Song 177: “Never Learn Not to Love” by the Beach Boys, Part 4: “Sometimes I Have A Great Notion”
3/22/20250 min
For those who haven’t heard the announcement I posted, songs from this point on will sometimes be split among multiple episodes, so this is the third and final (and very, very long) part of a multi-episode look at the song “Never Learn Not to Love” by the Beach Boys, and the links between Charles Manson and the LA music scene, as well as the life of Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode.
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Transcript
13 sentencesAndrew Hickey· Host0:00
[singing] A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs by Andrew Hickey. Song 177, Never Learn Not to Love by The Beach Boys. Part four, Sometimes I Have a Great Notion. Before we begin, this episode has more content warnings than I think any episode I've done so far. In this one, there are at least mentions, and sometimes quite long discussions, of mass murder, psychiatric abuse, racism, both personal and systemic, cult-like manipulation, animal slaughter, death by drowning, grooming, arguable incest, mental illness, and quite a lot more. Also, part of the reason that this episode has taken a long time to come out is that I have had to balance two fundamentally irreconcilable needs. This episode deals with a notorious mass murder, a murder of real people whose death was in living memory and who still have loved ones living today. Sensationalizing or trivializing that would be abhorrent, and I am trying my best not to do that. But on the other hand, this podcast has to be at least one of artistic or entertaining, ideally both. That means, by necessity, doing things which in that context may feel crass or exploitative. There will, without any doubt, be some listeners who think I've crossed a line at one point or another. There may well be parts where I will myself in future wish I'd handled things differently. So please be aware going in that if there are parts