424 Speaker 2: So a lot of all things in the mix is 89 00:08:28,584 --> 00:08:33,624 Speaker 2: just go for walkers and decides to go over there 90 00:08:33,704 --> 00:08:34,224 Speaker 2: for a while. 91 00:08:34,464 --> 00:08:38,704 Speaker 1: Yeah, how active role did you yourself? 92 00:08:38,864 --> 00:08:45,784 Speaker 5: Yourself or your the other Beatles playing in the sand. 93 00:08:47,424 --> 00:08:51,064 Speaker 2: By then quite a love Yes. Well, we always used 94 00:08:51,104 --> 00:08:54,104 Speaker 2: to say, you know, the the lunatics were taken over 95 00:08:54,184 --> 00:09:01,464 Speaker 2: the asylum, we got control of pretty much everything, you know. 96 00:09:01,664 --> 00:09:07,024 Speaker 2: Being a bit of a perfectionist, I would would sort 97 00:09:07,024 --> 00:09:09,264 Speaker 2: of work out the song and then I'd say run 98 00:09:09,304 --> 00:09:11,744 Speaker 2: up into the control room and listen to the drum 99 00:09:11,824 --> 00:09:14,424 Speaker 2: sound and sort of stay to the engineer if you 100 00:09:14,464 --> 00:09:18,664 Speaker 2: make this a bit hard, and I'd fuss and pushed 101 00:09:18,704 --> 00:09:21,104 Speaker 2: till it was like for health scalp, till it was 102 00:09:21,184 --> 00:09:25,424 Speaker 2: kind of quite raucous, you know, and really just try 103 00:09:25,464 --> 00:09:28,704 Speaker 2: and coach the engineers and then you could leave them. 104 00:09:28,904 --> 00:09:33,704 Speaker 2: They were brilliant and they would multiply what you suggested 105 00:09:34,344 --> 00:09:37,424 Speaker 2: and sorted out make it, make it better. 106 00:09:38,264 --> 00:09:41,584 Speaker 1: At that time, most of the sound engineers would have 107 00:09:41,624 --> 00:09:46,984 Speaker 1: had classical production training with certain rules about arranging instruments 108 00:09:47,024 --> 00:09:52,544 Speaker 1: and volume levels and preventing distortion. But as the Beatles 109 00:09:52,704 --> 00:09:57,264 Speaker 1: drifted away from the sweet sound of their early pop hits, 110 00:09:57,944 --> 00:10:01,984 Speaker 1: they realized that most rules exist to be broken. 111 00:10:02,584 --> 00:10:06,344 Speaker 2: I remember Nowhere Man Child had brought this song in 112 00:10:07,064 --> 00:10:10,184 Speaker 2: from Weybridge where he was feeling like I know where 113 00:10:10,264 --> 00:10:16,264 Speaker 2: man and. 114 00:10:14,184 --> 00:10:21,584 Speaker 6: We wanted the opening guitars to be really spiky and 115 00:10:21,864 --> 00:10:27,784 Speaker 6: very trebling, super trebling, and they are if you listen 116 00:10:27,824 --> 00:10:29,984 Speaker 6: to them there it's like a. 117 00:10:31,304 --> 00:10:34,224 Speaker 2: Razor blade or something. You know, it's quite amazing. 118 00:10:35,424 --> 00:10:40,504 Speaker 1: He's a real no man sitting. 