Mick flew in dramatically from LA [sic – Ireland] at the last minute, with the first advance pressing of The Stones’ new album Beggars Banquet, the album the whole world was waiting to hear, for this was a record on which the band’s entire future hung. Everything was perfect for the party. The club looked beautiful with huge silver bowls of mescaline spiked punch, plus plates full of hash cakes [...] As Paul walked in, everybody was leaping around to Beggars Banquet, which was far and away the best album of The Stones’ career. Paul discreetly handed me a record and said, ‘See what you think of it, Tony. It’s our new one.’
It was pretty much of a dive, but the people there were just stupendous: le tout Londres hip. All the Beatles, most of the Stones, a few Whos, spangled guitar slingers, mangled drummers were there - in short, everybody who was anybody, or thought they were. The punch had, of course, been spiked with LSD.
And in strolls Paul - very casually, very cool, almost whistling, you know, with one of those little smiles on his lips as if he's got a really big secret. John was already there and seemed to have had quite a bit of punch by the time we arrived. George, too, of course, and Pattie Boyd, the quintessence of Pop chic. So there's our Paulie, looking rather pleased with himself. He was in fact very cool, a real man-about-town and interested in different things than George. Curious Paul, fascinated with all sorts of strange things — he really was like that. And what swinging scene would be complete without Robert Fraser, Groovy Bob — the title of Harriet Vyner's biography, a bricolage portrait of the archetypal boulevardier of swinging London.
[...] So there we were, all having a wonderful time, really high and even a little bit of alcohol, which to us was anathema. It was punch, which is easy to drink and a rather delicious sort of drunk. Little did we know what was in it. Finally we decide to drink, and it was acid! And then in the middle of all this, Paul, sidling about with his hands behind his back.
'What have you got behind your back, Paul?' we are crying out.
'Oh, nothing, really,' says he. 'Just something, um, we've just done.' Knowing that everyone would say, 'Oh! Play it!'
Well, the thing about the Vesuvio that was really great was the speakers. That's where all of our money had gone, on the very best speakers, huge speakers, the biggest that you could possibly get. Everything else was on the floor, of course; just loads of cushions. [...] So there was a lot of 'Oh, go on, Paul, please!' You know, you always had to do that with him, basically.
Oh, yeah, all right, then,' he says. And then he proceeds to put on 'Hey, Jude'. It just went — boom! — straight to the chest. It was the first time anyone had ever heard it, and we were all just blown away. And then, of course, we couldn't stop playing it, we just played away, mixed up with a bit of Little Richard and some blues.
[...] Even Mick said it was fantastic, because it was. I guess most people would think the Stones may have had mixed feelings at that moment, and perhaps they did. But (possibly due to the laced punch) the main feeling was one of: aren't we all the greatest bunch of young geniuses to grace the planet and isn't this the most amazing time to be alive.
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