"Never Learn Not to Love" is a song recorded by the American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
that was issued as the
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
to their "
Bluebirds over the Mountain
"Bluebirds over the Mountain" is a song written and recorded in 1958 by Ersel Hickey, later covered by artists such as The Beach Boys, Ritchie Valens and Robert Plant. Hickey's original recording of the song peaked at No. 75 on the ''Billboard'' ...
" single on December 2, 1968. Credited to
Dennis Wilson
Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best remembered as their drummer and as the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. ...
, the song was an altered version of "Cease to Exist", written by
the cult
The Cult are an English rock band formed in 1983 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead singer Ian Astbury's ...
leader
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...
. Manson wrote his version of the song specifically for the Beach Boys to record, and his lyrics were meant to address personal tensions he had witnessed between Dennis and his brothers
Brian
Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world.
It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...
and
Carl Carl may refer to:
*Carl, Georgia, city in USA
*Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name
*Carl², a TV series
* "Carl", an episode of te ...
.
Manson did not participate in the recording of "Never Learn Not to Love", held at
the Beach Boys' private studio in September 1968. He originally demoed his song to be played on acoustic guitar, but the band changed some of the music by expanding the arrangement and structure. In addition, the lyrics were altered, much to Manson's indignation. By Dennis' account, Manson voluntarily exchanged his official writing credit for a sum of cash and a motorcycle. Conversely, engineer
Stephen Desper said that the band omitted Manson's credit as retribution for his thievery. Manson did not mind the changes to the music, but was incensed by the reworked lyrics, which created a rift between him and Dennis.
In February 1969, an extended edit of "Never Learn Not to Love" was included on the Beach Boys' album ''
20/20
Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...
''. The band also performed the song during an April 1969 appearance on ''
The Mike Douglas Show
''The Mike Douglas Show'' was an American daytime television talk show that was hosted by Mike Douglas. It began as a local program in Cleveland before being carried on other stations owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting. The show went into nati ...
''. In August, members of Manson's cult, the
Manson Family, committed
several murders and were apprehended shortly thereafter. A 1968 recording of Manson's original version of "Cease to Exist" appeared on his debut album ''
Lie: The Love and Terror Cult'', released in March 1970.
Background
![Dennis Wilson in 1966](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Dennis_Wilson_in_1966.png)
In late spring 1968,
Dennis Wilson
Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best remembered as their drummer and as the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. ...
struck a friendship with cult leader
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...
. At the time, Manson was an ex-convict seeking a career as a singer-songwriter, and Wilson, convinced of his talents, was interested in signing him as an artist on the band's
Brother Records
Brother Records, Inc. (BRI) is an American holding company and record label established in 1966 that owns the intellectual property rights of the Beach Boys, including "The Beach Boys" trademark. It was founded by brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis ...
label. ''
Consequence of Sound
''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
''s Dan Caffrey commented that "it's understandable to see why Wilson felt a musical kinship with Manson", and while using Wilson's recent "
Little Bird" and "
Be Still" as examples, explained that Manson and Wilson shared a similar unprofessional approach and interest in "fraying the edges of traditional forms".
Manson discussed and presented Wilson some of his self-penned material, and in exchange, Wilson paid for studio time to record songs performed by Manson. That summer, Manson booked a session at
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...
's
home studio Home recording is the practice of recording sound in a private home instead of a professional recording studio. A studio set up for home recording is called a home studio or project studio. Home recording is widely practiced by voice actors, narrat ...
for several tracks that were co-produced by Brian and
Carl Wilson
Carl Dean Wilson (December 21, 1946 – February 6, 1998) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their lead guitarist, the youngest sibling of bandmates Brian and Dennis, and the group's ''de ...
. Much of the recordings were not demos, but rather polished studio productions of songs that possibly included "Cease to Exist". These recordings remain unheard to the public; music historian Andrew Doe stated that the tapes exist, but that they have "not a hope in hell" of being released.
Composition and authorship
![Manson1968](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Manson1968.jpg)
According to Manson, he penned "Cease to Exist" specifically for the Beach Boys to record: "
he Beach Boyswere fighting amongst themselves, so I wrote that song to bring them together. 'Submission is a gift, give it to your brother.' Dennis has true soul, but his brothers couldn’t accept it."
