Collision Course - Helter Skelter

Each semester my school does something that is called a collision course.  Cool name for what people in the education world would call an interdisciplinary unit.

I got to team teach with another teacher today. This teacher teaches criminal justice. Since I teach music this meant we needed to combine music with criminal justice in some way.

The past few weeks as we collaborated (read yesterday's blog) on our presentation for this week we decided to talk about how music at times has been blamed for influencing people to commit crimes and about songs that tell about, in some causes glorify, a crime.

My partner talked about Bonnie & Clyde by Jay-Z and Beyoncé. He said it was a modernized recounting of the story of Bonnie & Clyde in a song.

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My song of choice was Helter Skelter. I thought maybe it was time I learned about this song for, you see, while I remember Helter Skelter from when I was a child I only remember it as a song my parents wouldn't let me listen to and a movie my parents wouldn't let me see.

I knew even then that Charles Manson had something to do with the song, but didn't really understand why.

This project allowed me to find out some basic information.

Charles Manson was a cult leader who influenced his followers to kill people.

Manson felt the Beatles had spoken to him through their White Album.  He saw the album as a depiction/plan of a race war.

This is where Helter Skelter comes in.

I watched a video of an interview with of the followers/killers. She was so unmoved by the actions she had taken. She calmly talked about taking part in the killing of a woman then actually wearing the dead woman's clothes back home to the ranch.

She was unmoved.  

I was appalled and sickened.
(I am thankful that my parents protected me from this when I was little. I could have done without learning about it even now.)

That was in the 1960s.

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Fast forward to 2003 in Pennsylvania. Four teens would kill a classmate "just because" with a hatchet, a hammer, and a brick.  During interrogation the teens would reveal that they had listened to Helter Skelter 42 times to prepare them for the killing.

A second generation for Helter Skelter?

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I had to find out about the song Helter Skelter though I was not looking forward to it since it had inspired such heinous crimes.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote Helter Skelter in response to some who had said their music was not "solid" rock - that they only played wimpy rock music.

Helter Skelter was written to demonstrate their ability to perform in a hard rock manner.

Some say that this song is a precursor for heavy metal and punk music.   As I listen to it I hear elements of each in this one some.

A look at the lyrics reveals a basic song. Nothing evil jumps out at me.

 

Helter Skelter

When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again.

Do, don't you want me to love you
I'm coming down fast but I'm miles above you
Tell me, tell me, tell me, come on tell me the answer
You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer.

Helter skelter, helter skelter
Helter skelter.

Will you, won't you want me to make you
I'm coming down fast but don't let me break you
Tell me, tell me, tell me the answer
You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer.

Look out
Helter skelter, helter skelter
Helter skelter.
Look out 'cause here she comes.

When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again.

Well do you, don't you want me to love you
I'm coming down fast but don't let me break you
Tell me, tell me, tell me the answer
You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer.

Look out
Helter skelter, helter skelter
Helter skelter.

Look out helter skelter
She's coming down fast.
Yes she is.
Yes she is

Actually, Helter Skelter refers to an amusement park ride.  It is a long curved slide that one rides down on it on a rug.  (See below.)

Here is a studio version of the Beatles singing the song.



While I prefer their "Hey Jude" and "Let it Be" to this song, I hate that a song that in and of itself is not evil was used to commit horrible crimes.

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What I like about the collision course is that I have learned something.

I look forward to the next time we meet together to find out what the students have learned.