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Paul McCartney Recalls Beatles Smoking Weed With Bob Dylan

Paul McCartney Recalls Beatles Smoking Weed With Bob Dylan
Sir Paul McCartney poses for photograph at the "Hey Grandude!" book signing at Waterstones Piccadilly on Sept. 6, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images)

By    |   Friday, 16 April 2021 01:41 PM EDT

Paul McCartney has revealed that it was Bob Dylan who first introduced The Beatles to weed. 

The band members were known as clean-cut boys who barely even touched alcohol, but things began to change one night in the '60s. McCartney recounted the incident that had bandmate Ringo Starr convinced that the ceiling was moving in an interview with Uncut magazine. 

"It was at the Delmonico Hotel on Park Avenue and 59th in New York City in August, 1964. We were in a hotel room, all being good old lads having our Scotch and Coke – it was an afterparty, I think," he recalled, according to Daily Mail. 

"Dylan arrived and he went into the bedroom with his roadie. Ringo went along to see what was up. So he finds Dylan, rolling up, and he has a toke," McCartney continued. "He came back in and we said, 'What was it like?' So Ringo says, 'The ceiling is kind of moving down.' We all ran into the backroom going, 'Give us a bit, give us a bit!' So that was the very first evening we ever got stoned!"

McCartney also previously admitted to smoking weed with Nigerian musician and activist Fela Kuti, who was responsible for creating Afro-beats. McCartney had traveled to Nigeria to record music when he met Kuti and invited him to the recording studio. 

"[Fela] came over with his 30 wives and a studio full of ganja," he said in an interview for Marc Maron's "WTF" podcast, according to OkayAfrica. "He was one wild cat, he used to have a bottle of whiskey in which was marinating a pound of pot … in the whiskey."

McCartney recalled how Kuti's friend, Ginger Baker, also came along. They invited McCartney and a group of other people to a club, but McCartney said he made a pact with his friends that they would not smoke any pot that night. 

"So we're sitting there with Fela [at The Shrine] and one of Fela's guys comes up, he's crouching and he's got a packet of Rothmans cigarettes. They're all joints," McCartney said. "He goes, 'You want one of these?' I say, 'no thanks,' so he carries around and gets to Ginger Baker who says 'Yeah man! Sure!'"

McCartney had a change of heart though, and ended up smoking one of the joints.

"Man. I tripped out. It was so strong. It was stronger than anything I've ever had, I don't know if there was something in it," he said. "But in the end it was a good night."

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Zoe Papadakis

Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.

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TheWire
Paul McCartney has revealed that it was Bob Dylan who first introduced The Beatles to weed...
paul mccartney, weed, bob dylan, marijuana
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2021-41-16
Friday, 16 April 2021 01:41 PM
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