Cocaine
Although unconfirmed, it is possible that The Beatles' first encounter with cocaine came on 8 December 1961.
A rock 'n' roll singer named Davy Jones was booked to play at Liverpool's Cavern Club, followed by an evening show at the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton, Wallasey. The Beatles backed him on both occasions, in addition to performing their own sets.
Far from widespread in England in 1961, at the time cocaine was nevertheless used recreationally by small numbers of people. One person who unwittingly partook was Bob Wooler, the Cavern's DJ. It was not a pleasant experience for him.
We didn't have a strong drug scene by any means. Originally, it was just purple hearts, amphetamines, speed or whatever you want to call it. When The Beatles went down south, they sometimes brought back cannabis and gradually the drug scene developed in Liverpool. There was a rare instance of cocaine when Davy Jones, a black rock 'n' roll singer who'd been with The Beatles in Hamburg, appeared at the Cavern. He was a Little Richard/Derry Wilkie type, very outgoing and bouncy. His big record was an oldie, Amapola, and its lyric about the 'pretty little poppy' must have appealed to him.Alan Ross, who was a local compère, brought Davy down to the Cavern, and that was when I had cocaine for the first and only time in my life. I told Davy Jones about my sinuses, and he said, 'This'll clear it.' Alan Ross gave me a smile of approval, I tried it... and nearly hit the roof. There was laughter galore, and I rushed out into Mathew Street, trying to breathe the effects out. I remember Pat Delaney saying, 'What's wrong, Robert?' and I said, 'Nothing, I'm just a bit giddy.' The Beatles welcomed Davy Jones with open arms, so I'm sure the drug-taking didn't stop with me. That is the common factor with The Beatles - whatever was going, they wanted to be a part of it.
The Cavern, Spencer Leigh
Later in the 1960s, Paul McCartney was the first Beatle to regularly use cocaine. He is said to have been introduced to the drug by London art dealer Robert Fraser, and used it during the time Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was recorded.
I did cocaine for about a year around the time of Sgt Pepper. Coke and maybe some grass to balance it out. I was never completely crazy with cocaine. I'd been introduced to it and at first it seemed OK, like anything that's new and stimulating. When you start working your way through it, you start thinking: 'Mmm, this is not so cool an idea,' especially when you start getting those terrible comedowns.
Uncut magazine, 2004
At the time cocaine wasn't widely used or easily available, although it had been fashionable in certain sections of society since the 1920s. During the making of Sgt Pepper Robert Fraser offered them cocaine, heroin, and speedballs - a mixture of the two. Cocaine was the only one of the three that was accepted.
He walked in with a little phial of white powder. 'What's that?' 'Cocaine.' 'Shit, that smells just like what the dentist used to give us.' To this day, I swear as kids in Liverpool we were given cocaine to deaden the gums. People say no, that will have been Novocaine, but I think that was much later. I recognise the smell from the dentist; it's a medical smell coke can have. Anyway, that was my first thought about it.I liked the paraphernalia. I liked the ritualistic end of it. I was particularly amused by rolling up a pound note. There was a lot of symbolism in that: sniffing it through money! For Sgt. Pepper I used to have a bit of coke and then smoke some grass to balance it out.
So Robert introduced me to it, and I know the other guys were a bit shocked at me and said, 'Hey, man, you know this is like, "now you're getting into drugs". This is more than pot.' I remember feeling a little bit superior and patting them on the head, symbolically, and saying, 'No. Don't worry, guys. I can handle it.' And as it happened, I could. What I enjoyed was the ritual of meeting someone and them saying, 'Have you seen the toilets in this place?' And you'd know what they meant. 'Oh no, are they particularly good?' And you'd wander out to the toilets and you'd snort a bit of stuff. Robert and I did that for a bit. It wasn't ever too crazy; eventually I just started to think - I think rightly now - that this doesn't work. You've got to put too much in to get too little high out it. I did it for about a year and I got off it.
