“If I Said No, I Meant No”: Paul McCartney Rejected John Lennon’s Idea That They Both Undergo This Alarming Medical Procedure

One notable strength of the Paul McCartney-John Lennon creative collaboration was their ability to push each other and keep the other in check—the latter of which McCartney had to exercise when Lennon proposed they both undergo an alarming medical procedure that some proponents (including Lennon) believed could enhance mental strength and well-being.

Fortunately for both Beatles, McCartney was having none of it. He rejected Lennon’s suggestion and, as he would later explain in a 2018 interview with GQ, his bandmate knew McCartney well enough to know that his decision was final.

The Late Beatle’s Quest For Greater Mental Clarity

In the late 1960s, the New Age movement began touting the supposed benefits of trepanation, an ancient practice of boring a hole into the skull to increase mental strength and overall well-being. Dutch librarian and self-trepanner Hugo Bart Huges helped usher in this alarming medical movement with his 1964 work, “The Mechanism of Brainbloodvolume (‘BBV’),” also known as “Homo Sapiens Correctus.”

The paper, which Huges presented in scroll form, claimed that humans’ bipedal nature prevented adequate blood flow in and out of the brain. Trepanation, Huges argued, reversed gravity’s effects on blood flow to the brain, resulting in greater mental well-being and a “permanent high.” Huges performed this questionable medical practice on himself in 1965 using a foot-operated electric dentist drill and what we have to assume was an overwhelmingly strong stomach.

John Lennon became privy to Huges’ findings in the late 1960s, becoming such a fan of the Dutch librarian’s work that he invited Huges to Lennon and Yoko Ono’s famous “Bed-in for Peace” in Amsterdam. Lennon asked Huges for a trepanation, but Huges refused, telling the Beatle that he already had the type of mental clarity that a trepanation might provide. “I kept telling him, ‘Don’t drill it. It’s a deception. You will notice no difference!’” Huges later recalled. Lennon’s wife, Ono, eventually convinced Lennon to let go of the idea—but not before he bounced it off Paul McCartney.

Paul McCartney Refused John Lennon’s Idea Of A Joint Medical Procedure

Since their early days playing skiffle music throughout Europe, Paul McCartney and John Lennon experienced many “firsts” together. But when Lennon proposed that he and McCartney undergo trepanation together, McCartney drew a firm line in the sand. “John was a kooky cat,” McCartney said years later in a 2018 interview with GQ magazine. “We’d all read about it—you know, this is the ‘60s. The ‘ancient art of trepanning,’ which lent a little bit of validity to it because ancient must be good.”

“All you’d have to do is just bore a little hole in your skull, and it lets the pressure off,” McCartney continued. “Well, that sounds very sensible. ‘But look, John, you try it and let me know how it goes.’ The good thing about John and I—I’d say no. And he knew me well enough that if I said no, I meant no. I’m not frightened of being uncool to say no. I wouldn’t go far as to say, ‘You’re f***ing crazy,’ because I didn’t need to say that. But, no, I’m not gonna trepan, thank you very much. It’s just not something I would like to do.”

In hindsight, McCartney isn’t sure how serious Lennon really was about trepanation or whether he was trying to ruffle the feathers of his more straight-laced bandmate. As McCartney told GQ, “[John] said all sorts of s***.” Nevertheless, it’s interesting to imagine what might’ve happened to the Beatles had they all volunteered to have a librarian drill holes into their skull with a dental tool.

Photo by GAB Archive/Redferns