There is a famous anecdote in Beatles lore about an encounter between actor Dustin Hoffman and Paul McCartney in Jamaica in 1972. It concerns the song “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)”, which appeared on the 1973 Wings album Band on the Run. The tale was best described in the 1988 book Yesterday: The Unauthorized Biography of Paul McCartney by Chet Flippo.

Paul and Linda were in Jamaica on vacation. They were staying at the same hotel as Dustin Hoffman, who was there filming the movie Papillon with Steve McQueen. The trio had dinner together one evening. Hoffman asked Paul, “How do you write songs?”

“They just come out of the air. I dunno,” Paul replied.

“Can you write them about anything?”

“Yeah.”

“Try this.” Hoffman handed Paul an issue of Time magazine and pointed to an obituary of Picasso and read from it Picasso’s last words, which were: “Drink to me. Drink to my health. You know I can’t drink anymore.”

Paul said, “Well, you could probably write a song about that.”

After a moment he started singing it. Hoffman jumped up, shouting, “Look, he’s doing it! Goddamn it! Holy sh–!”

The song was on the classic Wings album a year later.

These are the lyrics……..

The grand old painter died last night
His paintings on the wall
Before he went, he bade us well
And said goodnight to us all

Drink to me, drink to my health
You know I can’t drink any more
Drink to me, drink to my health
You know I can’t drink any more

3 o’clock in the morning
I’m getting ready for bed
It came without a warning
But I’ll be waiting for you, baby, I’ll be waiting for you there

So drink to me, drink to my health
You know I can’t drink any more
Drink to me, drink to my health
You know I can’t drink any more

Drink to me, ho, hey, ho