I'd been in a club in London and somebody there had some and I'd snorted it. I remember going to the toilet, and I met Jimi Hendrix on the way. 'Jimi! Great, man,' because I love that guy. But then as I hit the toilet, it all wore off! And I started getting this dreadful melancholy. I remember walking back and asking, 'Have you got any more?' because the whole mood had just dropped, the bottom had dropped out, and I remember thinking then it was time to stop it.
I thought, this is not clever, for two reasons. Number one, you didn't stay high. The plunge after it was this melancholy plunge which I was not used to. I had quite a reasonable childhood so melancholy was not really much part of it, even though my mum dying was a very bad period, so for anything that put me in that kind of mood it was like, 'Huh, I'm not paying for this! Who needs that?' The other reason was just a physical thing with the scraunching round the back of the neck, when it would get down the back of your nose, and it would all go dead! This was what reminded me of the dentist. It was exactly the same feeling as the stuff to numb your teeth.
I remember when I stopped doing it. I went to America just after Pepper came out, and I was thinking of stopping it. And everyone there was taking it, all these music business people, and I thought, no.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
While McCartney's use of cocaine ended in 1968, the other Beatles were less restrained - notably Lennon and Starr, although their usage peaked in the 1970s after The Beatles had split up.
I had a lot of it in my day, but I don't like it. It's a dumb drug. Your whole concentration goes on getting the next fix. I find caffeine easier to deal with.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
It has been claimed that the line "He got monkey finger, he shoot Coca Cola", in Come Together, is about cocaine. However, since the song's lyrics are somewhat opaque, it is perhaps unwise to rely too much on conjecture.
Well done. Fascinating.
Great article. However, Paul is well known as a pothead - or at least he used to be. I'd be curious to read a bit more on that...
I can't help giggling - sorry...
I have TREMENDOUS respect for Paul moreso than the rest of the Beatles, I have to say. And yet, you are probably correct. He WAS indeed fond of the Weed, and even known to publicly defend it as he (claims that he) was able to control the effects of the weed and never really experienced withdrawal associated with its disuse.
And to be fair, it was probably true for Paul. He might have indeed been proud of the fact that he could use Marijuana at will, and not missing it nor having any withdrawals when he didn't.
Pothead and Proud of it? Or should we make it Proud Pothead Paul...? ::giggles::
That doesn't diminish my great admiration of the man - HONEST!
Nobody ever has withdrawal when they stop smoking pot man. I do it all the time, and so does everyone else who smokes. I doubt Paul was unintelligent enough to think that weed was addictive, when he clearly realized other drugs, such as heroin, are the ones that lead you down the wrong path.
The point is, everyone knows grass is docile and harmless, including Paul, and if someone smoking pot has a chance of diminishing your image of someone, you are simply ignorant.
Not true. I smoked weed 3 times a day for 6 months. Had constant anxiety and paranoia, and symptoms of schizophrenia emerge. I was high 24/7, I didn't care about anything anymore, life felt meaningless, and I would get stuck in my head with these long inner monologues. I felt like every day was a fight to keep my consciousness from dissolving. And even when I quit cold turkey, I had wicked bad withdrawals. I craved it as much as it tortured me.
I don't think cannabis is entirely bad or good. I just think it's really ignorant to claim that it's great for everyone, or not great for everyone. It effects everyone differently. And it is possible to have terrible trips on weed and withdrawals. I think people with already thin boundaries of self and delicately formed egos can't handle something that really puts your mind to the test.
Very sensible. For me, it's penicilin; that stuff almost killed me three times, but neither I nor my doctor realized it. Marijuana I like. And I don't think you can get addicted to it--not in the same way as alcohol, tobacco, heroin, barbituates, cocaine, speed, caffeine, sugar, television, sex, power, or chocolate. Marijuana: I can smoke it or leave it alone. I'd rather smoke it, and I did off and on--mostly on--for 32 years, but I finally got so fed up with having to be a criminal, and hassle to find it and afford it WHEN IT IS A WEED THAT CAN GROW FOR FREE!, that I just gave it up. Someday, I profoundly hope, the power-addicted people will get the hell out of the way, and leave people alone, and then I'll smoke it legally. Hurry the day.
My understanding is that John's heroin addiction continued on and off into the mid seventies. Can't site my source, just remember hearing/reading this many times.
