In celebration of Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday, Paul McCartney has delved into a rite of passage experience The Beatles shared with Dylan back in 1964.
In commemoration of Dylan’s May 24th birthday, Uncut is releasing a special tribute issue dedicated to The Bard. The publication recently sat down with Paul McCartney, in an interview that saw the former Beatle reveal that the band’s first marijuana experience was courtesy of Dylan.
“I’m not sure whether he’s very keen on me telling this, but here we go,” McCartney told Uncut. “It was at the Delmonico Hotel on Park Avenue and 59th in New York City in August, 1964.”
He continued, “we were in a hotel room, all being good lads having our Scotch and Coke – it was an afterparty, I think. Dylan arrived and he went into the bedroom with his roadie. Ringo [Starr, drummer] went along to see what was up. So he finds Dylan, rolling up, and he has a toke.
“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!’ That was the very first evening we ever got stoned!”
As far as first drug experiences go, this trumps smoking a filthy Gatorade bong in an Annandale hovel when you’re fifteen.
The Uncut Bob Dylan special will also arrive with a cover’s compilation album, Dylan Revisited. The CD will feature 14 covers of Bob Dylan classics as well as an unreleased track from Dylan himself. Flaming Lips, Courtney Marie Andrews, Low, Weyes Blood and Richard Thompson are all set to take part in the project. You can find the full tracklist below.
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Dylan Revisited
Bob Dylan – ‘Too Late’ (Acoustic Version)
Richard Thompson – ‘This Wheel’s On Fire’
Courtney Marie Andrews – ‘To Ramona’
The Flaming Lips – ‘Lay Lady Lay’
The Weather Station – ‘Precious Angel’
Cowboy Junkies – ‘I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You’
Thurston Moore – ‘Buckets Of Rain’
Fatoumata Diawara – ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’
Brigid Mae Power – ‘One More Cup Of Coffee’
Low – ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’
Joan Shelley & Nathan Salsburg – ‘Dark Eyes’
Patterson Hood & Jay Gonzalez of Drive-By Truckers – ‘Blind Willie McTell’
Frazey Ford – ‘The Times They Are a-Changin’’
Jason Lytle – ‘Most Of The Time’
Weyes Blood – ‘Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands’
