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. anonymous

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   Apr 25th 2010 !⃝

   “Yesterday” was written and recorded by The Beatles for their 1965 album ‘Help!’. The song talks about how most people “long for yesterday”. “Yesterday” could be interpreted as a love song. However, I believe that the song has a deeper meaning than a stereotypical love song. If you look closely you can see how really the song is telling us to cherish what we have and live in the moment because, very quickly, it could all disappear. I think that the song also has an undercurrent of longing for better days. In 1965 a lot of Americans could relate to what the song stood for. The song made sense to people because they remembered what “the good days” were like and how they can disappear in the blink of an eye. This is shown clearly when the Beatles sing…“Yesterday/ All my troubles seemed so far away/ Now it looks as though they're here to stay/ Oh, I believe/ In yesterday…”
   
   In the biography, ‘McCartney and The Beatles’ it is written that the melody for ‘Yesterday’ came to Paul McCartney in a dream. It also says that the other band members didn’t think the song was good enough to be included in an album and that the song didn’t “fit their image”. Of course, as we know, the song was an instant hit, and is still able to relate with people everywhere.
   “Yesterday
   Love was such an easy game to play
   Now I need a place to hide away
   Oh, I believe
   In yesterday…”
2. anonymous

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   Apr 25th 2010 !⃝

   “Yesterday” was written and recorded by the Beatles for their 1965 album ‘Help!’. The song talks about how most people “long for yesterday”. “Yesterday” could be interpreted as a love song. However, I believe that the song has a deeper meaning than a stereotypical love song. If you look closely you can see how really the song is telling us to cherish what we have and live in the moment because, very quickly, it could all disappear. I think that the song also has an undercurrent of longing for better days. In 1965 a lot of Americans could relate to what the song stood for. When the Beatles sing “
3. m320753

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   Apr 20th 2010 !⃝

   this song i believe is about grieving for the life we once lived and the errors we made along the way. according to frank sinatra it is regrets i've had a few, from the song my way
4. mgzaw99

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   Apr 16th 2010 !⃝

   The lyrics are pure & simple,but the music is the one that won't forget forever.Now it is a modern classical song.Yesterday song is revealing that music is international.Music is immortal.Movies will be fade out as the time goes bye.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
5. anonymous

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   Apr 14th 2010 !⃝

   It's about his mummy dying!
6. anonymous

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   Mar 7th 2010 !⃝

   It also could basically mean don't run away from your problems because they will eventually come back to hunt you.
7. anonymous

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   Mar 7th 2010 !⃝

   I completely disagree. "Yesteday" is about your problems and how you might get ahead but they're never completely gone.
8. Revolution

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   Jul 15th 2009 !⃝

   Lets get the FACTs straight: McCartney composed the entire melody in a dream one night in his room at the Wimpole Street home of his then girlfriend Jane Asher and her family. Upon waking, he hurried to a piano and played the tune to avoid letting it slip into the recesses of his mind. McCartney's initial concern was that he had subconsciously plagiarised someone else's work. Upon being convinced that he had not robbed anyone of his melody, McCartney began writing lyrics to suit it. As Lennon and McCartney were known to do at the time, a substitute working lyric, entitled "Scrambled Eggs", was used for the song until something more suitable was written. McCartney recalled: OK it's mine!' It had no words. So I used to call it 'Scrambled Eggs'. McCartney said the breakthrough with the lyrics came during a trip to Portugal in May 1965:
   "I remember mulling over the tune 'Yesterday', and suddenly getting these little one-word openings to the verse. I started to develop the idea ... da-da da, yes-ter-day, sud-den-ly, fun-il-ly, mer-il-ly and Yes-ter-day, that's good. All my troubles seemed so far away. It's easy to rhyme those a's: say, nay, today, away, play, stay, there's a lot of rhymes and those fall in quite easily, so I gradually pieced it together from that journey. Sud-den-ly, and 'b' again, another easy rhyme: e, me, tree, flea, we, and I had the basis of it."
   As Paul quite often did, the song is about a few different things, the breakup with his girl friend, and how things where easier Yesterday then they are today and he finally finished this song. So don't try to put more into then there is, these are the facts.
   
   By the way... "Yesterday" has been recognized as the most recorded song in the history of popular music; its entry in the Guinness Book of Records suggests over 1600 different cover versions to date,[24] by an eclectic mix of artists including The Seekers, Joan Baez, Michael Bolton, Bob Dylan, Liberace, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Daffy Duck, Jan & Dean, Wet Wet Wet, Plácido Domingo, The Head Shop, Billy Dean, En Vogue and Boyz II Men.
9. anonymous

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   Jun 28th 2009 !⃝

   Let me clarify:
   
   Paul's mother, Mary, died when he was 14. "Yesterday" is is about him longing for her and comparing life before she died with life now. All his troubles seemed so far away when she was alive. She wouldn't say why she had to go because she died. This is a way of saying that at 14, Paul did not understand why she had to go. When his father told him that she died, Paul said something wrong. He said, "What are going to do without her money?" He was hurt, but did not know how to respond, so he said something that he later felt was inappropriate.
10. anonymous

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    May 5th 2009 !⃝

    this song is about when paul broke up with his girl. he is thinking back and is basically stating what he did wrong and that he misses her...
11. beatlesfan101

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    Apr 9th 2009 !⃝

    This song is about black rights!

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
12. joeo

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    Mar 18th 2009 !⃝

    Not only was Paul with Jane Asher when he wrote Yeserday, but he was introduced to classical music by her. Paul probably lifted the music from a 19 century Neopolitan classcal piece called Piccere Che Ven Dicere (Re: Yeserday Wiki) Neither Paul nor John could read music they depended on George Martin for his musical maestro knowledge and technical skills. After the Beatles break up they went back to three chord songs. Paul is on record stating they borrowed from many diverse songs and adapted sometimes outright. Golden Slumbers is another said song Paul almost recomposed verbatim. Paul went around for around two months laying down his little dream story about Yesterday, with Ham and Egg lyrics. Paul has always been a very manipulitive aggressive and talented charmer. Paul's is a passive aggresive, while John was just upfront in his agressive lionese psuedo confidence. Poor George could not hold his own with either John or Paul

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
13. anonymous

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    May 10th 2008 !⃝

    "Yesterday" was written during the Vietnam war towards the beginning as a matter of fact. I believe that the song was written about soldiers having to leave families during the war. Leaving them and dying for their families, leaving everything else behind and fighting for freedom.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
14. anonymous

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    Feb 26th 2007 !⃝

    I saw some interview on TV once in which Paul himself explained the song. So here it is.
    
    Shortly after his girl leaving him, he was cooking breakfast (scrambled eggs) and thinking of his lost love. The lyrics "scrambled eggs, oh how I miss those legs". He finished the song with those lyrics instead of "yesterday..." When it came time to record, one of the producers suggested that the lyrics were changed for obvious reasons.
    
    About his chick.
15. ledbeatles

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    Nov 4th 2006 !⃝

    This is about Paul's mother, not a girl, and how he felt after she had passed.

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