119 00:10:40,344 --> 00:10:46,464 Speaker 7: In his now land making all now. 120 00:10:46,504 --> 00:10:53,624 Speaker 2: Plans for So we said to the engineer, okay, so 121 00:10:54,184 --> 00:10:57,264 Speaker 2: make it as treble as you can. So he put 122 00:10:57,944 --> 00:11:00,784 Speaker 2: all the treble in and I said, can you make 123 00:11:00,824 --> 00:11:03,344 Speaker 2: it more? He said, no, that's it. I'm sort of 124 00:11:03,544 --> 00:11:06,064 Speaker 2: run out, you know, this is all that high made 125 00:11:06,504 --> 00:11:11,384 Speaker 2: and treble, and that's all I can do. I said, well, 126 00:11:11,624 --> 00:11:13,544 Speaker 2: could he put it through not a lot of EQ 127 00:11:14,464 --> 00:11:14,984 Speaker 2: So he did. 128 00:11:15,024 --> 00:11:22,984 Speaker 8: He sent it through the next channel, and of course 129 00:11:23,024 --> 00:11:27,424 Speaker 8: then this was like the game could you put even more? Yeah, 130 00:11:27,784 --> 00:11:29,944 Speaker 8: So we had him going through I don't know, quite 131 00:11:29,944 --> 00:11:30,784 Speaker 8: a few channels. 132 00:11:30,944 --> 00:11:40,984 Speaker 7: Jesus Jessee, no can Yus. 133 00:11:50,384 --> 00:11:52,944 Speaker 1: As McCartney and the rest of the band learned to 134 00:11:52,984 --> 00:11:56,624 Speaker 1: break the rules of production They were also playing with 135 00:11:56,664 --> 00:12:00,304 Speaker 1: the rules of language, drawing on the literary tradition of 136 00:12:00,584 --> 00:12:01,744 Speaker 1: nonsense poetry. 137 00:12:02,024 --> 00:12:07,864 Speaker 2: In the verses that's sort of Alice in Wonderland? Will 138 00:12:07,904 --> 00:12:08,464 Speaker 2: you won't you? 139 00:12:09,304 --> 00:12:09,384 Speaker 7: Do? 140 00:12:09,544 --> 00:12:21,064 Speaker 2: You don't? Let's lose Carol abisonly John and I both 141 00:12:21,584 --> 00:12:28,664 Speaker 2: related to we like that lotten use things. 142 00:12:28,344 --> 00:12:32,984 Speaker 1: From that, Things like the lobster quadrille from Alice in 143 00:12:33,024 --> 00:12:35,944 Speaker 1: Wonderland here performed by Gene Wilder. 144 00:12:36,824 --> 00:12:40,904 Speaker 2: See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance. 145 00:12:41,144 --> 00:12:44,224 Speaker 2: They are waiting on the shingle. Will you come and 146 00:12:44,384 --> 00:12:49,104 Speaker 2: join the dance dance? Will you won't you? Will you? 147 00:12:49,144 --> 00:12:53,224 Speaker 5: Won't you join the dance dance? 148 00:12:54,984 --> 00:13:00,144 Speaker 1: Many Beatles lyrics included playful phrases like this. Some of 149 00:13:00,184 --> 00:13:04,024 Speaker 1: these phrases coined by the band have even crept into 150 00:13:04,144 --> 00:13:08,424 Speaker 1: the common vernacular phrases such as a hard day's night, 151 00:13:09,104 --> 00:13:12,944 Speaker 1: eight days a week, or for that matter, helter skelter. 152 00:13:13,864 --> 00:13:17,864 Speaker 1: Most of the nonsense lyrics weren't meant to be interpreted. 153 00:13:18,504 --> 00:13:28,664 Speaker 1: They were meant to be felt in keeping with the 154 00:13:28,704 --> 00:13:33,784 Speaker 1: playful energy. However, some of the lyrics nodded toward that 155 00:13:33,984 --> 00:13:54,224 Speaker 1: which couldn't be played over BBC waves. 