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Ringo Starr Recalls Getting High for the First Time with Bob Dylan

One of the most iconic anecdotes in rock history is that Bob Dylan was the first person who got the Beatles high. It’s a story Ringo Starr recounted in a…

Ringo Starr is interviewed at a listening party for Ringo Starr's new country album "Look Up" at Village Studios on November 15, 2024 in Los Angeles, California; Bob Dylan appears onstage at the 25th anniversary MusiCares 2015 Person Of The Year Gala honoring Bob Dylan.
Kevin Winter, Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

One of the most iconic anecdotes in rock history is that Bob Dylan was the first person who got the Beatles high. It's a story Ringo Starr recounted in a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

When Kimmel asked Starr if that anecdote was actually true at the 13:26 mark in the video below, Starr said yes and specified, "He didn't personally hand it to me; he had a friend of his in the room who actually handed it to me."

Kimmel asked Starr if he enjoyed getting high with a little help from Dylan and said, "I loved it. After we sat around in that room smoking, I came out of that room into the living room of the hotel, and we had forgotten we had ordered room service. This guy came wheeling in a couple of trollies for the four of us, and it was like, 'Oh, okay!' [Mimes eating food.] You know, because it makes you a little hungry."

In an April 2021 interview with Uncut magazine, Paul McCartney looked back on this classic moment in honor of Dylan's then-80th birthday. Sir Paul began, "I’m not sure whether he’s very keen on me telling this, but here we go. 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 lads having our Scotch and Coke – it was an afterparty, I think."

Macca continues, "Dylan arrived and he went into the bedroom with his roadie. Ringo [Starr] 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…’"

McCartney concludes, "We all ran into the back room going, ‘Give us a bit, give us a bit!’ That was the very first evening we ever got stoned!"

Erica Banas is a news blogger who's been covering the rock/classic rock world since 2014. The coolest event she's ever covered in person was the 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. (Sir Paul McCartney inducting Foo Fighters? C'mon now!) She's also well-versed in etiquette and extraordinarily nice. #TransRightsAreHumanRights