Anyone else ever this?
I believe Yoko has said they had four separate periods on heroin. She also said the hardest to kick was methadone, which they'd heard was like heroin but non-addictive. So they started taking it, not as a substitute to heroin, as they weren't addicts at the time. After finally kicking that she said they never became addicted to anything again.
I too heard this - far from baking bread and being a househusband (as told to Andy Peebles Dec 1980), don't ask me where, but at LEAST two, maybe three sources have John hanging out with Uncle Henry, and especially heavily during the period when Jack Daniels and Harry Nilsson were his other constant companions.
Personally, when I first became acquainted with Henry, it was mid-70s and greyish-white, water soluble, very strong stuff from Thailand, with the brandname "Double Globe" on every compressed slab wrapped in clear plastic with red printing, each a little more than 250g. From 1981, all that could be had in UK was this brown, adulterated, much weaker stuff from Afghanistan, paid for by the CIA & US Govt; a result of their allies like Osama bin Laden maximising the millions given to them to aid their anti-Soviet campaign.
I had developed a reaction to cannabis which made it unpleasant and often frightening. And just as I was thoroughly enjoying the best H made, this USA funded Afghan brown arrived, and has been with us ever since. I pray for the day I find a containerload of Double Globe (which is still, even post- Khun Sa, still available, grown and processed by the same hill tribes.
Heroin is benign. It does no damage to the body and vital organs, unlike any other social relaxant. It clears my mind and aids my thinking; other drugs screw it up. Fraser was correct in that the only real problem is running out when you have a habit on. Great for physical and emotional pain, it is obvious to me that John would be the most likely Beatle to indulge. And "Cold Turkey" (whilst being the worst way possible to break a habit) SOUNDS LIKE IT FEELS!! That painful descending riff tells the eight-day horror story perfectly.
that's how I remember it as well. And this went into the mid-seventies.
I often wondered if this was partly behind the 18 month separation - they had to get away from each other in order to get clean.
Interesting how all four ex-Beatles had their own preferences, drugwise: Paul liked weed, booze for Ringo, heroin for John and apparently George was quite fond of coke for a time, something I only learned recently and found somewhat surprising.
(Fun druggie nicknames/memory aids: Pothead Paul, Junkie John, Rummy Ringo, and I can't think of one for George.)
::giggles::
I LOVE your druggie nickname! I'd make it Proud Pothead Paul - since he was known to defend the use of the substance and throughout the 80s he constantly maintained that he could use and discontinue using at will, with no effect nor withdrawals whatsoever.
Potheaded - and Proud of it. ::giggles::
Absolutely awesome article. A few spelling mistakes, but still very good. Some great quotes in it. I think that one of George's saying that its all about your acceptance of the world really struck me. Like really struck me.
But bloody good article.
Could you please let me know where the spelling mistakes are? This site is written in UK English, incidentally.
Don't take it personally - the American English writers don't even agree on some spelling conventions on our own at times.
GREAT article, Man!
This is a fascinating intro into their experiences with drug abuse. I was suprised to hear how a doctor actually helped Paul use Benzedrine. Its interesting to see the parallel's with today's society since parents also get caught providing their kids with drugs and alcohol.
Is there any information out their regarding Paul's first LSD trip with Tara Browne? I can't imagine it to have been good if he never really got back into it.
Interesting article though maybe it has too few sources albiet impeccible ones. People can get addicted to water let alone pot. That said pot is one of the least harmful things you can take including cigarettes and booze. While I do think people can abuse it, it in itself is a farily docile drug.
Wow probably the longest article about Beatles in this site is about... drugs?
DD
What about George's cocaine addiction in the 70s?
As someone who prefers their early albums and believes that they peaked at A Hard Day's Night soundtrack this is very interesting information. I knew a good deal of this history but now I feel much better educated. I love many types of music but the genres I know best and hold dearest are 70's British punk and 50's rock n roll. That being said, it's easy to picture why I would prefer a band on uppers as opposed to a band on psychedelics or downers. Best option of course is to avoid the lot of em altogether.