| This is the most covered pop song of all time.
For years, it was also the song with the most radio plays, but in
1999 BMI music publishing reported that "You've Lost That Lovin'
Feeling" had passed it. |
| McCartney is the only Beatle to play on this.
It was the first time a Beatle recorded without the others. |
| A string quartet was brought in to play on
this. In addition to the strings, this is notable as one of the
first Pop songs to use elements of Classical Music. |
| This was the first Beatles song that could not
be reproduced live without additional musicians. When they played it
live, including their famous Shea Stadium concert, it was just
McCartney with a guitar. |
| While touring in Paris, McCartney claims he
tumbled out of bed and the tune was in his head. He thought he had
heard it somewhere before. |
| The working title was "scrambled eggs" until
Paul could figure out lyrics. |
| This was the first Beatles song to capture a
mass adult market. Most of their fans were young people until then.
It also became one of their "Muzak" classics, as companies recorded
instrumental versions as soothing background noise for shopping
centers and elevators. Another Beatles song that lived on in this
form is "Here Comes The Sun." |
| The Beatles performed this on their third live
Ed Sullivan Show appearance and on their last tour. For the
live appearances, McCartney would play with a prerecorded backing
track of strings. |
| This was one of 5 Beatles songs McCartney
performed on his "Wings Over America" tour in 1976. |
| McCartney had to ask Michael Jackson to use
this in his movie Give My Regards to Broadstreet. Jackson
outbid McCartney for the publishing rights to The Beatles catalogue. |
| At any given time, some version of this is
probably being broadcast somewhere. |
| McCartney wrote some of the lyrics during a 5
hour car trip from Lisbon to Albufeira (in Algarve, south of
Portugal), on the 27th of May, 1965, when he was on vacation with
Jane Asher. The villa where Paul and Jane stayed was owned by
Shadows' guitarist Bruce Welch. Bruce said that when he was packing
to leave, Paul asked him if he had a guitar because (Paul) was
working on the lyrics since the airport. Said Bruce: "He borrowed my
guitar and started playing the song we all now know as 'Yesterday'."
(thanks, Rato - Lisbon, Portugal) |
| This caused a rift between McCartney and Yoko
Ono. When The Beatles Anthology album was released, McCartney
asked that the writing credit on this read "McCartney/Lennon," since
he wrote it. Yoko refused, and it was listed as "Lennon/McCartney,"
which is how they usually credited songs written by either Beatle (between
Please Please Me and With The Beatles, the song
credits turned from McCartney/Lennon to Lennon/McCartney). In 2003,
McCartney switched the writing credit for the first time when he
listed 19 Beatles songs on his Back In The US album as "Paul
McCartney and John Lennon." Paul claims he and John made an informal
agreement in 1962 regarding the credits, but he had every right to
switch it if he chose. Yoko disagreed. |
| McCartney has consistently talked about how
easy this song was for him to compose. In describing it, he has said
"I did the tune easily and then the words took about two weeks...."
(thanks, Shannon - Kathleen, GA) |
| Some of the artists who have covered this song
include Boyz II Men, Ray Charles, En Vogue, Marianne Faithfull,
Marvin Gaye, Tom Jones, Nana Mouskouri, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra,
The Supremes, The Toys, Andy Williams, and Tammy Wynette. (thanks,
Jerro - New Alexandria, PA) |
| This was featured in the 1997 movie Bean,
when the title character (played by Rowan Atkinson) sings it with
David Langley (played by Peter MacNicol) as they trot home one night.
(thanks, Tiffany - Dover, FL) |
| Paul McCartney's first performance at the
Grammys came in 2006. He joined in with Jay-Z and the lead singer of
Linkin Park to sing part of the lyrics to this song. Paul also
performed "Fine Line" and "Helter Skelter" earlier in the show. (thanks,
Patrick - Statesville, NC) |
