<P> McCartney was inspired to write the song after reading a 1967 Guitar Player magazine interview with the Who's Pete Townshend where he described their latest single, "I Can See for Miles", as the loudest, rawest, dirtiest song the Who had ever recorded . McCartney then "wrote' Helter Skelter' to be the most raucous vocal, the loudest drums, et cetera" and said he was "using the symbol of a helter skelter as a ride from the top to the bottom; the rise and fall of the Roman Empire--and this was the fall, the demise ." In British English, a helter skelter is an amusement park attraction which features a tall spiral slide winding round a tower . McCartney has cited this song as a response to critics who accuse him of writing only ballads . </P> <P> On 20 November 1968, two days before the release of The Beatles, McCartney gave Radio Luxembourg an exclusive interview, in which he commented on several of the album's songs . Speaking of "Helter Skelter", he said: "Umm, that came about just' cause I'd read a review of a record which said,' and this group really got us wild, there's echo on everything, they're screaming their heads off .' And I just remember thinking,' Oh, it'd be great to do one . Pity they've done it . Must be great--really screaming record .' And then I heard their record and it was quite straight, and it was very sort of sophisticated . It wasn't rough and screaming and tape echo at all . So I thought,' Oh well, we'll do one like that, then .' And I had this song called' Helter Skelter,' which is just a ridiculous song . So we did it like that,' cuz I like noise ." </P> <P> The song was recorded many times during sessions for The Beatles . During the 18 July 1968 sessions, the Beatles recorded a version of the song lasting 27 minutes and 11 seconds, although this version is rather slow and hypnotic, differing greatly from the volume and rawness of the album version . Another recording from the same day, originally 12 minutes long, was edited down to 4: 37 for Anthology 3 . On 9 September, 18 takes of approximately five minutes each were recorded, and the last one is featured on the original LP . After the 18th take, Ringo Starr flung his drum sticks across the studio and screamed, "I got blisters on my fingers!" Starr's shout was included on the stereo mix of the song . At around 3: 40, the song almost fades out, then quickly fades back in with three cymbal crashes and Ringo's scream (some sources erroneously credit the "blisters" line to Lennon; in fact, Lennon can be heard asking "How's that?" before Ringo's outburst). The mono version (originally on LP only) ends on the first fadeout without Starr's outburst . The mono version was not initially available in the US as mono albums had already been phased out there . The mono version was later released in the American version of the Rarities album . In 2009, it was made available on the CD mono re-issue of The Beatles as part of the Beatles in Mono CD box set . </P> <P> According to Chris Thomas, who was present, the 9 September session was especially spirited: "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 ." Starr's recollection is less detailed, but agrees in spirit: "' Helter Skelter' was a track we did in total madness and hysterics in the studio . Sometimes you just had to shake out the jams ." </P>

Who yelled i've got blisters on my fingers