Manson Family member
Squeaky Fromme
Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme (born October 22, 1948) is an American criminal who was a member of the Manson family, a cult led by Charles Manson. Though not involved in the Tate–LaBianca murders for which the Manson family is best known, s ...
said of the song, "Charlie made up a song for Dennis, and we wrote down the words. Part of it was from a man to a woman, and part from a man to his brothers." Fromme added, "Dennis would later talk the Beach Boys into recording the song, but someone would talk him into changing the rhythm and words, and failing to even mention Charlie."
Mike Love
Michael Edward Love (born March 15, 1941) is an American singer and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys with his cousins Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson and their friend Al Jardine. Characterized by his nasal tenor and occasional bass-bari ...
claimed that he was not aware of the song's author at the time, and assumed that Dennis had written it.
Manson was not given a label credit for the song. In exchange for the publishing rights to "Cease to Exist", he received a sum of cash and a
BSA motorcycle
The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) was a major British industrial combine, a group of businesses manufacturing military and sporting firearms; bicycles; motorcycles; cars; buses and bodies; steel; iron castings; hand, power, and ...
which he later gave to Family member
Paul Watkins. In 1971, when asked why he did not credit Manson, Wilson answered: "He didn't want that. He wanted money instead. I gave him about a hundred thousand dollars' worth of stuff."
Conversely, band engineer
Stephen Desper stated that the decision to leave Manson uncredited was retribution for "the stuff of value that Manson ripped off from Dennis". Desper continued, "If Manson had been a decent person, the Beach Boy organization would have given him credit and treasure, as they did with other writers. But Manson was a thief and did not play by civil rules. By those rules, he was compensated as far as they were concerned."
The band reworked the song's
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
y structure, adding
vocal harmonies
Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are simultaneously sung as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical chora ...
and another bridge. According to Desper, "Manson only had a song with basic chords on the guitar and a melody lead line. It was the 'Boys who took that basic concept and turned it into a real commercial tune. ... Dennis took Manson's original concept and made something of it-- something Manson could never have done."
Al Jardine
Alan Charles Jardine (born September 3, 1942) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best known as the band's rhythm guitarist and for occasionally singing lead vocals on singles such as "Help Me, Rho ...
recalled of Dennis and Manson: "it was just irritating 'cause they were always around and it was 'Charlie this, Charlie that.' And then he had this little thing that he and Charlie worked out. It was just a melody, a melody in 'Never Learn Not To Love.' Not the melody, but there was a mantra behind that. Then Dennis wanted to put it in everything. I thought, 'Oh boy, this is getting to be too much.'"
Conversely, Desper credited "all the added vocal arrangement throughout the entire song" to Brian and Carl Wilson.
Additionally, the lyrics were partially altered (the opening lyric "Cease to exist" modified to "Cease to resist"), and the title of the song was changed to "Never Learn Not to Love", much to Manson's indignation. Manson threatened Wilson with murder for changing the lyrics.
Gregg Jakobson
Gregg Jakobson (born August 2, 1939) is an American songwriter who was a friend and songwriting partner of Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, and a prosecution witness in the murder trials of members of the Manson Family.
Beach Boys
Jakobson and W ...
remembered, "Charlie always said, he just asked one thing, he said to me, 'I don’t care what you do with the music. Just don’t let anybody change any of the lyrics.' That was one of his big beefs with Dennis. Dennis had taken some of his songs and changed the lyrics around, which really infuriated him." After realizing Manson's growing erratic behavior, Wilson ended his friendship with him soon after.
Recording
The Beach Boys recorded "Never Learn Not to Love" at their private studio on September 11 and 16–18, 1968. In December 1968, Wilson recorded cymbal sounds, titled "The Gong", that were later reversed and added to the beginning of the ''
20/20
Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...
'' version of "Never Learn Not to Love". Other parts of the session were dedicated to a spoken-word monologue that went unreleased until the 2018 compilation ''
I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions''. Desper said that "Manson was only in the studio one evening, by himself and his silent girls. He never conferred or worked in any way with the group."
Release and reception
"Never Learn Not to Love" was released as the
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
to "
Bluebirds over the Mountain
"Bluebirds over the Mountain" is a song written and recorded in 1958 by Ersel Hickey, later covered by artists such as The Beach Boys, Ritchie Valens and Robert Plant. Hickey's original recording of the song peaked at No. 75 on the ''Billboard'' ...
