One day, shortly after John had run off with Yoko, Paul drove to Weybridge to see Cynthia. He thought she might need cheering up. ‘Paul was the only member of the Beatles family who’d had the courage to defy John – who had apparently made it quite clear that he expected everyone to follow his lead in cutting me off. But Paul was his own man and not afraid of John,’ Cynthia remembered. She had heard nothing from Ringo or George, or either of their wives: ‘They didn’t want to bring John’s fury on themselves, and probably didn’t know what to say to me anyway.’
Julian was then five, the same age John had been when his own father left home. Paul had always been close to Julian. He had a rapport with children that was lost on John: when the Beatles went to Greece to buy their island, John spent his time reading the newspapers while Paul played Cowboys and Indians with Julian. ‘He’d been like an uncle to him,’ John admitted years later. ‘Paul was always good with kids.’
In this respect, Paul felt sorry for John. ‘I remember John coming up to me once and he took me aside and said, “How do you do it?” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “With Julian. How do you play with kids like that?” I remember feeling a wave of sorrow coming over me … I tried to give the potted version, you know, “Play, pretend you’re a kid. Play with him.” But John never got it. Never got the hang of it.’ Now in late middle age, Julian remembers seeing more of Paul than of his father: ‘We had a great friendship going, and there seem to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and my dad.’
Driving down to Weybridge in his Aston Martin, Paul was thinking about the consequences of the split on Julian: ‘I knew it was not going to be easy for him. I always feel sorry for kids in divorces.’ From out of nowhere, a song came into his head. ‘Hey Jules,’ it began, ‘don’t make it bad. Take a sad song, and make it better.’