156 00:13:47,984 --> 00:13:51,064 Speaker 2: Don't let Me Break you. Yes, it's just sort of, 157 00:13:51,104 --> 00:13:55,224 Speaker 2: you know, something to hang a song of desperation, of 158 00:13:55,744 --> 00:13:59,984 Speaker 2: little sexual she's coming coming down fast, and perhaps a 159 00:13:59,984 --> 00:14:04,384 Speaker 2: little drug component which I'll throw it all in. 160 00:14:04,984 --> 00:14:09,024 Speaker 1: Helter Skelter wasn't the only song to which the Beatles 161 00:14:09,224 --> 00:14:14,904 Speaker 1: added clever euphemisms and hidden messages. As the band's music developed, 162 00:14:15,344 --> 00:14:19,584 Speaker 1: they inserted a few easter eggs that fans began to 163 00:14:19,664 --> 00:14:24,664 Speaker 1: crack open, including phrases that could only be heard when 164 00:14:24,704 --> 00:14:26,224 Speaker 1: played backwards. 165 00:14:26,744 --> 00:14:32,024 Speaker 2: See people thinking. Actually there was a whole set it 166 00:14:32,144 --> 00:14:35,864 Speaker 2: up with a few little clues kind of things, you know, 167 00:14:36,544 --> 00:14:40,224 Speaker 2: we did. We put little things in. Well, those things 168 00:14:40,224 --> 00:14:43,104 Speaker 2: they were for our own amusement, you know, it was 169 00:14:43,184 --> 00:14:46,344 Speaker 2: it was. It was an effort to not be bored. 170 00:14:47,104 --> 00:14:51,024 Speaker 2: So when we heard the beach boys singing La La, 171 00:14:52,744 --> 00:14:57,104 Speaker 2: we thought that'd be great, to which on the session 172 00:14:57,144 --> 00:15:01,264 Speaker 2: became Ti tit and we sniggered like school boys, you know, 173 00:15:01,304 --> 00:15:02,864 Speaker 2: and really were happy. 174 00:15:03,224 --> 00:15:06,984 Speaker 7: Jesus kind of girl with wind. 175 00:15:11,024 --> 00:15:15,704 Speaker 2: And in Penny Lane for of fish and finger pied 176 00:15:16,424 --> 00:15:30,704 Speaker 2: finger pive is rude sexual reference. But we knew that 177 00:15:30,744 --> 00:15:32,944 Speaker 2: the people in Liverpool would get it, but no one 178 00:15:32,984 --> 00:15:36,464 Speaker 2: else would they would just think it was like a chefspie. 179 00:15:37,304 --> 00:15:41,584 Speaker 2: So I think once people thought there's hidden references, they 180 00:15:41,624 --> 00:15:46,064 Speaker 2: started they weren't looking for them, and I saw them 181 00:15:46,064 --> 00:15:49,424 Speaker 2: in everything, you know, even stuff that wasn't really there. 182 00:15:59,584 --> 00:16:04,904 Speaker 1: Sometimes interpretation can open up a song, reveale layers of 183 00:16:05,024 --> 00:16:09,064 Speaker 1: meaning that weren't discernible on the first listen. We could 184 00:16:09,184 --> 00:16:13,704 Speaker 1: tribute to a song by listening to it, and sometimes 185 00:16:14,144 --> 00:16:32,464 Speaker 1: we add significance of which even the lyricist wasn't conscious. 186 00:16:35,024 --> 00:16:41,664 Speaker 1: Misinterpretations are mostly harmless, like when some fans took lyrics 187 00:16:41,704 --> 00:16:46,384 Speaker 1: as evidence for the bizarre urban legend that Paul McCartney 188 00:16:46,584 --> 00:16:51,864 Speaker 1: died in nineteen sixty six and was replaced by a doubleganger. 189 00:16:52,144 --> 00:16:55,544 Speaker 2: So Paul is dead came out of the fact that 190 00:16:55,584 --> 00:16:59,744 Speaker 2: I wasn't wearing shoes on the Abbey Road crossing. Wait, 191 00:17:00,144 --> 00:17:04,424 Speaker 2: that's a stretch in anybody's language, you know. And then 192 00:17:04,464 --> 00:17:08,944 Speaker 2: there was a Volkswagen Beetle car in that which said 193 00:17:09,344 --> 00:17:12,864 Speaker 2: two eight one F, which was translated he would have 194 00:17:12,904 --> 00:17:15,264 Speaker 2: been twenty eight if he'd have lived. 