"Never Learn Not to Love" | ||||
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Single by The Beach Boys | ||||
from the album 20/20 | ||||
A-side | "Bluebirds over the Mountain" | |||
Released | December 2, 1968 | |||
Format | 7" single | |||
Recorded | September 11 and 16–18, 1968, Brian Wilson's home studio, Los Angeles, California |
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Genre | Psychedelic pop | |||
Length | 2:08 (single version) 2:31 (album version) |
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Label | Capitol | |||
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Producer(s) | ||||
The Beach Boys singles chronology | ||||
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"Never Learn Not to Love" is a song recorded by the American rock band the Beach Boys, credited to Dennis Wilson, and released as the B-side to the group's "Bluebirds over the Mountain" single on December 2, 1968. In 1969, "Never Learn Not to Love" was included on the Beach Boys' 15th studio album 20/20. The song was actually an altered version of "Cease to Exist", composed by aspiring folk singer-songwriter and later convicted murder-conspirator Charles Manson. Musically, Wilson deviated from Manson's blues influence, reworking it to fit the band's pop-oriented approach.
A level of intrigue surrounds the song chiefly because of Manson's hand in its creation and his brief relationship with Wilson. Soon after the release of "Never Learn Not to Love", Manson, along with his "Family", was infamously convicted of several murders. Manson himself recorded the original arrangement of the song for his debut album Lie: The Love and Terror Cult, released in March 1970. Reception toward "Never Learn to Love" is often mixed, considering its sinister background, but music critics credit Manson's rendition as his most accomplished work. Since its original distribution, the song appears on several compilation albums by the Beach Boys.
As a result of a chance encounter in late spring 1968, according to some accounts, drummer Dennis Wilson was driving through Malibu when he picked up two hitchhiking women of the Manson Family, Patricia Krenwinkel and Ella Jo Bailey, and brought them to his house in Pacific Palisades for a few hours. Returning home in the morning of the following day from a night time recording session with The Beach Boys, Wilson was unexpectedly greeted in the driveway of the residence by the Family's leader, Charles Manson. At first, Wilson was frightened by Manson, but Manson assured him he came with no intent to harm Wilson and began kissing his shoes. The two struck a friendship and, over the next few months, members of the Manson Family – mostly women who were treated as servants – were housed at Wilson's Sunset Boulevard household, reportedly costing him approximately $100,000 (U.S.).