The recording session that saw John Lennon ‘accidentally’ take LSD

If I had to think about how John Lennon’s presence in the world was slowly introduced to me, it was first with the tightly fitting Windsor sunglasses, accompanied with a peace sign. Before I grew into the world, developed an understanding of The Beatles and realised exactly who he was, he symbolised the ultimate hippie.

Of course, it wasn’t always that way. There was a turning point for the band when hallucinogens became a part of their creative process, and once it did, well, it was somewhat synonymous with their brand of psychedelic music. While the story goes that we have Bob Dylan to thank for the Fab Four ditching their PG label, the band very much took psychedelic experimentation into their own hands.

Their 1967 epic Sgt Pepper finished the journey they started on Revolver and brazenly celebrated the altered mind, bursting with colourful and conceptual ideas that tipped its hat to the influential drug, LSD. But while ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ openly showcases the band’s love for the drug, the track that follows, ‘Getting Better’, was inadvertently fuelled by the hallucinogenic drug.

Lennon joined Paul McCartney and George Harrison at the studio to record backing vocals for the track when he started to feel somewhat under the weather. Legendary Beatles producer George Martin recalled, “We were overdubbing voices on one of the Pepper tracks, and John, down in the studio, was obviously feeling unwell. I called over the intercom, ‘What’s the matter, John? Aren’t you feeling very well?’ ‘No,’ said John.”

Despite the musician being a seasoned drug taker in the heady days of 1967, he wasn’t immune to the underhanded nature of unsuspectingly becoming under the influence. He found LSD was a gateway to creativity when he steered himself, but when the steering wheel had been commandeered and he had no control, then creativity soon spiralled into panic.

“It wasn’t until much later that I learned what had happened,” Martin went on to explain. “John was in the habit of taking pills, ‘uppers’, to give him the energy to get through the night. That evening, he had taken the wrong pill by mistake – a very large dose of LSD.”

Yes, the power of LSD was at the very heart of the album’s greatness, but only when present in a collective setting. When The Beatles occupied the same lucid space, creative genius was achieved, and so knowing that, Macca decided to join his colourful comrade in the breaches. A brave job indeed, but he realised someone had to do it, so he too plunged himself into the murky depths of hallucination in a bid to lighten Lennon’s environment.

Martin continued, “But Paul knew, and went home with him and turned on as well, to keep him company. It seems they had a real trip. I knew they smoked pot, and I knew they took pills, but in my innocence, I had no idea they were also into LSD.”

While it may be easy to romanticise the heady days of ‘60s studio sessions, The Beatles were one of the most prolific recording outfits for a reason. Despite the lucidity they often practised, they firmly understood how streamlined the studio required them to be and followed a general rule of never intentionally taking any form of acid or LSD in session. However, ‘Getting Back’ may subtly prove that had they broken that rule more often, the finished product may still have remained as brilliant.