Paul McCartney Reveals the Famous Rock Artist Who Inspired Him to Write the Beatles
On the latest episode of the McCartney: A Life in Lyrics podcast series, Paul McCartney looks back at The Beatles’ hard-rocking 1968 song “Helter Skelter,” which some people cite as an inspiration for the heavy metal genre. McCartney revealed that he was inspired to write the tune by a quote he’d read from a key member of another famous British Invasion band, The Who.“[I]t was [Who guitarist and songwriter] Pete Townshend talking about, ‘We have just recorded the loudest, dirtiest, rockiest thing ever,’” McCartney recalled. “And I loved that description. I just thought, ‘Wow, what a great idea. So what we’ve got to do is something loud and raucous and dirty [too].’”
McCartney remembered that he then went to the studio and told his Beatles bandmates, “I just read about Pete saying this, and I think it’s really a great idea. Let’s just see how loud you can get and how raucous and … let’s just try and really make the meters peak.”
As the podcast explained, The Beatles spent a lot of time working on “Helter Skelter,” recording several takes, including one that ran more than 27 minutes long. At the end of the tune, drummer Ringo Starr can famously be heard yelling, “I’ve got blisters on my fingers!”
Source: Matt Friedlander/americansongwriter.com
