The Day Bob Dylan Introduced The Beatles To Pot
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August 28, 1964 – the day Bob Dylan introduced the Fab Four to the devil’s lettuce.
While there are multiple versions of this story floating online, here's what supposedly went down.
After their show at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, NYC, Dylan showed up to hang out with The Beatles at the Delmonico Hotel. Thirsty for some wine, the band sent road manager Mal Evans to get some. Meanwhile, Dylan suggested sparking up.
"We've never really smoked marijuana," Brian told Dylan.
"But what about your song?" he asked. "The one about getting high?"
The Beatles were stupefied. “Which song?” asked Lennon. As it turned out, Dylan had misunderstood the 'I can't hide' lyrics in 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' as 'I get high.'
The band had actually tried pot a few years back, but it didn't really work.
With the misunderstanding out of the way, they were ready to rock n' roll. Dylan sparked up the first joint and handed it over to Lennon. John passed it to Ringo Starr, his "royal taster".
Unaware of the tradition of passing the joint around, Starr smoked it just like a cigarette.
Next thing you know, everyone was smoking their own!
For the next few hours, The Beatles had the laugh of their lives; looked upon with amusement by Dylan. Brian Epstein kept saying, “I’m so high I’m on the ceiling. I’m up on the ceiling.”
Paul McCartney was dead set on having one of the Beatles' crew members follow him around, writing down all the crazy ideas he was having while stoned. He believed that he was “thinking for the first time”.
"I’d been going through this thing of levels, during the evening. And at each level, I’d meet all these people again. ‘Ha ha ha! It’s you!’ And then I’d metamorphose onto another level. Mal gave me this little slip of paper in the morning, and written on it was, ‘There are seven levels!’
And we pissed ourselves laughing. I mean, ‘What the f*‘s that? What the f* are the seven levels?’ But looking back, it’s actually a pretty succinct comment. It ties in with a lot of major religions, but I didn’t know that then." said McCartney.
Wonder what The Beatles’ music would have been like if it wasn’t for this day.
Read more: The Story of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
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