195 00:17:15,264 --> 00:17:19,304 Speaker 1: Okay, But when the wrong person looks too closely for 196 00:17:19,424 --> 00:17:24,744 Speaker 1: something that's not there, the meaning can be corrupted, like 197 00:17:24,824 --> 00:17:29,744 Speaker 1: when Charles Manson claimed Helter Skelter referred to a coming 198 00:17:29,784 --> 00:17:35,504 Speaker 1: apocalypse and read into the song a justification for his 199 00:17:35,744 --> 00:17:37,264 Speaker 1: heenous crimes. 200 00:17:37,704 --> 00:17:41,464 Speaker 2: I didn't do it for years because of that. You know, 201 00:17:41,504 --> 00:17:45,104 Speaker 2: when it was contemporary, I wouldn't have even thought of 202 00:17:45,184 --> 00:17:49,024 Speaker 2: doing it, because that's the sort of horror show, you know, 203 00:17:49,104 --> 00:17:53,064 Speaker 2: when something realized. I mean, we knew that there were 204 00:17:53,104 --> 00:17:59,104 Speaker 2: sort of daft Americans who read way too much into 205 00:17:59,584 --> 00:18:04,144 Speaker 2: everything we did. It's okay, but when Manson did it, 206 00:18:04,264 --> 00:18:06,664 Speaker 2: when when the Manson association. 207 00:18:06,744 --> 00:18:10,544 Speaker 9: With the murders, then that was, oh, okay, this is 208 00:18:10,584 --> 00:18:14,224 Speaker 9: no longer funny this guy, because you really thought we 209 00:18:14,224 --> 00:18:19,304 Speaker 9: were the four horseman of the apocalypse, and we. 210 00:18:19,144 --> 00:18:24,544 Speaker 2: Were horrified to learn that, you know, that his song 211 00:18:24,704 --> 00:18:27,504 Speaker 2: was helter Skelter, because of course, you know, it was 212 00:18:27,584 --> 00:18:32,304 Speaker 2: just sparked by this translated quote that I'd read, this 213 00:18:32,464 --> 00:18:36,824 Speaker 2: idea of you know, just loudest let's going now, you know, 214 00:18:37,424 --> 00:18:39,704 Speaker 2: let's go on and just make it the loudest. 215 00:18:42,984 --> 00:18:45,064 Speaker 3: We're not get to the da and I get back 216 00:18:45,184 --> 00:18:48,184 Speaker 3: to the tap of the stadt. 217 00:18:57,064 --> 00:18:58,944 Speaker 2: So we're not going to turn our guitars down. And 218 00:18:59,064 --> 00:19:01,064 Speaker 2: the turnament was a loud you know, I'm going to 219 00:19:01,104 --> 00:19:01,984 Speaker 2: ask the engineer to. 220 00:19:01,984 --> 00:19:06,944 Speaker 10: Be loud and it's dirty and give us distortion, the 221 00:19:07,024 --> 00:19:09,144 Speaker 10: kind of thing that we eventually got on Revolution, and 222 00:19:10,304 --> 00:19:13,664 Speaker 10: you know that was the epitome of the distortion. 