Uncle Paul & Jules

Before I began, I'll be posting about Hey Jude on another date. For this, I'm primarily going focus on the relationship between Paul and Julian. Hey Jude will be a passing mention on this. 

Paul and Julian walking during a vacation and Island shopping in Greece, July of 1967

Paul McCartney have known Julian Lennon since birth and they were very close, often playing together. I am not sure when Paul officially met Julian - more than likely when Julian came home to Mendips from the hospital and before John went to Spain with Brian Epstein in April of 1963. During that month was pretty big for Paul: on the 18th (when Julian was 10 days old), he met Jane Asher backstage at Royal Albert Hall and they were very soon a couple. When John, Cynthia, and Julian moved to London by November of 1963 (they all did - they all shared an apartment at first but once it became clear their base was London John got his own apartment while Paul moved in with Jane Asher and her family), Paul was a frequent visitor. He even accompanied John and Cynthia from the London apartment to Weybridge where Paul continued to be a frequent visitor.

"Paul and I used to hang about quite a bit— more than dad and I did. We had a great friendship going and there seems to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and my dad." 

Julian, 2002

"He's a great little fellow. Got his dad's ways, but his mum's looks."

Paul McCartney, 1967

In 1968 while John and Cynthia Lennon were divorcing, Paul felt bad for Julian and wrote a song (Hey Jude) while driving out to Kenwood to see Cynthia and Julian. Paul continued to see Julian occasionally until 1970 when The Beatles broke up. It wasn't until 1974 while Julian was visiting his father in Los Angeles he saw Paul again. A lot of people believe that Paul was always there for Julian but at this point during the 1970s I don't believe it. It was a very hectic time for Paul: he had his own family (wife Linda and four children); he also had his own band Wings with recordings and tours around the globe. Paul divided his time between London, Sussex, Rye, New York City, Scotland, and Arizona when not touring. Another thing to point out is that Paul really has no responsibility whatsoever for Julian - that was John's job. I'll discuss 1974 in a future post however it'll be 10 years until Paul and Julian would see each other again. I don't know if Paul reached out to Julian (or Cynthia) when John died in December of 1980? 

 

Paul and Julian on the set of USA's Friday Night Videos in 1984

Although they kept in touch, Paul and Julian would next see each other on USA's Friday Night Videos in 1984; when Julian's first album Valotte came out, Paul sent him a telegram wishing him luck. 

“I remember rolling about on the floor, wrestling with Paul, when I was a kid. He always sends me telegrams on my birthday, which is nice, and he sent me one about the record a couple of days ago: ‘Good luck, old fruit.'” 

Julian, 1985

In 2002, Allstate Insurance enlisted Julian to sing When I'm 64 for their commercial jingle for their The Right Hands Make All the Difference advertising campaign to provide retirement planning, retirement savings services, and property-casualty insurance. Although he wasn't thrilled with his song being used as a jingle, Paul did approve of Julian singing it!

"It's a dumb move on the publishing company's part because I don't think it helps the songs in the long run. But if anybody's going to do it, I'd rather it be Julian. I've got to laugh at that." 

Paul McCartney, 2002

In April of 2003, Julian attended Paul's concert at Earl's Court in London; he was seen going to his seat after coming from backstage. There's a possibility that Julian met Heather Mills (then pregnant with Beatrice). The next known encounter would be in Las Vegas for the opening night premiere of LOVE in June of 2006.

"Paul and I have always exchanged birthday and Christmas cards, and I last saw him in Las Vegas a couple of years ago." 

Julian

In June of 2010, Julian attended Paul's concert in Hyde Park in London. I don't know if Julian visited Paul backstage this time around. Around this time, Julian was putting together his book, Beatles Memorabilia: The Julian Lennon Collection, where he included a copy of an artwork that John made for Paul (who has the original - I doubt Paul would ever give up something that John gave him!).

"There's a collage pictures in the book that Dad made for Paul and Paul made me a copy of. It was very sweet. And you know, he wrote Hey Jude about me, so the connection with Paul is pretty tight. I saw him when he played at London's Hyde Park this summer and I thought he was fab." 

Julian, 2010

However, after Paul got married to Nancy Shevell in London in October of 2011, including a reception party in New York City a few weeks later, Julian happened to be in town for both events... Except he wasn't invited. There was also the premiere of Living in the Material World (documentary about George Harrison) in London around the same time - Sean (and Yoko) went. Julian wasn't invited. With all these events happening, Julian got furious for being left out (to be fair, Sean and Yoko didn't go to the wedding, however they did go to the New York reception), so he wrote a scathing post on Facebook, which he later deleted. Of course the media tabloids had a field day with that! Julian soon claim that his post was taken too far as a whine instead of whimsical humor. Paul's spokesman got wind of it and assured that Julian was part of the family but it was thought that Julian was in Italy, it was an oversight. 

"It was laughable, I really did think it’s just too funny to be real. I try to look at it in a lighter way otherwise I would be at war with everybody. I am not going to say that we weren’t close because he certainly was around at certain times of my life that were important. The wedding? Well, OK, but at least maybe the reception. All of my friends, who are mutual friends, went. I don’t want to dwell on it. He did get back to me saying someone obviously made a huge mistake and I accept that. I’ll leave it at that. I think I could handle things a little more delicately but I also don’t want to candy coat things, I don’t want to fight with anybody but there are some things I have to stand up for. That comes from Dad and it comes from Mum. She is not going to take any shit from anybody, especially given what’s she’s been through in her life.”

Julian, 2012

In 2013, Paul donated his Ram (originally released in 1971) boxset for Julian's White Feather Foundation charity auction, signed and filled with goodies (like remastered CDs, booklets filled with photos and lyric sheets, etc).

Paul and Julian at Heathrow Airport when they ran into each other on November 12, 2022

From Julian's Instagram

Through the years, there had been correspondence and occasional meetings - most recent to date was a chance run-in on November 12, 2022 at Heathrow Airport (during Julian's album release of Jude; the handwriting on the album cover was Paul's, used with permission).

“Paul and I do keep in touch. We send each other cards for Christmas and birthdays. But it’s difficult, he is touring all over the world like the Energizer bunny he doesn’t stop. That’s someone to definitely look up in regards to longevity in a career. Hey Jude is very much a consoling song, when one does falls on to the hard times, to be aware that I need to remain strong, keep strong throughout, you have strength within you. We all do and it’s all about bringing that pride and strength back into your life." 

Julian, 2022

I believe Julian finally met Nancy at George Martin's memorial service in 2016 (or maybe at Dhani Harrison's wedding to Sola Káradóttir in 2012 but that's unconfirmed - Julian congratulating Dhani on Facebook is all I got at this time ... Or as early as 2010 at Paul's Hyde Park concert?). Nancy and Julian definitely crossed paths at MusiCares Person of the Year honoring Joni Mitchell in Las Vegas on April 1, 2022 but no photos have been posted so far.