Beatles: Yesterday Meaning

Song Released: 1965

Yesterday Lyrics

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks 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...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   annecaroline.moraisalves

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   Jul 23rd 2014 !⃝

   I think anyone can,at some point of their lifes,relate to this song,there are always some dark times when we feel lost and when look back and yearn the times when everything was fine,and we had nothing to be worried about,then we go and make mistakes,sometimes we lose our indentity,we lose people we care for,then we feel adrift,haunted by the wrongs choices we made and not really knowing who we are,you feel empty since you are not the same as before,you feel lonely when you realize the people (or the person)your relied on are gone,and then all thats left are memories feeling of yearning,and all you wish is to turn back time.Personally I look back to my childhood,where life was actually quite easy and joyful

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jan 17th 2016 !⃝

   This song is mostly about how sometimes we just look back in life to the times when everything was fine , and we had nothing to be worried about, then we go and make mistakes, and all you wish is to turn back time.

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   dcs5991

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   Apr 1st 2009 !⃝

   This song is about how sometimes we just look back and realize how our lives used to be and we see that the way we've acted has made us different and we want to go back but we cant
4. anonymous

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   Apr 11th 2021 !⃝

   It's about regret.
   
   It's about regretting saying something to someone you love deeply which can never be undone. It could have been a friend or relative - someone who still means a lot to you, living or dead.
   
   It's about remembering how simple things seemed to be when you were much younger, and regretting not having that person around because they've always been a great help.
   
   It resonates with me so much that it feels prophetic.
   
   Such a sad tune, but so true.
5. LookClosely

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   Sep 15th 2020 !⃝

   This song succinctly conveys a wistfulness of a man's longing for his youth, when everything was possible, when he still could do what he wanted to do, and when his girl still loved him. The references to time (yesterday, suddenly, now) reinforce the idea that he's comparing his own life at different ages. The "shadow" hanging over him may be death, as we all become acutely aware of our own death when we reach mid-life. Even though the author says he doesn't know why the girl "had" to go, he thinks he's to blame (or at least, he thinks that she thinks he's to blame). What makes this song poignant rather than depressing is the wistful tone. It's not angry or resentful, just thoughtful. It's filled with regret, but not dispair. It's delicately written.
6. anonymous

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   Jan 17th 2016 !⃝

   This song is mostly about how sometimes we just look back in life to the times when everything was fine , and we had nothing to be worried about, then we go and make mistakes, and all you wish is to turn back time.
7. anonymous

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   Oct 23rd 2013 !⃝

   This is a story of a man who has problem to forego his past or who has a problem to move on. A problem that most of us experience and eventually most of us learn and grow up to move on. It's part of life.
8. anonymous

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   Oct 23rd 2013 !⃝

   This is a story of a man who has problem to forego his past or who has a problem to move on. A problem that most of us experience and eventually most of learn and grow up to move on. It's part of life.
9. anonymous

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   Mar 16th 2013 !⃝

   It´s about childhood... to me...Why? Because...
   -------------------------------------
   Yesterday, all my trouble seemed so far away.
   Now it looks as though they're here to stay.
   ------------------------------------
   Do you need more?
   -----------------------------------
   Suddenly,
   I'm not half the man I used to be,
   There's a shadow hanging over me,
   Oh, yesterday came suddenly.
   -----------------------------------
   When he talks about "a shadow hanging over me", he means his mistakes during his life which are with him still.
   ------------------------------------
   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.
   ------------------------------------
   When McCartney mentions a "she" he could be referring to his childhood, because it had to go away. And love was such a easy game to play... not every love is about a couple, it could be taken as a friend love or parental love which was easiest before.
10. anonymous

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    Feb 11th 2013 !⃝

    He says why she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say. Meaning she left him without a word, i said somethig wrong now i long for Yesterday, he may have shouted/yelled said something hurtful to her or they had a fight but he wants yesterday to come back so he can fix it, but he know's it won't. So the next part Love was such an easy game to play, now i need a place to hide away, means Love was the best, now i wanna hide away and cry. There you go.
11. anonymous