223 00:19:13,864 --> 00:19:16,984 Speaker 1: That it's at the heart of the matter, really, isn't it. 224 00:19:17,584 --> 00:19:20,464 Speaker 2: You know, it's I mean, we liked, we liked that, 225 00:19:21,104 --> 00:19:25,464 Speaker 2: we liked it's it's very much part of rock and roll, 226 00:19:25,584 --> 00:19:26,224 Speaker 2: you know. It's. 227 00:19:26,544 --> 00:19:33,904 Speaker 11: Whereas orchestral music or dance and music will be trying 228 00:19:33,984 --> 00:19:39,824 Speaker 11: to be pretty gentle and romantic, rock and roll was 229 00:19:39,944 --> 00:19:42,424 Speaker 11: kicking that, you know, kicking out. 230 00:19:56,784 --> 00:19:56,984 Speaker 4: Yeah. 231 00:20:14,584 --> 00:20:19,504 Speaker 1: The studio sessions for Helter Skelter became quite physically demanding, 232 00:20:20,264 --> 00:20:23,664 Speaker 1: gone with the cut school boys serenading their fans with 233 00:20:23,864 --> 00:20:30,224 Speaker 1: lovely Doo and eight days a week this music shredded, clashed, roared. 234 00:20:31,024 --> 00:20:35,664 Speaker 1: The Beatles recorded several takes of Helter Skelter, including an 235 00:20:35,744 --> 00:20:40,344 Speaker 1: unreleased version that ran at twenty seven minutes eleven seconds. 236 00:20:40,904 --> 00:20:43,544 Speaker 1: It's no wonder then at the end of the song, 237 00:20:44,024 --> 00:20:47,824 Speaker 1: Ringo's star would cry out. 238 00:20:50,624 --> 00:20:52,984 Speaker 2: It was that kind of thing where you had played 239 00:20:53,064 --> 00:20:57,104 Speaker 2: the hell out of it, and it was sometimes credited 240 00:20:57,144 --> 00:20:59,304 Speaker 2: by people as being in the start of heavy metal. 241 00:20:59,704 --> 00:21:02,504 Speaker 12: Yes, I've read that's I don't know whether that's true, 242 00:21:02,544 --> 00:21:07,744 Speaker 12: but you know it's pretty heavy metal, so you know, 243 00:21:07,904 --> 00:21:10,864 Speaker 12: you think it might have inspired someone in the same 244 00:21:10,904 --> 00:21:14,024 Speaker 12: way as the Tansend quote expired me. 245 00:21:14,624 --> 00:21:18,304 Speaker 1: McCartney doesn't remember which song from the who Townsend was 246 00:21:18,384 --> 00:21:22,104 Speaker 1: referring to. It may have been I can see for miles. 247 00:21:22,784 --> 00:21:26,304 Speaker 1: But it only took the idea of cranking up the 248 00:21:26,384 --> 00:21:30,904 Speaker 1: volume and rocking as hard as possible to inspire Helter Skelter, 249 00:21:31,544 --> 00:21:35,624 Speaker 1: a song which in turn would inspire the next generation 250 00:21:36,104 --> 00:21:49,064 Speaker 1: of heavy metal bands, like the band Motley Crewe, who 251 00:21:49,504 --> 00:22:13,704 Speaker 1: regularly performed their own cover of the song Helter Skelter 252 00:22:14,064 --> 00:22:18,744 Speaker 1: from the beatles nineteen sixty eight self titled record also 253 00:22:18,824 --> 00:22:37,024 Speaker 1: known as the White Album. This concludes the first season 254 00:22:37,224 --> 00:22:41,424 Speaker 1: of our podcast. We'll be back soon with more episodes 255 00:22:41,504 --> 00:22:46,064 Speaker 1: drawn from this treasure trove of lyrics, including McCartney's own 256 00:22:46,224 --> 00:22:48,384 Speaker 1: favorite McCartney song. 257 00:22:49,344 --> 00:22:49,904 Speaker 6: Beat. 258 00:22:52,544 --> 00:22:53,304 Speaker 2: My Name. 259 00:22:58,224 --> 00:23:04,824 Speaker 1: Yeah, statuned and subscribed to McCartney A Life in Lyrics, 260 00:23:06,904 --> 00:23:23,544 Speaker 1: Changing the wave of McCartney. A Life in Lyrics is 261 00:23:23,584 --> 00:23:29,104 Speaker 1: a co production between iHeartMedia, n p L and Pushkin Industries.