HELTER SKELTER AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

The first recorded evidence of "Helter Skelter" arose on June 11th, 1968, in EMI Studio Two sometime between 6:30 and 7 pm.  The intention of the evening was recording Paul's ballad "Blackbird," which did get fully recorded on this day by 12:15 am.  Engineer Geoff Emerick remembers the details of this day in his book 'Here, There And Everywhere":  "Neither Ringo nor George was present on that particular evening, and John wanted to begin compiling sound effects for what would ultimately become 'Revolution 9,' so as soon as he learned that another studio was available, he decided to head off with (producer) Chris Thomas and Phil (McDonald) - accompanied, as usual, by Yoko."

That other studio, EMI Studio Three, became available at 7 pm, which saw the exit of John and Yoko.  However, as Emerick continues, “At one point a cameraman appeared to do a little filming for an Apple promo, and that interrupted the flow a little bit, but Paul just carried on, with his new lady friend sitting cross-legged at his feet.”  This film still exists today which shows Paul running through sections of “Blackbird” as well as his newly written song “Helter Skelter” on acoustic guitar with his current girlfriend, Francie Schwartz at his side.  Since the film footage shows John and Yoko in attendance, this off-the-cuff acoustic rendition of “Helter Skelter” must have been performed before they left for EMI Studio Three at 7 pm.

It wasn't until over a month later, on July 18th, 1968, that The Beatles officially brought the song into the studio for recording purposes, although the recordings of the song done on this day were essentially rehearsals.  After extensive work on John's song “Cry Baby Cry” earlier in the day, the group returned to EMI Studio Two at 10:30 pm to work out “Helter Skelter,” this session not ending until 3:30 am the following morning.

The Beatles ran through three drawn outtakes of the song with Paul on vocals and lead guitar, George on rhythm guitar, John on bass and Ringo on drums.  'Take one” lasted 10:40, 'take two' made it to 12:35, and 'take three' stretched to an unprecedented 27:11, the longest ever Beatles recording.  All the instruments piled onto one track of the four-track tape, Paul's vocals followed isolated on a second track, and the other two tracks were left empty for possible overdubs later, though they never materialized.  The first five minutes of 'take two'appear on the compilation album “Anthology 2” for us to get a gist how the song sounded like at this point, revealing it to be a plodding slower version but with a good degree of energy nonetheless.  Paul sings “Hell for leather” on occasion instead of “Helter Skelter,” which ended up the right phrase for the released version.

Technical engineer Brian Gibson, in the book “The Beatles Recording Sessions,” gives some interesting details about the events of this day:  “They recorded the long versions of 'Helter Skelter' with live tape echo.  Echo would normally be added at the remix stage otherwise it can't be altered, but this time they wanted it live.  One of the versions of 'Helter Skelter' developed into a jam which went into and then back out of a somewhat bizarre version of 'Blue Moon.'”

Gibson continues:  “The problem was, although we were recording then at 15 ips – which meant that we'd get roughly half an hour of time on the tape – the machine we were running for the tape echo was going at 30 ips, in other words, 15 minutes.  We were sitting up there in the control room – Ken Scott, the second engineer and myself – looking at this tape echo about to run out. The Beatles were jamming away, completely oblivious to the world and we didn't know what to do because they all had foldback in their headphones so that they could hear the echo.  We knew that if we stopped it they would notice.  In the end, we decided that the best thing to do was stop the tape echo machine and rewind it.  So at one point the echo suddenly stopped, and you could hear 'bllllrrrippppp' as the tape spooled back.  This prompted Paul to put in some clever vocal improvisation based around the chattering sound!”

Time was taken, probably by Paul, to review the recordings done on this day to determine whether any of the three 'takes' could remain for the finished product.  This hastily scribbled guide was written on the back of an official EMI Recording Sheet and found in Mark Lewisohn's book “The Beatles Recording Sessions.”  Notes such as “Verse O.K.,” “Middle Vocal O.K.,” “end good,” “'Dancer Dancer' (good)” and “'Do you Don't you want me' end” were jotted down but, ultimately, a decision took place to start again at another time.