" on December 2, 1968. The A-side reached number 61 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 33 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
[ In February 1969, the song was released as a track on ''20/20''. In his review of the album, Arthur Schmidt of '']Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', wrote that "'Never Learn Not to Love' is a fine vocal, though the material itself is an uncertain mixture of pop and soul influences." On April 1, the group performed the song during their appearance on ''The Mike Douglas Show
''The Mike Douglas Show'' was an American daytime television talk show that was hosted by Mike Douglas. It began as a local program in Cleveland before being carried on other stations owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting. The show went into nati ...
''. The episode was broadcast on April 9.
In his retrospective assessment of the song, Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.
Life and writing
Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...
commented "Never Learn Not to Love" is far more notorious for its relation to Manson, not the music itself which he describes as "average". Colin Larkin, in ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', wrote the track "had the ironic distinction of putting Charles Manson in the charts". Journalist Nathan Jolly called the song "softer but still eerie", also noting how fans of the Beach Boys who listened to the song over the years "had no idea of the inherent evil of its actual composer".
Manson version
During Manson's trial for the murders of seven people, his debut album, '' Lie: The Love and Terror Cult'', was released in March 1970. Consisting of 13 tracks recorded between 1967 and 1968, it included Manson's original arrangement of "Cease to Exist".
In an AllMusic review of Manson's album, his rendition of "Cease to Exist" was regarded by Theodor Grenier as "one of Manson's signature performances, and has justifiably invited comparison with Jim Croce
James Joseph Croce (; January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) was an American folk and rock singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, he released five studio albums and numerous singles. During this period, Croce took a series of odd jobs to pa ...
and José Feliciano
José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) () is a Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song " ...
".[ Critic Michael Little considers Manson's version superior to the Beach Boys', having praise especially for Manson's vocals: "you expect a tattered, raw, and raggedy voice, with a touch of lunatic rage, but what you get is a smooth-voiced folk singer".] He also wrote that Manson's raw, stripped-down take "gives the song an impressive lo-fi
Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...
immediacy that is a million miles away from the Beach Boys' treatment".[
]
Personnel
Per Craig Slowinski.
The Beach Boys
* Al Jardine
Alan Charles Jardine (born September 3, 1942) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best known as the band's rhythm guitarist and for occasionally singing lead vocals on singles such as "Help Me, Rho ...
– backing vocals
* Bruce Johnston
Bruce Arthur Johnston (born Benjamin Baldwin; June 27, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who is a member of the Beach Boys. Johnston also collaborated on many records with Terry Melcher (his bandmate in Bru ...
– backing vocals
* Mike Love
Michael Edward Love (born March 15, 1941) is an American singer and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys with his cousins Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson and their friend Al Jardine. Characterized by his nasal tenor and occasional bass-bari ...
– backing vocals
* Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...
– backing vocals
* Carl Wilson
Carl Dean Wilson (December 21, 1946 – February 6, 1998) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their lead guitarist, the youngest sibling of bandmates Brian and Dennis, and the group's ''de ...
– backing vocals, bass, guitar
* Dennis Wilson
Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best remembered as their drummer and as the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. ...
– lead and backing vocals, piano
Session musicians
* John Guerin
John Payne Guerin (October 31, 1939 – January 5, 2004) was an American percussionist. He was a proponent of the jazz-rock style.
Biography
Guerin was born in Hawaii and raised in San Diego. As a young drummer he began performing with Buddy De ...
– drums, percussion, sleigh bells
* Don Randi
Don Randi (born February 25, 1937) is an American keyboard player, bandleader, and songwriter who was a member of the Wrecking Crew.
Career
Randi was born February 25, 1937 in New York City. He was raised in the Catskill Mountains and studied c ...
– piano, organ
* Lyle Ritz
Lyle Joseph Ritz (January 10, 1930 – March 3, 2017) was an American musician, known for his work on ukulele and bass (both double bass and bass guitar). His early career in jazz as a ukulele player made him a key part of the Hawaii music scene ...
– upright bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
Cover versions
* 1994: Sean MacReavy, ''Dumb Angel''
See also
* Charles Manson sessions with the Beach Boys
* " Look at Your Game, Girl"
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Cease to Exist: The Saga of Dennis Wilson and Charles Manson
– compendium of first-hand accounts edited by Jason Austin Penick
*
*
*
{{authority control
1968 songs
Capitol Records singles
Song recordings produced by Dennis Wilson
Songs written by Charles Manson
Songs written by Dennis Wilson
The Beach Boys songs