{"id":306327,"date":"2025-11-20T14:13:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T14:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/august-28th-anniversary-of-when-bob-dylan-introduced-the-beatles-to-cannabis\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T14:13:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T14:13:46","slug":"august-28th-anniversary-of-when-bob-dylan-introduced-the-beatles-to-cannabis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=306327","title":{"rendered":"August 28th: Anniversary of When Bob Dylan Introduced The Beatles to Cannabis"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Move over 420. August 28th should be a national cannabis holiday.<\/p>\n

On that day in 1964, folk legend Bob Dylan ascended the elevator of the Delmonico Hotel on Park Avenue in Manhattan for a momentous first meeting with the Beatles, who were touring the United States. Beatlemania was then at its peak, and twenty police stood guard in the corridor as Dylan and his entourage entered the Beatles\u2019 sixth-floor hotel suite.<\/p>\n

After an exchange of courtesies, Dylan suggested that they all smoke some grass. He was surprised to learn that the Beatles were marijuana virgins. Dylan had a bag of weed with him and he tried to roll a joint. But Bob was all thumbs, so his driver and close friend Victor Maymudes did the deed. Blinds were drawn and towels carefully placed before locked doors to hide the smell. Dylan lit the reefer and a few minutes later everyone was laughing uproariously.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were kind of proud to have been introduced to pot by Dylan,\u201d Paul McCartney later remarked. \u201cThat was rather a coup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cannabis was quite different from the purple hearts and other uppers that the Beatles had taken to keep pace with the rigors of the late-night club circuit in Germany and the UK<\/span>. Marijuana eased them into a soft yet lively space, a cushioned reprieve from the bizarre fishbowl sensation\u2014the hysterical fans, the constant media attention\u2014that accompanied their vertiginous rise to rock stardom. From that day forward, the Beatles would consume cannabis on a regular basis. And whenever John Lennon felt like getting stoned, he would say, \u201cLet\u2019s \u2019ave a larf!\u201d<\/p>\n

After the Beatles got into grass, they began to think of themselves as artists, not just performers. The herb triggered a creative surge that altered their approach to writing and recording songs. (\u201cWe were smoking marijuana for breakfast,\u201d Lennon jibed.) Cannabis opened the door to new dimensions of popular music, and the Beatles carried the youth of the world with them across the psychoactive threshold.<\/p>\n

Numerous Beatle songs contained subtle and not-so-subtle allusions to cannabis. \u201cGot to Get You into My Life,\u201d one of several weed-inspired tunes on the Beatles\u2019 Revolver album, was \u201centirely about pot,\u201d according to McCartney, who acknowledged that marijuana had a huge impact on the Fab Four in the mid-Sixties.<\/p>\n

Drug references on the Beatles next album, Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band, were more explicit. Ringo Starr rhapsodized about \u201cgetting high with a little help\u201d from his friends. McCartney \u201chad a smoke\u201d and \u201cwent into a dream.\u201d And Lennon cooed: \u201cI\u2019d love to turn you on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know what caused Pepper?\u201d McCartney told a reporter. \u201cIn one word, drugs. Pot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you weren\u2019t on it all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we were. Sgt. Pepper was a drug album,\u201d McCartney insisted.<\/p>\n