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Yesterday
(John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
Paul McCartney:
Vocals, acoustic guitar
Tony Gilbert:
Violin
Sidney Sax: Second violin
Francisco Gabarro: Cello
Kenneth Essex: Viola
Recorded
June 14, 17 1965.
Available
on:
Help!
Anthology 2
The Beatles 1962-1966 (Red Album)
The Beatles 1
A Collection of Beatles Oldies
Yesterday
started life with the name 'Scrambled Eggs'.
Paul McCartney woke up one morning in 1965 at his girlfriend
Jane Asher's family home in Wimpole Street with a melody
in his head. He went to the kitchen to cook breakfast and
started singing:
"Scrambled eggs, Oh you've got such lovely legs."
He loved the melody, but he had one concern. Paul was sure
he had heard it before. Surely, this must be somebody else's
song?
McCartney
played the melody to several people in the music business
to see if they recognised it. Nobody did. Paul later said
it was eventually the famous singer Alma Cogan who convinced
him that the melody was his own.
Paul was
on holiday in Portugal when he completed the lyrics to Yesterday.
He was staying in the villa of Shadows guitarist Bruce Welch
in Albufeira, and he finished the song using one of Welch's
guitars.
Two days
after he returned from Portugal, McCartney went to Abbey
Road Studios to record the song. It was recorded on the
same day as I've
Just Seen A Face and I'm
Down.
None of
the other Beatles members participated on the recording
of Yesterday. The track featured Paul on vocal and acoustic
guitar, together with a string quartet that was put together
just for this occasion. Paul McCartney and producer George
Martin wrote the score for the strings together.
Some believe
Yesterday is about Paul's mother Mary, who died when he
was just 14. Hence the line:
"Why
she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say."
Yesterday
was released as a single in the US, where it went straight
to number one on September 13 1965. The song topped the
American charts for 4 weeks. Yesterday was not released
as a single in the UK.
The Beatles
performed an electric version of Yesterday on their last
tour in 1966. This can be seen on the DVD The Beatles Live
At Budokan.
John Lennon
said in an interview with Playboy in 1980 that he thought
Yesterday was a "beautiful" song and that the
lyrics were "good" but never resolved.
Yesterday
is still one the most played songs on American radio stations,
and it is the song that has been recorded the most by other
artist second after Happy Birthday To You. Frank Sinatra
and Marianne Faithfull have both covered Yesterday.
Yesterday
(John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it look as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Suddenly,
I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me
oh, yesterday came suddenly
Why she
had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday
Yesterday,
love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
oh, I believe in yesterday
Why she
had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday
Yesterday,
love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
oh, I believe in yesterday, Mm
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