Yesterday
"Yesterday" is a melancholy acoustic guitar ballad written by Paul McCartney for the English rock band the Beatles, credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership, and first released on their 1965 album Help!.[1] The song features only McCartney's vocals and guitar accompanied by a string quartet arranged by producer George Martin, marking the first official Beatles recording to rely on a single band member's performance without the others.[1] Recorded on 14 June 1965 at EMI Studios in London, it runs 2:03 in length and explores themes of lost love and regret following a relationship's end.[2] Initially composed in May 1965 during the filming of the Beatles' movie Help!, McCartney awoke with the melody fully formed in a dream and provisionally titled it "Scrambled Eggs" while developing placeholder lyrics.[2] The final lyrics were completed in June 1965 at a villa in Portugal belonging to Shadows guitarist Bruce Welch.[2] Released as a single in the United States on 13 September 1965, backed with "Act Naturally," it topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for four weeks and became the band's 11th number-one hit there.[1] In the United Kingdom, it appeared on Help! on 6 August 1965 but was not issued as a single by the Beatles until 1976; a cover by Matt Monro reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart in 1965.[2] "Yesterday" holds the Guinness World Record as the most covered song in history, with more than 2,200 recorded versions by artists including Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Ray Charles.[1] It was performed over seven million times on US radio and television during the 20th century, according to BMI (with totals exceeding 9 million by 2012), and earned induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1997.) Voted the best song of the 20th century by BBC Radio 2 listeners in 1999 and ranked number one on MTV and Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest pop songs in 2000, the track represented a pivotal shift toward more introspective and orchestral elements in the Beatles' evolving sound.[1]Music
Songs
The most prominent song titled "Yesterday" is the melancholic ballad by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership.[3] First released on the band's 1965 album Help!, the track marked a departure from their earlier rock-oriented sound.[4] Recorded on 14 June 1965 at EMI Studios (Abbey Road), London, with overdubs on 17 June 1965, it features McCartney performing solo on vocals and acoustic guitar, backed by a string quartet arranged and conducted by producer George Martin.[2] Upon its release as a single in the United States in September 1965, "Yesterday" quickly became a global phenomenon, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks and reaching No. 1 in 10 countries.[5] The song's enduring legacy was recognized with its induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1997.[1] With over 2,200 recorded versions by artists across genres, it stands as one of the most covered songs in recorded music history.[1] Among notable covers of the Beatles' "Yesterday," Frank Sinatra's rendition on his 1969 album My Way exemplifies its appeal to standards performers; Sinatra introduced the song in live performances as "Paul's song," acknowledging McCartney's authorship.[4] Other original songs titled "Yesterday" include the R&B track by American singer Toni Braxton, released in 2009 as the lead single from her album Pulse.[6] Featuring Trey Songz, the soulful ballad explores themes of lost love and moving on from a toxic relationship.[7]Albums
Yesterday and Today is a compilation album by the English rock band the Beatles, released exclusively in the United States and Canada on June 15, 1966, by Capitol Records.[8] It features a selection of tracks from their 1965 UK albums Help! and Rubber Soul, along with non-album singles and B-sides recorded between 1965 and 1966, reflecting Capitol's practice of repackaging material to fit the American market's preference for shorter LPs centered around hit singles.[9] Unlike the band's UK releases, which emphasized cohesive artistic statements with 14 tracks per album, this U.S.-only compilation deviated by truncating songs from Rubber Soul and adding recent singles not yet on LPs, resulting in a 11-track record that topped the Billboard 200 for five weeks.[8] The album notably includes the band's iconic ballad "Yesterday," a Paul McCartney composition that had been released as a single earlier that year.[8] The album's original artwork, known as the "butcher cover," sparked significant controversy and was hastily recalled shortly after release. Photographed by Robert Whitaker, the image showed the Beatles dressed in white smocks amid raw meat and dismembered doll parts, intended as a surreal anti-war statement amid the Vietnam era, but deemed too shocking by Capitol, leading to a paste-over replacement with a more innocuous trunk-and-vegetables design on existing copies.[10] This U.S.-specific production approach by Capitol often frustrated the band and manager Brian Epstein, as it fragmented their catalog compared to the unified UK originals, though Yesterday and Today sold over 500,000 copies in its first weeks despite the cover debacle.[9]| Track | Title | Length | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Drive My Car | 2:27 | Rubber Soul (UK) |
| 2 | I'm Only Sleeping | 3:00 | Revolver (UK) |
| 3 | Nowhere Man | 2:42 | Rubber Soul (UK) |
| 4 | Doctor Robert | 2:14 | Rubber Soul (UK) |
| 5 | Yesterday | 2:05 | Non-album single |
| 6 | Act Naturally | 2:30 | Non-album single B-side |
| 7 | And Your Bird Can Sing | 2:00 | Revolver (UK) |
| 8 | If I Needed Someone | 2:22 | Rubber Soul (UK) |
| 9 | We Can Work It Out | 2:15 | Non-album single |
| 10 | Day Tripper | 2:49 | Non-album single |
| 11 | Wait | 2:14 | Rubber Soul (UK) |