From subtle innuendos to more obvious allusions, The Beatles didn’t shy away from referencing cannabis in their music—especially as their sound and consciousness evolved in the mid-to-late 1960s.
While none of their songs name marijuana outright, the group used slang, metaphor, and coded language to sneak pot references into some of their most iconic releases. Here’s a complete list of every clearly cannabis-related reference in officially released Beatles songs, along with the lyric that makes it clear.
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“She’s A Woman” – “Turns me on when I get lonely.” This 1964 B-side contains the Beatles’ first drug reference: the phrase “turns me on” was a sly allusion to being turned on to marijuana. (John Lennon later boasted how they got this past the censors.)
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“A Day in the Life” – “I’d love to turn you on.” The closing line of this 1967 track was infamous enough as a drug reference (i.e. inviting someone to get high) that the BBC banned the song upon release. The phrase “turn you on” in the hippie era was widely understood to mean using drugs like marijuana or LSD.
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“Got to Get You Into My Life” – “Got to get you into my life.” Although it sounds like a love song, Paul McCartney later admitted this 1966 Revolver track was “an ode to pot”, with “you” being marijuana. In other words, the singer’s daily desire to have “you” in his life is a metaphor for his enthusiasm for cannabis.
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“Magical Mystery Tour” – “Roll up, roll up for the Magical Mystery Tour.” Repeated throughout the 1967 title song, “Roll up” is a wink to rolling a joint. The band peppered the track with this inviting phrase as a not-so-subtle nod to smoking “a fat one”.
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“With a Little Help from My Friends” – “Mmm, I get high with a little help from my friends.” In this 1967 classic, the singer openly admits getting “high” in the company of friends. While no specific drug is named, the reference to getting high was understood to include marijuana (among other substances) during the “pot era” of the Beatles.
- “What’s the New Mary Jane” was written by John Lennon in early 1968 and originally recorded during The Beatles (“White Album”) sessions on August 14, 1968. Though never released on that album, it finally appeared on Anthology 3 in 1996. The title itself is a double entendre: “Mary Jane” is well-known slang for marijuana, and the song’s playful, nursery-rhyme style—combined with chaotic tape loops and avant-garde segments—creates a surreal party scene that evokes the mind-bending effects of cannabis. Lennon even revived the track in late 1969 with Yoko Ono and engineer overdubs, intending to issue it as a Plastic Ono Band single, though fellow Beatles vetoed the release.
- “Get Back” – “Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona, for some California grass.” Here “grass” is straight-up slang for marijuana. In the 1969 single (later on Let It Be), Paul drops this explicit reference as a cheeky detail in the story – Jojo heads to California in search of that good cannabis (“California grass”).
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