Paul McCartney meets Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones at Dolly’s

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On this day, May 2, 1966, the Beatles gave two sets of interviews for BBC radio programs. The first was for the 400th edition of Saturday Club, hosted by Brian Matthew. The Beatles discussed their work on the then-untitled album “Revolver”, their upcoming US tour, and their lower public profile in 1966. Afterwards, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr remained behind to be interviewed again by Matthew for Pop Profile, a show for the BBC Transcription Services to be syndicated overseas.

In the evening, Paul McCartney and Neil Aspinall visited Dolly’s nightclub. There they met Bob Dylan, and Brian Jones and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones. Later, they went to Dylan’s room at the Mayfair Hotel, where Paul played the recently recorded “Tomorrow Never Knows” to Dylan. However, Dylan didn’t show any emotion and remarked, “Oh, I get it. You don’t want to be cute anymore.“

According to Barry Miles, Paul and the other Beatles met again with Bob Dylan on May 27, 28 and 30.

May 27. Accompanied by Keith Richards and Brian Jones, Paul and Neil Aspinall went to Dolly’s Club on Jermyn Street to meet Bob Dylan the day his European tour reached London. Afterwards they all went back to Dylan’s room at the Mayfair Hotel to listen to a set of test pressings he had with him from his most recent sessions.

May 28. The Beatles spent the day in Bob Dylan’s hotel room, watching D.A. Pennebaker’s film Don’t Look Back.

May 29. The Beatles spent another day with Bob Dylan at the Mayfair.

From “The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years” by Barry Miles

After the Brian Matthew interview at the BBC, Paul and John went to the nightclub Dolly’s at 57–58 Jermyn Street, accompanied by Neil Aspinall and Rolling Stones Keith Richards and Brian Jones. Already at the club was Bob Dylan, who’d arrived that afternoon from Copenhagen for a European tour that would start in Dublin on May 5. Later in the night all six men returned to Dylan’s suite at the Mayfair Hotel, where Paul and Dylan played pressings of their latest songs. The ace in Paul’s pack was “Tomorrow Never Knows,” proof, he thought, that the Beatles were at the experimental cutting edge of pop. Dylan didn’t show any emotion and then turned to him and said, “Oh, I get it. You don’t want to be cute anymore.”

From “Beatles ’66: The Revolutionary Year” by Steve Turner

It didn’t take long for The Beatles and Bob Dylan to get together. In fact Paul and I met up with him the day he flew in from America. It was in Dolly’s Club and Keith and Brian of The Stones were with us. Afterwards we all went back to Dylan’s room at the Mayfair Hotel. Paul played Bob some of the new tracks The Beatles had just recorded for their next LP album and Dylan fished out a bundle of test-pressings from his own most recent recording sessions.

Neil Aspinall – From The Beatles Monthly Book – July 1966

Paul’s relationship with Dylan in 1966, such as it was, seemed to be that of the eager pupil seeking the cool teacher’s approval. Marianne Faithfull was on hand when the Beatle showed up at Dylan’s Mayfair suite, clutching an acetate of the work in progress. Once ushered into Dylan’s presence, he placed the disc on the turntable. Marianne described the scene as “Tomorrow Never Knows” began blaring through the speaker: “Paul was obviously very proud of it and stood back in anticipation, but Dylan just walked out of the room.” (This might have been better than Cilla Black’s reaction. When she was given a preview of the track, she laughed.) Despite the chilly reception, Paul recognized the crosscurrents between his band and Dylan: “… we’re getting more interested now in the content of the songs, whereas Bob Dylan is getting more interested in rock ’n’ roll… we’re both going towards the same thing, I think.”

From “Revolver: How the Beatles Re-Imagined Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Robert Rodriguez, 2012

I remember going to see Dylan when he was at the Mayfair Hotel. He’d be in the back room, there’d be me, Brian Jones, Keith Richards, a couple of guys in the next room. I remember going in, after about an hour or so. It would be your turn to see him, like a homage visit.

We used to visit people a lot like that. Went to see [philosopher] Bertrand Russell. Just ask, Can I come round and see you? I’m interested. “Well certainly’ He lived in First Street in Chelsea, I knew some American guy assisting him, and we’d talk about Vietnam. Great, I was chuffed.