It wasn't until a month-and-a-half later, September 9th, 1968, that The Beatles decided to bring the song back to EMI Studio Two to give it another go.  Documentation shows the session beginning at a usual 7 pm with Chris Thomas officially in the producer's chair for the first time although the results of this session show that The Beatles were most definitely in control.

Chris Thomas relates: “I came back from my holiday and there was a note from George (Martin) on my desk. 'Chris: Hope you had a nice holiday; I'm off on mine now.  Make yourself available to The Beatles.  Neil (Aspinall) and Mal (Evans) know you're coming down.'  It took a while for The Beatles to accept me. Paul was the first one to walk in – I was sitting in the corner wearing a suit and tie! - and he said, 'What are you doing here?'  I felt such an idiot, but managed to blurt, 'Didn't George tell you?'  'No.'  'Well, George has suggested I come down and help out.'  Paul's reply was, 'Well, if you wanna produce us you can produce us. If you don't, we might just tell you to f**k off!'  That was encouragement?  I couldn't speak after that...”

The Beatles proceeded to record 18 more takes of “Helter Skelter” on this day, takes 4 through 21, with an even more raucous sound than they had attempted back on July 18th, but at a more palatable length for inclusion on an album:  three to four minutes instead of 27!  As for the sound generated on this day, Brian Gibson remembers it as “out of control.  They were completely out of their heads that night. But, as usual, a blind eye was turned to what The Beatles did in the studio. Everyone knew what substances they were taking, but they were really a law unto themselves in the studio.  As long as they didn't do anything too outrageous, things were tolerated.”

Chris Thomas recalls one of the events of this day that were tolerated: “While Paul was doing his vocal, George Harrison had set fire to an ashtray and was running around the studio with it above his head, doing an Arthur Brown!  All in all, a pretty undisciplined session, you could say!”  George was doing this as inspired by the recent hit “Fire” by The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, which hit the #1 spot in Britain in August of that year and had captured the world by storm.  Somewhat forgettable now, it was all the rage at the time.

The instrumentation for the rhythm track recorded on this day appears to have been Paul on electric rhythm guitar, George on distorted lead guitar, John on piano and Ringo on 'blistering' drums.  In “Many Years From Now,” Paul himself describes this session: “I went into the studio and said, 'Hey, look, I've read this thing.  Let's do it!'  We got the engineers and (the producer) to hike up the drum sound and really get it as loud and horrible as it could, and we played it and said, 'No, it still sounds too safe, it's got to get louder and dirtier.'  We tried everything we could to dirty it up, and in the end, you can hear Ringo say, 'I've got blisters on my fingers.'  That wasn't a joke put-on:  his hands were actually bleeding at the end of the take, he'd been drumming so ferociously.  We did work very hard on that track."  In the Beatles book "Anthology," Ringo remembers:  "'Helter Skelter' was a track we did in total madness and hysterics in the studio.  Sometimes you just had to shake out the jams...Paul started screaming and shouting and made it up on the spot.”

'Take 21,' with Ringo's “blisters” scream, was deemed best by Paul.  As outlined above, Paul overdubbed his exciting lead vocals onto this take before the session was complete at 2:30 am the following morning.

They reconvened the following day, September 10th, 1968, in EMI Studio Two at around 7 pm to complete the overdubs on the song and bring it to its complete state. Interestingly, it was John, not Paul, that overdubbed bass guitar on this song, as well as some strategic lead guitar parts by Paul and backing vocals from John, Paul, and George. Mal Evans, in the November 1968 issue of “The Beatles Monthly Book,” describes another interesting overdub recorded on this day.  “The backing features The Two Harrys on brass.  That's Mal Evans on trumpet and John Lennon on saxophone!”  It's not hard to miss these elements in the cacophony on the finished recording, especially during the final minute or so.  By 3 am the following morning the session was complete, as was the recording of “Helter Skelter.”

