Bugliosi's book was the basis for the 1976 television film "Helter Skelter". The film's popularity in the US ensured that the song, and the White Album generally, received a new wave of attention. As a result, Capitol planned to issue "Helter Skelter" as the A-side of the single from "Rock 'n' Roll Music" but relented, realising that to exploit its association with Manson would be in poor taste. In the final interview he gave before his murder in December 1980, Lennon dismissed Manson as "just an extreme version" of the type of listener who read false messages in the Beatles' lyrics, such as those behind the 1969 "Paul is dead" rumour. Lennon also said: "All that Manson stuff was built around George's song about pigs ['Piggies'] and this one, Paul's song about an English fairground. It has nothing to do with anything, and least of all to do with "me"."