Paul McCartney: Well, he's like a joke. There's some fellow in New York, and in the States we'd hear people say: "You can get everything off him; any pills you want." It was a big racket, but a joke too about this fellow who cured everyone of everything with all these pills and tranquillizers, injections for this and that; he just kept New York high. That's what "Dr. Roberts" is all about, just a pill doctor who sees you all right. It was a joke between ourselves, but they go in in-jokes and come out out-jokes because everyone listens and puts their own thing on it which is great. I mean, when I was young I never knew what "gilly gilly elsa feffer cats..." was all about, but I still enjoyed singing it. You put your own meaning at your own level to our songs and that's what's great about them.
John Lennon (in 1972) - "Me. I think Paul helped with the middle."
John Lennon (in 1980) - "Another of mine. Mainly about drugs and pills. It was about myself. I was the one that carried all the pills on tour... later on the roadies did it. We just kept them in our pockets, loose, in case of trouble."
Paul McCartney (in 1994) - "John and I thought that was a funny idea-- the fantasy doctor who would fix you up by giving you drugs. It was a parody on that idea."
