“But what about that song??” Bob Dylan and The Beatles at the Delmonico Hotel, August 28, 1964

Some people may feel the Big Bang of Rock and Roll was Elvis’ “That’s Alright Mama.” It’s an incredible recording. Seismic. Musically speaking, “That’s Alright Mama” may very well be the music Big Bang of Rock. To me, a huge, non-musical event takes the title.

It took place 60 years ago today, towards the late of the evening at New York’s Delmonico Hotel, on Park Avenue between 59th & 60th. The Beatles were in town for a concert at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium. Following the show, the band returned to their floor at the Delmonico, where they’re visited by Bob Dylan, a big fan of their music.

After the initial greetings, they offer Dylan a drink. They have Scotch and Coke, and champagne, and some expensive French wines. Dylan says he prefers cheap wine, and the group ask someone to go and find some. But Dylan has another idea. Assuming from the band’s lyrics for “I Want to Hold Your Hand” that they’re partakers, Bob suggests they smoke a joint. The group confesses they haven’t smoked pot before. Bob is speechless. He asks, “but what about that song??” “Which song?” “The one with ‘I get high, I get high’.” “No, that’s ‘I can’t hide’.” Bob hands the joint to John. John passes it without a toke to Ringo, claiming “he’s my Royal taster.” Ringo puffs, followed by George, Paul, and back to John.

The Big Bang of Rock and Roll, and not a note played.

Even Brian Epstein gets in on it, eventually proclaiming “I’m so high I’m on the ceiling. I’m up on the ceiling.” Dylan now arranges for delivery of more weed to supplement what he has on him. This was probably via his right hand man Victor Maymudes, but it may have been via music journalist Al Aronowitz who’d introduced Dylan and The Beatles. The night rolls on. Paul hands roadie Mal Evans a sheet of paper and a pen, instructing him to write down everything he hears Paul say. McCartney feels he is “thinking for the first time.” He would later tell the story:

“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 on to another level. Mal gave me this little slip of paper in the morning, and written on it was, ‘There are seven levels!’ Actually it wasn’t bad. Not bad for an amateur. 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.”

The band’s enthusiasm for weed would continue, well, until the present day. Paulie remains an avid devotee. Lennon claimed the group smoked pot in the bathroom at Buckingham Palace before receiving their MBE’s. They also confessed to be high for the full filming of Help!. McCartney composed “Got To Get You Into My Life” as an ode to pot. Lennon would write “I get high with a little help from my friends.”

So many of the songs that would come from The Beatles after this moment, may never have been conceived. And Dylan would soon be inspired by The Beatles to let go of the solo folk singer approach, and return to his teenage Rock and Roll roots. “I Am The Walrus,” “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” “Within You Without You,” “Ballad of a Thin Man,” “Love You To,” “Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again,” “She Said She Said” are only a very few of the songs that would be composed within two years. Incredible.

Tonight’s Playlist is, what else, a SomethingIsHappening compendium of weed songs in honor of Bob Dylan introducing The Beatles to marijuana on August 28, 1964, 60 years ago today: