Song Information
About the Song
“Yesterday” is a song by The Beatles that first appeared on the band’s 1965 album Help!. Written by Paul McCartney and officially credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership, it became one of the group’s most recognizable ballads.
The recording is notably different from the energetic rock and pop arrangements associated with many early Beatles songs. Paul McCartney performs the lead vocal and acoustic guitar, accompanied by a string quartet. John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr do not perform on the finished recording, making it an unusual entry in The Beatles’ catalogue.
George Martin suggested adding strings to the arrangement. Rather than using a large orchestral backing, McCartney and Martin developed an arrangement for a small string quartet consisting of two violins, viola and cello. This gave the recording a classical character while preserving the simplicity of McCartney’s original performance.
The song’s emotional focus is loss and regret. Its narrator looks back on an earlier period when life and a relationship appeared easier, before an unexplained separation changed his circumstances. The contrast between past happiness and present sadness gives the song its reflective character.
McCartney’s melody reportedly came to him in a dream. Before completing the final lyrics, he temporarily used the working words “Scrambled Eggs” while developing the melody and determining whether it was genuinely original. The Beatles’ official history also documents this unusual origin.
“Yesterday” was recorded at EMI Studios in London in June 1965. Its stripped-down arrangement demonstrated that a Beatles recording did not necessarily need conventional drums, electric guitars or performances from all four members to fit within the band’s increasingly diverse musical catalogue.
The song was not initially released as a Beatles single in the United Kingdom. In the United States, however, it was issued as a single in September 1965 and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining there for four weeks.
“Yesterday” subsequently became one of the most frequently covered songs associated with The Beatles. Its simple arrangement, memorable melody and universal themes of separation and regret have helped the recording remain an important part of the band’s catalogue decades after its original release.