Danny Fields:At Paul's house in London, Linda is in love, but missing and feeling guilty about Heather. Paul does not want to see her torn between himself and her daughter, so he suggests that they go to New York together. He doesn't want it known that he's there. 'It was his idea,' Linda told me.
'I wasn't totally sure we could carry it off, but he was. He said he wanted to meet Heather, and to know about how I lived and where I lived. My God! He wanted to see New York. He really had never seen New York. He'd been there about six times, but always as a Beatle. Which meant as a prisoner.'
Barry Miles:They flew to New York in the middle of October, as soon as the White Album was complete, and stayed for about ten days at Linda's apartment. New York in 1968 was Rock 'n' roll City. Most of the record companies were still headquartered there; the drift to the West Coast began a little later. The club scene was a major source of new talent. The Fillmore East showcased all the best West Coast groups as well as the visiting British groups like the Who and Cream and blues singers like B. B. King and Muddy Waters, whose careers had been boosted by the so-called blues revival. Though Linda had just about overdosed on the rock 'n' roll business, it still played a big part in the energy and excitement of New York towards the end of the sixties. Paul had only been to New York as a Beatle, riding in a limousine, trapped in a luxury hotel suite; he had never had time to explore the city. Now he walked the streets from Harlem to Battery Park, took the subway and buses and got to know neighbourhood bars. They went to movies and clubs, explored Chinatown and Little Italy. For a couple of weeks he lived Linda's life in New York.
PAUL: I had a full beard at that time so I wasn't very recognisable as Beatle Paul, inverted commas, "I am a Beatle!" Linda would take me to thrift shops, and there was a big army and navy store that we went to on 125th Street where I picked up an old uniform with a couple of stripes so I looked a bit like a Vietnam vet. I looked like the guy who would mug you rather than the guy you'd want to mug, so I was really quite safe on the streets with that disguise. Nobody was going to see me as me and nobody really knew Linda. She wore very casual jeans and a beige jacket, like a photographer, so it wasn't a couple of very rich people walking round New York, it was more the kind of people you'd want to avoid, you'd let them go on the pavement. So it was good, we were very free consequently.
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(New York, 1969)
LINDA:On the subway he did get noticed and a few people started following us a bit, but then we'd just get on a train and lose them. Usually if anyone recognised Paul on the subway it was all "Hey, man, groovy, peace" they loved him. Black guys too, because we used to go up to Harlem a lot. I remember walking around Harlem and some guy asking Paul about "Revolution", "Did you guys really mean that song, how did you mean that? were you being aggressive, were you not being aggressive?"' I did not change my lifestyle one bit and Paul dressed down to my way of life. He was definitely funking out a bit. I remember he got this great old herringbone coat at a thrift shop on 3rd Avenue for $10. It was brilliant.
