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Today, the day after his 25th birthday and two days after having admitted in print that he’d taken LSD (it was actually Saturday, not Friday, my mistake), Beatle Paul agreed to be interviewed on TV about his drug use. A pretty brave — maybe even foolhardy — move, given that straitlaced mainstream Britain was politely freaking out over Paul’s admission, believing that it would cause more young people to try acid.
And they were probably not entirely wrong about that. Both in print and in person Paul comes across as sensible and level-headed, not some wild-eyed drug freak. It’s hard not to walk away with the impression that, well, acid can’t be so bad. Just to be fair and balanced, they should have interviewed Syd Barrett too.
In the studio, meanwhile, work continued on “All You Need Is Love,” with George Martin adding piano and John playing the banjo (!). Percussion and backing vocals were also recorded; the track was now complete save for orchestral overdubs that would added a couple days hence and the parts that would be performed live on the day of the broadcast.
Also today, according to Wikipedia:
During his stay in California on a houseboat in Sausalito [two days after performing at Monterey Pop], while listening to the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Otis Redding is inspired to compose “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.”
I don’t know how they know that, but I’m happy to believe it; I picture Otis dangling his feet in the water, singing along to “With a Little Help from My Friends,” then starting to play around with a new song of his own…one that would be his greatest, and his last.
LSD is good when Beatles take it, but not when Charles Manson takes it.
Love the Otis story, I bet it’s true!!