The Charlie Manson-Beach Boys connection begins on a late summer night in 1968, when drummer Dennis Wilson drops a couple of female hitchhikers at his house on Sunset Boulevard, one that was once owned by Will Rogers.
Wilson returned from a recording session at 3 a.m. to find that the girls had invited a dozen friends over, including a strange guy who preached brotherhood and cosmic dribble. Over the next few weeks Wilson was intrigued by Manson’s music, and even took him to producer Terry Melcher’s house on Cielo Drive.
Melcher didn’t care much for it, and the story goes that Manson returned to the house the next year to settle the score. By that time Melcher had moved out and Sharon Tate had moved in. Wilson’s friendship with Manson dissolved over the next year, disintegrating into death threats every time Wilson refused to fork over a thousand or so in spare change.
Part of Manson’s wrath came from a song he wrote called “Cease to Exist.” Dennis liked it, but changed the words around, then dropped Manson’s name from the author credit. Here’s the finished product, Never Learn Not To Love…The Beach Boys sing Charles Manson.
Cease to resist, come on say you love me
Give up your world, come on and be with me
I'm your kind, I'm your kind, and I see
Come on come on, ooo I love you pretty girl
My life is yours, and you can have my world
I'm your kind, I'm your kind, and I see
Never had a lesson I ever learned
I know I could never learn not to love you
Come in now closer
Come in closer closer closer ahhhh
Submission is a gift given to another
Love and understanding is for one another
I'm your kind, I'm your kind, and I see
Never had a lesson I ever learned
I know I could never learn not to love you
Come in now closer
Come in closer come in closer ahhhh
Ahhh-ahhh-ahhh-ahhh-ahhhhhh
Ahhh-ahhh-ahhh-ahhh-ahhhhhh
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Dennis C. Wilson
Never Learn Not to Love lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc
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