Bob Dylan gets The Beatles high

I cannot vouch for the truth, likeliness or possibility of this story, but it's too awesome to ignore. According to Mark Katz, an associate professor in the UNC-Chapel Hill music department and my Intro to Rock professor, you can single-handedly thank Bob Dylan for the psychedelic experimentation that characterized the latter part of The Beatles' catalog.

We were talking the other day in class about common mondegreens (misheard lyrics) in popular music. The three we mentioned were:

"The ants are my friends, they're blowing in the wind." (Wrong)
vs.
"The answer my friends is blowing in the wind." (Right)
"Blowin' in the Wind" -- Bob Dylan

"Excuse me while I kiss this guy." (Wrong)
vs.
"Excuse me while I kiss the sky." (Right)
"Purple Haze" -- Jimi Hendrix

"I get high." (Wrong)
vs.
"I can't hide." (Right)
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" -- The Beatles

Now, this last line is where our story begins. That mondegreen comes from Dylan, who swore that the lyrics were "I get high." He couldn't believe that such a mainstream group was talking about drug use in their hit song, but was glad that they were putting it out there and were proud of it.

Not long after, Dylan got a chance to meet John and company while they were out on tour. He began talking about that song where they sang "I get high," and how great it was, but the Fab Four had no idea what he was talking about. Finally they realized he was talking about "I Want to Hold Your Hand," and proceeded to tell him what the real lyrics were.

Dylan was shocked to find out that The Beatles had never tried marijuana. Not surprisingly, Dylan changed that.

Pot leads to stronger drugs, which lead to the psychedelic glory that is, in my opinion, the best music that The Beatles ever made.

After hearing this, I did a little Google-ing and found that this story has been reported by others.

That doesn't mean that it's true, but, honestly, I don't care, it's a great story no matter what.