John Lennon is briefly questioned regarding Manson in a 1970 Rolling Stone interview:
Rolling Stone: What did you think of Manson and that thing?
Lennon: I don’t know what I thought when it happened, I just think a lot of the things he says are true, that he is a child of the state, made by us, and he took their children in when nobody else would, is what he did. Of course he’s cracked, alright.
Rolling Stone: What about “Helter Skelter”?
Lennon: Well, he’s balmy, he’s like any other Beatle kind of fan who read mysticism into it. I mean we used to have a laugh putting this, that, or the other in, in a lighthearted way. Some intellectual would read us, some symbolic youth generation wants it, but we also took seriously some parts of the role… but, I don’t know, what’s “Helter Skelter” got to do with knifing somebody? I’ve never listened to the words properly; it was just a noise…