The released mono mix of the song occurred on September 17th, 1968 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by Chris Thomas and engineers Ken Scott and Mike Sheady.  They went the conventional route by performing a simple fade of the song at 3:36, omitting Ringo's “blisters” remark entirely.  The background vocals were placed somewhat prominently in the mix while care was given to fade out extraneous chatter and sounds when the song comes to a halt at the three-minute mark.

The 27-minute version of the song they recorded on July 18th may have been deemed unusable, but Paul did not forget it.  On October 9th, 1968, a tape copy of that version was made in the wee hours of the morning for Paul to have for his private collection.

George Martin and engineers Ken Scott and John Smith created the stereo mix on October 12th, 1968 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by, undoubtedly with some Beatles in attendance.  Five attempts played out at creating this difficult mix, the fifth try, no doubt, is the one used on the released album.  The backing vocals were pushed more in the background, Paul's lead guitar in the instrumental break was brought up higher in the mix, and the chatter and extraneous sounds during the break at the three-minute mark endured this time around.  And, most notably, a decision to fade the song back up for the listener to hear its full conclusion as well as Ringo's “blisters” cry had won acceptance.

Sometime between 2004 and 2006, producers George and Giles Martin returned to the original master tapes of "Helter Skelter" to add some highly delayed vocals from the song onto a new track entitled "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! / I Want You (She's So Heavy) / Helter Skelter" which appeared on the album "Love."  Slight elements of "Helter Skelter" were also infused into their newly created mashup for the track "Octopus's Garden." Both of these recordings surfaced as a backdrop during the famous "Beatles Love" Cirque du Soleil shows.

A recording of “Helter Skelter” by Paul and his band during one of his performances at Citi Field in New York City between July 17th through 21st, 2009, was featured on his album “Good Evening New York City.”  This performance went on the win a Grammy for “Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance” at the 53rd Grammy Awards.

The structure of the song can be parsed out as 'intro/ verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ chorus (solo)/ intro/ verse/ chorus/ conclusion' (or abcbccabcd).  As what has become common in their later catalog, differences occur along the way, this time especially concerning the measures within the various sections of the song.

Although the mono version has gained notoriety as the years have progressed, the stereo mix is still considered the definitive version.  Therefore, this review will focus primarily on the stereo version with noteworthy mention of the mono mix when needed.

The startling intro is six measures long and begins with only Paul's hammering guitar in the first measure.  Our footing for where the downbeat is can be solved by recognizing that the first guitar chord, the one that slides down the neck, is only played in anticipation of the one-beat of the first measure.  Therefore, the first lower guitar chord in the successive 16th-note pattern is actually the downbeat.  It all fits together uniformly when Paul starts singing at the end of this first measure.

As noted above, the second measure of this intro adds Paul's single-tracked lead vocals; then the third measure adds Ringo's 16th-note snare drum beats played somewhat quietly while Paul's vocals rise in intensity.  The fourth measure displays Ringo's snare drum beats getting progressively louder to accompany Paul's manic vocals which are now rising to a fever pitch on the lyric, “and I see you agaaaain.” This acts as a signal for the full band arrangement to kick in, which features George's lead guitar, Ringo's cymbal-smashing drum beat, John's thumping overdubbed bass guitar, Paul's continuing guitar work and, somewhere deep in the mix, John's piano from the rhythm track.  All this fattens with rich reverb, echo, ADT (“Artificial Double-Tracking”) and distortion per Paul's request, his approval symbolically expressed by his “She Loves You” reprise of “yeah, yeah, yeah” at the end of the fifth measure.  The sixth measure of the introduction begins the hypnotic and somewhat out-of-tune guitar phrases that wind through the rest of the song. This repetitive guitar phrase is undoubtedly The Beatles attempt at capturing the feel of the Jimi Hendrix song “Foxy Lady,” which was the opening track of his first British album “Are You Experienced,” all four Beatles being huge fans of this artist.

The first verse is eight measures long and rests heavily on this hypnotic guitar-based vamp with Paul's high-energy single-tracked vocals.  Ringo puts in hard-hitting but simple drum fills at the end of measures three and six, while he stops the action in the seventh measure for a uniform 'Beatles break” during Paul's line “you may be a lover but you ain't no dancer.”  Ringo does, however, put in another drum fill during these final syllables from Paul to usher the band back in for the eighth measure. Background vocals from John, Paul, and George, are first detected in measure three, this being a simple “aaah” harmony as a backdrop to Paul's lead vocal line. This repeats in measure five but then continues with the changing chords into measures six and then seven where they trail off with the 'Beatles break.' The eighth measure has these background vocals singing staccato “da, da, da” sung in eighth notes for the remainder of the verse.  These harmonies are barely noticeable in the stereo mix but are slightly more prominent in the mono mix.

The chorus is six measures long and continues the same instrumentation as the verses but with Paul's additional lead guitar taking center stage primarily to fill in the gaps between the thrice repeated exclamations of “Helter Skelter.”  He follows the lyric each time with a quickly descending guitar phrase, simulating the children's slide that the song's lyrics are based around.  The fourth measure marks another 'Beatles break' which features an effective rising electric guitar note from Paul while Ringo puts in another thundering drum fill.  The remaining two measures comprise a simple return to the hypnotic guitar vamp heard earlier and ends with another Ringo drum fill. Paul's vocal hi-jinx include a “yeah” at the beginning of the fourth measure and one of his signature “wooo”s at the beginning of the fifth measure.

The second verse that follows is only seven measures long this time, the sixth measure from the first verse being omitted this time around for some reason.  Instrumentation is the same as in the first verse however, the only differences along the way are Ringo's drum fill appearing at the end of the second measure instead of measures three and six as before, and the background harmonies now filling in the gaps whenever Paul is not singing lead vocals instead of at the same time as in the first verse.  During the final measure, Paul shouts “Look Out!” while the background vocalists are reprising their “da, da, da” line from the first verse.  As before, the mono mix features these backing vocals at a somewhat higher level.

The chorus duplicates with identical instrumentation from before, differences include Paul moaning “whoa” in the fourth measure and then shouting “Look Out!, 'cause here she comes” during the fifth and six measures, then chuckling at the very end of the final measure.  John puts in an inventive 16th-note higher register bass figure in the fifth measure and then lowers it an octave for the sixth measure, possibly a suggestion from Paul.  A curious squawking sound, undoubtedly the first evidence of either John on saxophone or Mal Evans on trumpet, is first heard in the song in the fifth and sixth measures here.  A couple of introductory chords from Paul's soon-to-be-heard lead guitar part also enters in the sixth measure of this chorus.

A repeat of the chorus is then heard, used as a quick guitar solo from Paul.  This chorus, however, is only four measures long, omitting the final two vamping measures.  The background vocalists are heard in full force throughout these measures, sustaining an “aaah” that falls dramatically in a descending way in the final measure while Ringo puts in his usual drum fill.  A repeat of the song's intro occurs, only five measures being utilized this time instead of six because no need for the hammering solo guitar 16th-notes as heard at the beginning of the song.  Instead, we hear John's Fender Bass VI alternating octaves on 16th-notes up and down in measures one through three while Paul repeats the lyrics from the initial intro.  Full instrumentation as in the rest of the song encompasses this repeat of the intro this time, Ringo playing a regular drum beat while reprising his jack-hammer 16th-note snare drum fill in the third measure only this time around.  A couple of stray lead guitar notes from Paul are heard in the second and third measures, most noticeable in the mono mix.  Starting on the word “again,” the background vocalists kick in as well, holding out that same word into the fifth measure, this also being more prominently heard in the mono mix.

