WHEN THE BEATLES MET BOB DYLAN
At the Delmonico, they were passing one another at a time when each of them would have quite liked to have been the other one.
– Mark Ellen
On Friday, 28 August 1964, The Beatles and Epstein were relaxing in their hotel room in Delmonico’s in New York. Next door, publicist Derek Taylor was holding court with journalists, broadcasters and musicians keen to meet the Fab Four.
Instead, Mal Evans was instructed to usher in three visitors: writer Al Aronowitz, Victor Maymudes and Bob Dylan. The Beatles and Dylan were fans of each other’s work, and were happy to drink, chat and joke around. When the refreshments were offered – Dylan asked for cheap wine, but Epstein could only offer champagne – both Aronowitz and Dylan suggested they smoke grass instead. Famously, Dylan had misheard the lyric ‘I can’t hide’ in ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ as ‘I get high’, and thought The Beatles old hands with marijuana. They had come across the drug in Liverpool, but had stuck with booze and amphetamines until Dylan passed over a clumsily rolled joint to John. John, unsure, passed it to Ringo, who, unaware of the etiquette, smoked the whole thing himself, thoroughly enjoying its effect.
More joints were rolled, more drink was had, and the atmosphere turned giddy. When the phone rang, Dylan would answer with a ‘Hello, it’s Beatlemania here’. Meanwhile Brian thought he was floating up to the ceiling. Paul, convinced he now knew the meaning of life, instructed Evans to follow him with a notebook and pen and write down whatever he said. Later, he wrote his own note to Evans, which read: ‘There are seven levels.’
John and Dylan talked at length about music, with Dylan exhorting John to pay more attention to lyrics, to write from a more introspective place; although this transition had already begun in The Beatles’ music, John was ready to pay attention to the advice.