The link between Charles Manson and the Beatles.

The Beatles are a form of communication that goes beyond music or pop celebrity. Especially in the '60s, interpretations were made of the musical prophets of the day, with the Beatles being at the pinnacle of this sacred mountain. Fueled and opened by drugs, the imagination spoke to reality and the lines were blurred. Art is often defined as that which moves or inspires a person, not what it moves that person to do. And was it really Charlie that invented 'Helter Skelter' ( the notion that a race war would erupt, where blacks are victorious but eventually require Manson to rise up from the 'city in the hole' to lead the desperate masses) or did he just become 'hip' to it , being a shared system of beliefs derived from messages 'channeled' by the Beatles and the Family's collective experiences. Other apocalyptical cults in California at the time had similar beliefs and teachings about the perceived impending disaster.

Charlie was a Beatles fan. Beatle music played as day-to-day life performed itself out at Spahn Ranch and other places Charlie lived. Barely clad nubile hippie girls dance around and the smell of brown rice and miso fill the air as the strains of the Beatles new double album encompass the room. They tripped, made love, sang along to, and lived that album. Being moved by the music and its experiences, they made interpretation where applications to some to their lives became evident to them. They took names from the album (Sexie Sadie aka Susan Atkins) and expressions from lyrics punctuated all of their speech. It was said that Charlie would only quote from the bible or the Beatles. Some feel Manson believed that he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and that he was sent to fulfil Biblical prophecies about the Apocalypse and the Second Coming. In the Beatles music, particularly the White Album, he heard "clues" and "messages". Here are some of the suggested interpretations that were allegedly made by the Family from The Beatles works:

I Will: an ode to J.C. or Charlie? Possibly a message to Charlie to record an album . "Sing it loud..." was their message to sing out so that the Beatles could find Charlie, the Messiah.

Honey Pie: The Beatles' wish for Charlie to come to them "across the Atlantic". They're too "lazy" to look for him themselves. The song's reference to Hollywood suggested to Manson that they knew he was out there somewhere.

Happiness is a Warm Gun: arm yourself for a race war

Blackbird: a call for Blacks to aRISE and start the Apocalypse. The word "Rise" was written at the home of two of the victims, the LaBiancas.

Piggies: the establishment gets a "damn good whacking"... what the blacks were going to do to the whites. The verse about piggies eating bacon with forks and knives could have been acted out, considering that the victims were all stabbed multiple times, and one was found with a fork and knife embedded in his stomach. "Pig" was written at the Tate residence, and "Death to Pigs" was written at the LaBiancas' home.

Rocky RacCOON: Negroes again!

Helter Skelter: a British slide or prophecy about Manson emerging from the 'bottomless pit' "Healter Skelter" [sic] was written at the LaBiancas' home.

You Never Give Me Your Money: (ABBEY ROAD): A door was found at the Family's compound with the words "1,2,3,4,5,6,7, ALL GOOD CHILDREN GO TO HEAVEN" (from YNGMYM) printed on it, along with the words "HELTER SKELTER IS COMING DOWN FAST".

Revolution: Impending disaster (what more do you need...are you out or in?)

Revolution #9 = Revelation #9 : Revelation #9 is a book in the Bible that deals with prophecy and apocalypse. Revolution #9is a sonic pastiche, wide open for interpretation. Is it the story of the apocalypse, or more proof that Paul is dead?

Other Revelation #9 parallels:

'Angels with breastplates of fire': the Beatles with electric guitars "Out of the smoke, locusts upon the Earth; and unto to them was given power": locusts = beetles = Beatles 'Faces of men but hair of women': like... long hair Yea Yea Yea! The chapter starts out with 5 angels, but ends with 4: the Beatles were 5 (with Stu) or... was Charlie the 5th angel with the 'key to the bottomless pit'? The "fire and brimstone" from their mouths was their music and the power of their lyrics.

What is the truth here? There are too many true parallels between the Bible and the Beatles work to be ignored. Charlie was just sensitive to this fact. But did he write himself into the legend? Was 'Helter Skelter' a story of an impending race war, or an interpretation of an impressionist painting? Pothead philosophical notions or actual belief? Of this we will never know. But did he actually tell people to carry out an organized catalyst to 'Helter Skelter'? Of this there is reasonable doubt. And even if that were true, he would only be guilty of conspiracy or accessory at worst! It could be that Prosecutor (persecutor) Bugliosi invented a concrete version of 'Helter Skelter' to serve his own purposes, because the 'copy-cat' scenario did not implicate Charlie enough. Irregardless, one thing is clear: The Beatles have power beyond normal human comprehension.

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Sources: Helter Skelter by  Vicent Bugliosi w/ Curt Gentry 
WW   Norton & Co., NY, 1974)
The Family  by Ed Sanders   (AVON Books, NY, 1972)
'White Album'  by The Beatles (Apple Records, UK, 1968)
The Bible
Thanks to Carolyn Joy Pipes for additional research

~RAUK'97