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Healter Skealter in the summer swelter - the Birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight Miles High and falling fast
Paul McCartney wrote "Helter Skelter" (Nov 22, 1968) using this symbol of a wild ride, to reference the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. In UK "helter-skelter" means "in disorderly haste or confusion" & is the name of a spiralling amusement park slide.
"The birds" can either mean UK's Yardbirds (The 'Birds), forced to change their name in 1968 due to a cease-and-desist order from former member Chris Dreja, who claimed that he owned the rights to the Yardbirds/'Birds; others say Jimmy Page's wanted to start fresh. The band weathered the legal storm emerging as Led Zeppelin. Or it means the USA's The Byrds, whose hit, "8 Miles High" (March 1965), is about the group's flight to London in August 1965 & English tour {"Eight miles high and when you touch down, you'll find that it's stranger than known."} Airliners' cruising altitude is 6-7 miles, but 8 miles sounded better. Met by a hostile UK music press and lawsuit, The Byrds sought shelter when the 'Birds served them with a copyright infringement suit. Flying "off to a fall-out shelter" to escape the legal fall-out reflects the '60s obsession with prepping for nuclear attack. during the Cold War.