The third and final verse then appears, this also being seven measures in length.  The elements and structure are virtually identical to the second verse, lyrics and all.  Differences include Ringo adding an additional drum break in the fourth measure as well as an overdubbed lead guitar line from Paul in the second measure.

This is followed by the final chorus, this one being only four measures long.  The 'Beatles break' in the fourth measure displays the engineering team stepping up the echo effects to begin a “Freak Out” section of the song (see the 1966 album "Freak Out!" by The Mothers Of Invention as the beginning of this trend) while Paul belts out a blood-curdling “Look Out!”

What follows next is the song's conclusion which in actuality defies measure-counting and definition, although we'll give it a shot.  This section can easily be divided up into two sections, interrupted by an indefinable open space of voices, feedback, and other sounds.

Section One:  This nine-measure section of vamping with full instrumentation features Paul's ad-lib vocals “Helter Skelter / She's coming down fast / yes she is / yes she is / coming down fast / can you hear me speaking?, woooh.”  Ringo puts in a drum fill on every even-numbered measure until he crashes to a conclusion at what would be the ninth measure.  Paul's overdubbed lead guitar mimics his descending guitar lines in the chorus for measures two through eight while another lead guitar is present (George?) playing a strange descending passage in measures five and six.

Open Space (mono version):  The stereo and mono mixes differ dramatically during this 13-second section, the mono having the majority of elements faded down and thereby easier to describe.  After Ringo's final cymbal crash from Section One, a guitar features feedback on its own.  Strange descending chords are then heard not unlike what George attributed to in Section One, followed by a loud burst of echo effect from the engineering team.  As this eventually fades away, Ringo kicks in with what becomes an introductory drum fill for Section Two on top of guitar feedback.

Open Space (stereo version):  The stereo version has all of the elements of the mono but quite more.  As the cymbal crash of Section One fades away, we hear what sounds like Mal Evans on trumpet while Paul is speaking to his fellow bandmates and/or the engineering crew. He appears to be saying:  “Listen, shall we hear that?. See if the [sings] 'eeee's onnn...' Are you coming, son?  I saw you do that you little bugger.  Put yer bloody hands on your head, c'mon.”  Ringo beats a little bit on his drums in between these words, and there are also various clicks and extraneous sounds that appear here as a result of leaving the faders up while creating the stereo mix.  What sounds like John on saxophone is then heard simultaneously with Ringo's introductory drum fill which ends this section.

Section Two:  What then follows is a full “Freak Out” section reprising the hypnotic vamp of the verses which go on for an undisclosed amount of measures.  It's hard to say how many exact measures they recorded in this section since the song was faded out and then faded up with some measures omitted.  However, sources say this 'take' extended to around five minutes.  This would mean that about 30 seconds were cut out during the fade-out and fade-in.  The mono version includes ten measures of this final section before it fades out while the stereo version includes eleven measures until it fades out and thirteen more measures until the song concludes.

Full instrumentation abounds throughout this one-chord romp with Mal Evans squeaking out whatever single notes he could get out of his trumpet and John squealing rapidly with his saxophone.  John also kept up his bass guitar overdub throughout all of these proceedings, undoubtedly thinking that this all could possibly become part of the finished product (as it nearly had).  It appears that the song was going to fade away again but then rebounds in time to hear their final cacophonous chord along with Ringo's wild drum fills and final three cymbal crashes.  From the rhythm track, we hear John ask, “How's that?” while Ringo famously screams, “I've got blisters on my fingers!”  An echoing indecipherable guitar chord becomes the final word to this mess of brilliance!

Say what you will about The Beatles not cooperating together for the “White Album,” but the performance on this track protests otherwise.  Paul chuckles his way through the lead vocals, John puts in an impressive bass guitar performance and has fun bellowing through a nearby saxophone, George displays an infectious guitar figure that becomes the bedrock to the entire track, and Ringo is game to bash his drums until his hands bleed.  They may have hated each other at the time, but maybe they used “Helter Skelter” to blow all of this angst out of their system, breaking all of EMI Studio's decibel limits in the process.

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