But Dylan, when I got in, I played him a bit of the Sgt. Pepper album [sic – was “Tomorrow Never Knows”]. He said, ‘Oh I get it, you don’t want to be cute any more. And that kind of summed it up. The cute period had ended. We’d been artists with a cute edge, because that was what was required. We’d really preferred to not do the cute thing. But it was a radical departure to say to Top of the Pops, ‘No, we’re gonna wear something really tough. We’re gonna shake your house down. We didn’t want to do that just yet.

Paul McCartney – From “Conversations with McCartney” by Paul du Noyer, 2016

I saw [Paul] come in once with an acetate of a track he’d been working on which was very far out for its time, with all kinds of distorted electronic things on it. Paul was obviously terribly proud of it. He put it on the record player and stood back in anticipation, but Dylan just walked out of the room. It was unbelievable. The expression on Paul’s face was priceless…

Marianne Faithfull – From “The Unknown Paul McCartney: McCartney and the Avant-Garde” by Ian Peel, 2002

NEIL’S COLUMN

May has been one of those all-happening months — more recording sessions, filming “Paperback Writer” and “Rain” for television, preparing for the Germany/Japan trip.

Getting ready to go away on tour is not all that straightforward. Basically it’s a matter of letting the boys decide what exactly they want to take with them. Trouble is they tend to be more definite about what they DON’T want to take than what they DO want to take. Typical exchange of words: ME — So which suits will you want for Germany?

A BEATLE — Well we don’t want those old ones anyway. ME — How about the fawn ones?

ANOTHER BEATLE — No.

It’ll be warm won’t it. We don’t want those suits, they’ll be far too hot.

ME — Do you want to get some brand-new suits then?

A THIRD BEATLE — New suits? What do we need new ones for? We’ve got plenty of suits haven’t we.

The same sort of conversation goes on over which set of amplifiers to fly out to Germany, which guitars to leave behind and so forth!

And then, of course, there are things like passports to be rounded up. That takes ages because each Beatle claims someone must have moved his passport from the drawer he last left it in!

May was Dylan Month. It didn’t take long for The Beatles and Bob Dylan to get together. In fact Paul and I met up with him the day he flew in from America. It was in Dolly’s Club and Keith and Brian of The Stones were with us. Afterwards we all went back to Dylan’s room at the Mayfair Hotel. Paul played Bob some of the new tracks The Beatles had just recorded for their next LP album and Dylan fished out a bundle of test-pressings from his own most recent recording sessions.

Dylan had heard all sorts of rumours in New York that John had paid a secret visit to America.

“Everyone in New York is talking about it” declared Dylan “All sorts of folk claim to have seen you in hotels and clubs”.

“I must have a double!” laughed John.

“I thought it couldn’t be true” agreed Dylan “I knew you’d have looked me up at the farm if you’d been in New York.”

Later the boys got on to the subject of recordings — and, particularly, about the idea of The Beatles having some sessions in America.

“The great thing about Memphis” put in Dylan “is that the session musicians are great guys. They’re playing every day at somebody’s session. I suppose most of them are in their early twenties and there are just about 20 really good men. You have a sound in your mind, you tell them about it, they pick up the idea right away.”

Just like last year, The Beatles booked seats for the Bob Dylan concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

A DAUGHTER

Oh yes — just before I finish my page I must tell you that Mal Evans has become the very proud father of a daughter whom he’s named Julie. Actually the baby was born at five in the morning and Mal and I had just got back to our hotel after a late recording session which didn’t finish until 3.0 a.m. That night I didn’t get any sleep because as soon as Mal heard he started phoning up relatives all over the place to give them the great news.

The following day we were back at the E.M.I. studios.

“Ah you’ve got the tea then” said Ringo as Mal walked in with a big tray and plenty of cups.

“I’ve got a daughter too” replied Mal.

“You’ve what?” exclaimed John “What are you doing here then ?”

And all the boys insisted that Mal should drop everything and drive up to see his wife. Which left me to look after the equipment in the studio for the next two days. It’s years since I’ve had much to do with amplifiers and plugs so those two days were quite hectic — but all in a very good cause! Congratulations Mal, Lil and Julie!

From The Beatles Monthly Book – July 1966

SCENE

Paul McCartney had a long talk with Bob Dylan in London last week. The Beatle says Bob has “changed a lot.”

From Disc And Music Echo – May 14, 1966

Last updated on December 2, 2023