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    May 14th 2012 !⃝

    I feel as though this song means something along the lines of Paul missing a past friend or lover. "I said something wrong," to me means that Paul said or did something and now he is without something important. BEATLES FOREVER
12. anonymous

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    Jan 28th 2012 !⃝

    Sad, so very sad, Stuck in the past and cant reach the present. When something Great, ( Mother or Lover), is gone for good- for comfort we Stay in the past remembering them as they were, Yesterday. This song exemplifies those sinking moments we all have experienced. Almost to sad to listen too. Hits your soul. Masterpiece.
13. anonymous

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    Aug 18th 2011 !⃝

    "Yesterday" is about a guy whose lady-love left him without saying why, and he feels totally broken up by it, that he's not the same as he was, and that the game of love that was such an "easy game to play" is now one of humiliation and he now feels like retreating into himself.
14. anonymous

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    Jun 27th 2011 !⃝

    The song was composed by Paul McCartney anyways he started the song with the piano first
    
    
    He wrote the song(Yesterday) for several reasons one was because he relationship was no longer intact
    
    I listened to the song and i was able to put two and two together he says in the song(Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away now it looks as though there here to stay,Oh i believe in yesterday
    
    
    That ment that when he was still together with his girlfriend he was happy but now that she's gone he as he says in the song(suddenly i'm not have the man i used to be)it ment things were easier when he was with her
15. anonymous

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    Apr 1st 2011 !⃝

    this song yesterday struck paul at night in his dream when he realised that he was not given lsd to feed on ... so he says .... "why she had to go i dunno she would'n say..." obviously drugs can't talk
    without lsd he has become delirious and it seems to him that " i said something wrong" so... " now i long for yesterday (when lsd was with him)"
    then again he says because he can't have it but is feeling the urge to have lsd and can't suppress it so he says... " i need a place to hide away..."
16. anonymous

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    Jan 17th 2011 !⃝

    The Beatles are a very interesting band. John Lennon was furious when people asked him why he wrote this song considering the McCartney/Lennon agreement. This song was 100% written by Paul McCartney while he was with Jane Asher, he had a dream and ran to a piano to write the melody. It took McCartney several years to add lyrics which are very controversial.
    
    Most think it has been written about a relationship gone a mess but it was written about his mother's death when he was fourteen. He longs for his mother and that is the main reason he "longs for yesterday"
17. Baileyppj

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    Jul 30th 2010 !⃝

    Saw and heard Paul's description on TV the other night of how the melody came to him as if by magic and was in his head when he woke up one day. for me I would agree with the interpretations that it is more about the sadness that can come with the realization that the past is gone and cannot be recaptured or altered. It fits that it would relate to the death of his mother and a sense of loss for the past. Since it came from his subconscious I find myself wondering also that it was a kind of predictor/commentary from the songwriters subconscious about the Beatles themselves and their spectacular rise to fame and subsequent break-up. perhaps Paul intuitively understood that despite all the success and fun they were having that it couldn't/wouldn't last forever and it kind of predicts the break up in a way as being inevitable. The timing of when the song was written predates all that but intuitively I think it expresses Paul's underlying emotional state and the fear/sadness taht came from the deep emotional first hand experience he had of this from his mothers passing that nothing can last forever. The subconscious knows where we're at emotionally even when consciously we may or may not be aware or things may seem different on the surface. " all my troubles seemed so far away , now it seems as though they're here to stay . read all the legal troubles and acrimony that lay ahead. It all seemed so far away in '63, 64, 65. kind of like a self fulfilling prophesy. anyway its a beautiful song.
18. Furball

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    May 30th 2010 !⃝

    I've never really understood the song Yesterday until I experienced one of the possible interpretations of this song. I'm sure there is no definite purpose of this song, but I figure it is this: Yesterday is a song of being left by someone who had become your everything, "I'm not half the man I used to be, there's a shadow hanging over me" being you're never the same person when they left, and your past with them following you throughout your life. This is simply how I look at the song, I never truly understood this song but after my experiences this is how I look at this song.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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