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| 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. It was the first time strings were used in a famous pop song. It was also 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. 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 disagrees. |
| 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 recorded this include Boyz II Men, Ray Charles, En Vogue, Marianne Faithful, Marvin Gaye, Tom Jones, Nana Mouskouri, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, The Supremes, Andy Williams, and Tammy Wynette. A female Soul trio called The Toys did a cover for their 1966 album Sing "A Lover's Concerto. (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) |