Beach Boys – "Never Learn Not to Love" (1968)

Cease to resist

Come on, say you love me

Give up your world

Come on and be with me

The Beach Boys released the album 20/20 in February 1969.  It was the 20th album the group had recorded (including compilations and live albums), but the first to include a song written by . . . Charles Manson?

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Charles Manson learned to play the guitar in prison, and hoped to make it as a singer-songwriter when he was paroled in March 1967.  He moved to San Francisco in time for the “Summer of Love,” then moved to Los Angeles along with several members of his “family” – that is, his cult. 

Manson in 1968

In the spring of 1968, Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson picked up two of Manson’s female followers and brought them to his house.  The next day, Charlie Manson showed up at the house, kissing Wilson’s feet and assuring him that he wasn’t there to harm him.

Manson showed some of his songs to Wilson, who paid for studio time for Manson to record those songs.  

Manson wrote a song called “Cease to Exist” for the Beach Boys, and they did so after rearranging the music, rewriting the lyrics, and giving the song a new title: “Never Learn Not to Love.”

Here are the first few lines of “Cease to Exist”:

Cease to exist

Just come and say you love me

Give up your world

Come on, you can be

I'm your kind, oh your kind, and I can see

Here are the first few lines of “Never Learn Not to Love”:

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

Here’s are some lines from later in “Cease to Exist”:

Submission is a gift

Go on, give it to your brother

Love and understanding

Is for one another

I'm your kind, I'm your kind, I’m your brother

Here’s the second verse of “Never Learn Not to Love”:

Submission is a gift

Give it to your lover

Love and understanding

Is for one another

I'm your kind, I'm your kind, and I see

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It seems that Manson was not happy with the Beach Boys’ version of his song, which was recorded at Brian Wilson’s home studio in September 1968 and released as the B-side to “Bluebirds over the Mountain,” a Beach Boys single that peaked at #61 on the Billboard “Hot 100” chart.  

He was particularly unhappy that the Beach Boys hadn’t given him a songwriting credit for the song.

Beach Boy Dennis Wilson with Manson

Beach Boys collaborator Van Dyke Parks gave this account of what happened next:

One day, Charles Manson brought a bullet out and showed it to Dennis, who asked, “What's this?”  And Manson replied, “It's a bullet. Every time you look at it, I want you to think how nice it is your kids are still safe.”

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In August 1969, Manson dispatched four of his female followers to actress Sharon Tate’s home in Beverly Hills, where they slaughtered Tate and four others.  (I would say five others, not four others: Tate – who was married to film director Roman Polanski, who later raped a 13-year-old model and fled the country to avoid imprisonment for his crime – was eight and a half months pregnant.) 

The next night, Manson and several family members invaded a home he seems to have picked at random and murdered the couple who lived there.

Manson was convicted and sentenced to be executed in April 1971, but the sentence was reduced to life imprisonment when the California Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that it violated the state constitution.

Manson in 2014

Manson spent 46-plus years in prison before dying earlier this month.  The state  department of corrections did not disclose the cause of death, citing federal and state privacy regulations.  (As if we needed any more proof that we’ve lost our collective minds, thanks in large part to the efforts of lawyers.)

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Charles Manson apparently left his estate to a longtime pen pal.  Two other men – one of whom claims to be Manson’s son and the other believes he is his grandson – may contest the purported will.  

Whoever prevails will take possession of Manson’s cremains, as well as the rights to his music compositions and recordings.  (The winner should immediately sue the Beach Boys, who never gave Manson a songwriting credit for “Never Learn Not to Love.”  In my opinion, it’s an open-and-shut case.)

He will also get 10 cents for each “Charlie Don’t Surf” T-shirt that’s sold.  (Those T-shirts depict a young Manson.  The “Charlie Don’t Surf” line is a quote from the movie, Apocalypse Now, that has nothing to do with Manson.)

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Here’s Charles Manson’s recording of “Cease to Exist”:

And here’s the Beach Boys recording of “Never Learn Not to Love”:

Click below to buy the Beach Boys song from Amazon: