Charles Manson, singer/songwriter

The Waiting Trophy ManThe Waiting Trophy Man Niagara region, Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,158
edited March 2007 in Other Music
This is a song written by the infamous Charles Manson. It's called 'Look at your game girl". It was covered by Guns n' Roses years ago. Until now, that was the only version I'd ever heard. But I was looking for it on youtube, and I stumbled on the original Charles Manson version. I'm in no way a fan of Charles Manson, but I admit, I LOVE this song! Especially the GN'R version. But here's Charlie's version, recorded BEFORE the Manson family murders, back in the days he was hanging with the Beach Boys....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U94gaW16O-Y

"Look At Your Game, Girl"

There's a time for living
Time keeps on flying
Think you're loving baby
But all your doing is crying

[CHORUS:]

Can you feel?
Are those feelings real?
Look at your game, girl
Look at your game, girl

What a mad delusion
Living in that confusion
Frustration and doubt
Can you ever live without the game?

The sad, sad game
Mad game
Just to say your love's not enough
If it can't be true
Oh, you can tell those lies baby but you're only fooling you

[CHORUS]

Can you feel
I know those feelings ain't real
Then you better stop trying
Or you're gonna play crying
Stop trying
Or you're gonna play crying
Stop trying

That's the game
Sad sad game
Mad game
Sad game
Another habit says it's in love with you
Another habit says its long overdue
Another habit like an unwanted friend
I'm so happy with my righteous self
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    Try and find a download of Lie: The love and terror cult, the album that Look at your game, girl is taken from. Like you, I am no fan of Manson as a person but there is no denying that he wrote some good songs, played good guitar and had a very enjoyable voice. I personally think Cease to exist is his best song. apparently the Beach Boys covered it but changed the name to disassociate themselves from him. I think Dennis Wilson was a friend of Manson's before the Tate-la bianca murders
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • HippyvikHippyvik Posts: 281
    Love that song. It's hard to believe that someone who wrote something like that was capable of such evil doings. I've always been intrigued by the Manson murders, but never heard any of his songs. Would like to hear more.
  • The Waiting Trophy ManThe Waiting Trophy Man Niagara region, Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,158
    Jeremy1012 wrote:
    Try and find a download of Lie: The love and terror cult, the album that Look at your game, girl is taken from. Like you, I am no fan of Manson as a person but there is no denying that he wrote some good songs, played good guitar and had a very enjoyable voice. I personally think Cease to exist is his best song. apparently the Beach Boys covered it but changed the name to disassociate themselves from him. I think Dennis Wilson was a friend of Manson's before the Tate-la bianca murders

    Ohhh....I don't know about that. i don't think I want to venture any farther than this song. I think I will draw the line here. And I only ever heard this song because GN'R covered it. Otherwise I never would have heard it. But it is one of those songs that I can listen to on repeat all day long, as I have many times before. There's something about it. And this version has actually grown on me today. He did have a great voice. He's like an evil Sinatra or something...
    Another habit says it's in love with you
    Another habit says its long overdue
    Another habit like an unwanted friend
    I'm so happy with my righteous self
  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    aBoxOfFear wrote:
    Ohhh....I don't know about that. i don't think I want to venture any farther than this song. I think I will draw the line here. And I only ever heard this song because GN'R covered it. Otherwise I never would have heard it. But it is one of those songs that I can listen to on repeat all day long, as I have many times before. There's something about it. And this version has actually grown on me today. He did have a great voice. He's like an evil Sinatra or something...
    well to be honest, it depends how you want to approach it. If you were to listen to his music because you think he was a really cool guy then its a bit twisted. I on the other hand was just curious to see what kind of music comes from the mind of a murderer. turns out that his music is just pretty traditional hippy-ish folk music. nothing particularly unusual or dark about it. its not like I listen to it regularly or anything. I'm just saying that there are more great songs like Look at your game girl. Home is where you're happy is pretty similar and just as melodic and enjoyable.
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • HippyvikHippyvik Posts: 281
    aBoxOfFear wrote:
    Ohhh....I don't know about that. i don't think I want to venture any farther than this song. I think I will draw the line here. And I only ever heard this song because GN'R covered it. Otherwise I never would have heard it. But it is one of those songs that I can listen to on repeat all day long, as I have many times before. There's something about it. And this version has actually grown on me today. He did have a great voice. He's like an evil Sinatra or something...

    Your already sullied dude, you may aswell go the whole hog and listen to the entire album :eek:
  • The Waiting Trophy ManThe Waiting Trophy Man Niagara region, Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,158
    Hippyvik wrote:
    Your already sullied dude, you may aswell go the whole hog and listen to the entire album :eek:

    Lol!! Yeah, I'm curious to hear more....but I'm also afraid....:D

    I'm scared to look for it myself. I'd rather stumble upon it, like I did with this song today. That way I won't feel so guilty.....or morbid....

    (If you have a link to more, please pm me)
    Another habit says it's in love with you
    Another habit says its long overdue
    Another habit like an unwanted friend
    I'm so happy with my righteous self
  • The Waiting Trophy ManThe Waiting Trophy Man Niagara region, Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,158
    Jeremy1012 wrote:
    well to be honest, it depends how you want to approach it. If you were to listen to his music because you think he was a really cool guy then its a bit twisted. I on the other hand was just curious to see what kind of music comes from the mind of a murderer. turns out that his music is just pretty traditional hippy-ish folk music. nothing particularly unusual or dark about it. its not like I listen to it regularly or anything. I'm just saying that there are more great songs like Look at your game girl. Home is where you're happy is pretty similar and just as melodic and enjoyable.

    So.....do you have any links or downloads?? Pm if you do... :)
    Another habit says it's in love with you
    Another habit says its long overdue
    Another habit like an unwanted friend
    I'm so happy with my righteous self
  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    aBoxOfFear wrote:
    So.....do you have any links or downloads?? Pm if you do... :)
    I'm afraid I don't have any links or downloads myself but you should be able to find some stuff on p2ps. lots of sick manson fans out there apparently ;)
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • HippyvikHippyvik Posts: 281
    aBoxOfFear wrote:
    Lol!! Yeah, I'm curious to hear more....but I'm also afraid....:D

    I'm scared to look for it myself. I'd rather stumble upon it, like I did with this song today. That way I won't feel so guilty.....or morbid....

    (If you have a link to more, please pm me)

    heh heh, i don't have it but I'm sure i can find it. if I do i'll def' pm it to you :)
  • The Waiting Trophy ManThe Waiting Trophy Man Niagara region, Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,158
    Jeremy1012 wrote:
    I'm afraid I don't have any links or downloads myself but you should be able to find some stuff on p2ps. lots of sick manson fans out there apparently ;)

    Oh no......does this mean I'm sick like them!? lol! But hey, I take comfort in the fact that his songs were written before the murders. I mean, somebody can be a fan of O.J. Simpson's football career, right?? It doesn't mean they like the fact that he killed 2 people years later.....
    Another habit says it's in love with you
    Another habit says its long overdue
    Another habit like an unwanted friend
    I'm so happy with my righteous self
  • HippyvikHippyvik Posts: 281
    aBoxOfFear wrote:
    Oh no......does this mean I'm sick like them!? lol! But hey, I take comfort in the fact that his songs were written before the muderers. I mean, somebody can be a fan of O.J. Simpson's football career, right?? It doesn't mean they like the fact that he killed 2 people years later.....

    Hey just because you appreciate someones art, doesn't mean you appreciate their massacre :eek:
  • The Waiting Trophy ManThe Waiting Trophy Man Niagara region, Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,158
    Hippyvik wrote:
    heh heh, i don't have it but I'm sure i can find it. if I do i'll def' pm it to you :)

    Oh ok! Thanks a lot!! Be careful!!! There's a lot of sicko's lurking around those kinds of sites!! :D
    Another habit says it's in love with you
    Another habit says its long overdue
    Another habit like an unwanted friend
    I'm so happy with my righteous self
  • HippyvikHippyvik Posts: 281
    aBoxOfFear wrote:
    Oh ok! Thanks a lot!! Be careful!!! There's a lot of sicko's lurking around those kinds of sites!! :D

    Don't worry, I'll make sure i lock all my doors and windows and sleep with a knife under my pillow!
  • The Waiting Trophy ManThe Waiting Trophy Man Niagara region, Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,158
    Hippyvik wrote:
    Hey just because you appreciate someones art, doesn't mean you appreciate their massacre :eek:

    Yeah, and it's not like I'm going to write him letters or anything. "Hey man, great songs"!!
    Another habit says it's in love with you
    Another habit says its long overdue
    Another habit like an unwanted friend
    I'm so happy with my righteous self
  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    aBoxOfFear wrote:
    Oh no......does this mean I'm sick like them!? lol! But hey, I take comfort in the fact that his songs were written before the muderers. I mean, somebody can be a fan of O.J. Simpson's football career, right?? It doesn't mean they like the fact that he killed 2 people years later.....
    I was just kidding with the sick comment :D I personally don't see any problem with having an interest in or even enjoying the music of someone who went on to become a killer, depending on why you are doing it. I don't think you want to listen because you are some sicko who thinks manson was a great person. I certainly don't. I just accept that people have many different sides to them and maybe not everything manson ever did was morally reprehensible.
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • HippyvikHippyvik Posts: 281
    aBoxOfFear wrote:
    Oh ok! Thanks a lot!! Be careful!!! There's a lot of sicko's lurking around those kinds of sites!! :D

    It's on it's way down now, but a bit more than one album(like 10), so might take a few days, according to my pc :cool: Don't worry i won't send you all 10 albums :)
  • The Waiting Trophy ManThe Waiting Trophy Man Niagara region, Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,158
    Hippyvik wrote:
    It's on it's way down now, but a bit more than one album(like 10), so might take a few days, according to my pc :cool: Don't worry i won't send you all 10 albums :)

    Holy shit on a stick, he made 10 albums!? Or enough songs to fit on ten albums?? Is there a Charles Manson greatest hits album??? I'd like to just get all his best work on one album! :D
    Another habit says it's in love with you
    Another habit says its long overdue
    Another habit like an unwanted friend
    I'm so happy with my righteous self
  • HippyvikHippyvik Posts: 281
    aBoxOfFear wrote:
    Holy shit on a stick, he made 10 albums!? Or enough songs to fit on ten albums?? Is there a Charles Manson greatest hits album??? I'd like to just get all his best work on one album! :D

    It's a load of live stuff, some from san quentin prison, family jams (Manson family I assume), then the 'lie' album, 'the psychedelic soul of Charles Manson', blah blah blah, I never realised there was so much material of his. It's quite scary actually :confused:
  • The Waiting Trophy ManThe Waiting Trophy Man Niagara region, Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,158
    Hippyvik wrote:
    It's a load of live stuff, some from san quentin prison, family jams (Manson family I assume), then the 'lie' album, 'the psychedelic soul of Charles Manson', blah blah blah, I never realised there was so much material of his. It's quite scary actually :confused:

    Ok, I don't want to hear any Manson Family sing alongs, or anything. I think that would be creepy. I'm just intersted in his solo work, preferably before the summer of 1969. Songs like 'Look at your game, girl'. That 'Lie' album sounds interesting...
    Another habit says it's in love with you
    Another habit says its long overdue
    Another habit like an unwanted friend
    I'm so happy with my righteous self
  • Matty BoyMatty Boy Posts: 421
    I've always wondered what Charlie thought of Axl's version of this song.
  • JeanieJeanie Posts: 9,446
    You should read this book. It's an excellent insight as told by the prosecutor of the Manson trials Vincent Bugliosi.


    I've also just purchased the DVD of the movie Helter Skelter also based on the book.

    I find Manson a fascinating and horrible subject. And would be very interested to hear his music.

    The fact that he did know and spend time with the Beach Boys just blows my mind. What on earth must that have been like for them to discover?
    NOPE!!!

    *~You're IT Bert!~*

    Hold on to the thread
    The currents will shift
  • its more than just the beach boys who knew manson.
    Uncle Neil Young seems to have supported him, in that he wrote a song off On the Beach from mansons point of view. And even sent manson a motorcycle in prison.

    Devendra Banhart, the new indie folk icon, has a manson look to him, and rotuinely mentions in interviews that he feels manson is a hero. he routinely covers one of mansons songs in concert

    System of a Down thanked manson for his words and inspiration in the liner notes to Toxicity. In those liner notes you can see them in studio, and on one of the walls are a dozen pictures of manson. They included a quote of his on one of their newer records.

    Joni Mitchell, refered to him in song as "the lord on death row"

    the hippie press and the hippie culture of the late 60's, supported manson at least initially, and many publications at the time of the murders showed manson as a hippie on a cross.

    The notorious activist group the weathermen would greet each other with the "four finger fork" salute at meetings because they "dug" that manson's followers killed the labiancas with a fork.

    I have long found manson a polarizing and interesting character. His ideas are bizaare, but he is very intelligent and alot of what he says makes sense.

    here is some of his 1970 testimony:
    You eat meat and you kill things that are better than you are, and then you say how bad, and even killers, your children
    are. You made your children what they are. . . .

    These children that come at you with knives. they are your children. You taught them. I didn't teach them. I just tried to help them stand up. . . .

    You should all turn around and face your children and start following them and listening to them.

    The music speaks to you every day, but you are too deaf, dumb, and blind to even listen to the music. You are too deaf, dumb and blind to stop what you are doing. You point and you ridicule
    Most of the people at the ranch that you call the Family were just people that you did not want, people that were alongside the road, that their parents had kicked out, that did not want to go to Juvenile Hall. So I did the best I could and I took them up on my garbage dump and I told them this: that in love there is no wrong. . . .

    I told them that anything they do for their brothers and sisters is good if they do it with a good thought. . . .

    I was working at cleaning up my house, something that Nixon should have been doing. He should have been on the side of the road, picking up his children, but he wasn't. He was in the White House, sending them off to war. . . .

    I don't understand you, but I don't try. I don't try to judge nobody. I know that the only person I can judge is me . . . But I know this: that in your hearts and your own souls, you are as much responsible for the Vietnam war as I am for killing these people
    I can't dislike you, but I will say this to you: you haven't got long before you are all going to kill yourselves, because you are all crazy. And you can project it back at me . . . but I am only what lives inside each and everyone of you.

    My father is the jailhouse. My father is your system. . . I am only what you made me. I am only a reflection of you.





    this excerpt shows remarkable sociological depth in terms of what was going on in the late 60's in american politics, in american familes, and in the hearts and minds of the youth at that time.

    Thats something that has always reasonated with me. Mansons words in the above excerpt are correct. What he did and what his followers did wasnt good, but we shouldnt just lock people up. And his words show why.

    It has always made me angry. What did the parents at that time think would happen? What did people think would happen as kids saw their fellow kids being shipped off to die in Vietnam? What would be the consequences? Obviously the adults didnt listen. As manson said, the music was speaking to the adults in the 60's, in the form of The Beatles, Dylan and Jefferson Airplane, all talking about what was happening, but the adults didnt listen. Now we are stuck in the same situation, a war that has gone on 4 years. Thousands of youth dead on both sides. Politicians and adults who refuse to listen. And music that speaks about the issues Pearl Jam, Bruce, uncle Neil, Tool, Dylan all are continuing to speak out. Yet they dont listen.

    What do you think will happen?

    Its obvious to me and anyone who has a brain, that we are heading for the same situation as the late 60's. Where fraggings of officers in vietnam, drugged out vets, and lost children back home walked dazed on the streets. And where adults were slaughtered by children.

    As long as the war continues this is inevitable. A manson of our generation will rear his or her head. Its inevitable. Manson in the 60's was a logical extention of the war and its aftermath. When children die before their parents it upsets the natural balance. Parents die before kids, thats the way it goes, and thats the way it should happen. And when that is upset, children are aware, and they react.

    I want nothing more than to see all my brothers and sisters home from this war tonight. But as long as the war continues we should expect these things to happen. And thats a sad sad fact. When the music speaks to youth as it currently does, and when Bruce sings "bring em home", yet the adults continue sending kids to wholesale slaughter and they are butchered in iraq. What the hell do you think is the expected response by youth? Is it to say "excuse me ms and sir, but you are killing my generation"? Unfortunatly it isnt.
  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    Matty Boy wrote:
    I've always wondered what Charlie thought of Axl's version of this song.
    and indeed Axl's liking for Manson t-shirts in the early 90s (see the video for Estranged)
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
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