Bob Marley Got John Lennon and Bernie Taupin so High They Couldn’t Speak or Move
John Lennon and songwriter Bernie Taupin were at a bar together when Bob Marley joined them at their table. They began passing around a joint, and according to Taupin, he got higher than he’d ever been. He shared why he found it shocking that they made it back to their beds.
John Lennon and Bernie Taupin got very high with Bob Marley
Lennon and Taupin were at On the Rox in Hollywood. Marley and his large entourage joined them at their table. According to Taupin, Marley and his friends seemed awed by Lennon, but Taupin found him difficult to look away from them.
“Marley is diminutive by comparison to his compatriots, but by no means a lesser individual,” he wrote, per The Times. “It’s obvious he’s the engine, the focal point, the very eye of this mystical hurricane … It’s a surreal scene kicked up a notch when Marley reaches into his shoulder bag and produces a spliff the size of a baby’s arm.”
They began passing around multiple “large and lethal looking joints.” Taupin said he and Lennon quickly reached a point where they were so high couldn’t even move.
“I’ve been pretty stoned at several points in my life,” he wrote. “In fact I once ingested half a block of opium on a night flight from New York to Barbados and spent two days in the airport because I had no idea where I was. This wasn’t like that. This was like when you hear about those people who are pronounced dead but they’re really still alive and inside they’re screaming and praying for a tear to appear in order to save them from a premature burial.”
He said he could hardly believe he and Lennon made it home safely in that state.
“Frankly, in my state it was alarming, and quite honestly if Haile Selassie had floated into the room riding a lion it wouldn’t have been any less disturbing,” he wrote. “The rest of the night is unrecountable for obvious reasons, and only the good Lord knows how we managed to wake up in our own beds.”
They went to a tamer event shortly thereafter
Several days later, Lennon and Taupin attended a party at Jeanne Martin’s home. He said this was much calmer than their night with Marley at On the Rox.
“Still recovering from our encounter with Bob Marley and the deadly spliffs, a relatively sane afternoon soiree seemed a genteel alternative to as John put it, ‘Seeing Bunny Wailer in a steaming tea cosy.’”
As with the night at On the Rox, Lennon and Taupin met several massive celebrities, including Elizabeth Taylor and David Bowie.
John Lennon was a fan of Bob Marley
Lennon and Marley never worked together, but they admired each other’s music. Marley discussed listening to The Beatles while growing up, and Lennon once highlighted Marley’s music on a radio show.
“It’s one of Bob Marley’s very early pieces, and you can hear the guitar and the bass not only doing work together but some very smart complimentary stuff,” Lennon said, while preparing to play a song. “It’s more clever than we’ve got, but we’ll give you an idea of how beautiful it can be.”
