Ep. 5: Yesterday

—and the song that got away

In this chapter in our podcast series, we explore the origin of Paul’s song, Yesterday. In a surprising twist, we also investigate the significance of another song that Paul has often referred to—the one song that he wished he had written. And with this discovery, we explore the hidden meaning of Yesterday, perhaps his most famous song.

Songs

Yesterday, Lennon and McCartney; performed by Joe Anastasi and Mike Sugar.

What’s My Line Opening Theme Song – 1968; performed by Mike Sugar

Rabbit Hole Interstitial Music – Live and Let Die Melody, Paul McCartney; arranged and performed by Mike Sugar

Twilight Zone Opening Theme, Marius Constant, 1962; performed by Mike Sugar

Fandanguillo, Federico Moreno Torroba; performed by Mike Sugar

Chances Are, Robert Allen and Al Stillman; performed by Joe Anastasi and Mike Sugar

Rabbit Hole Interstitial Music – Eleanor Rigby Melody, Lennon and McCartney; arranged and performed by Mike Sugar

The Girl from Ipanema, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Portuguese lyrics by Vinícius de Moraes, English lyrics by Norman Gimbel.

Help! Lennon and McCartney; performed by performed by Joe Anastasi and Mike Sugar

Fields of Gold, Gordon Sumner and Dusan Bogdanovic; performed by Joe Anastasi and Mike Sugar

The End, Lennon and McCartney; performed by Stroll Down Penny Lane (Joe Anastasi, Mike Sugar, Winter, Mark Abbott, Matt Twain)

Sources

Playboy interview; Paul McCartney; 1984

Recording the Beatles; Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew; Curvebender; 2006.

Beatlesongs; William J. Dowling; Simon & Shuster, New York, 1989.

Here, There and Everywhere, Geoff Emerick and Howard Massey; Gotham Books; New York; 2006

Paul McCartney, Many Years from Now; Barry Miles; Secker &Warburg; 1997

McCartney, Christopher Sandford; Carroll and Graf Publishers; 2006

Paul McCartney, the Life, Philip Norman; Little Brown and Company; 2016

Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles, Dominic Pedler; Omnibus Press; 2003

The Beatles, Hunter Davis; McGraw-Hill; 1968

The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions; Mark Lewisohn; Hamlyn (a division of the Octopus Publishing Group); 1988

All You Need Is Ears, George Martin, with Jeremy Hornsby; St. Martin’s Griffin; 1979

This is Your Brain on Music, The Science of a Human Obsession; Daniel J. Levitin; Plume; 2007

“MOJO COLLECTIONS”; interview of Paul McCartney

evacassidy.org

The Beatles Anthology; Chronicle Books, 2000

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Rosetta Stone; The British Museum

McCartney: Yesterday and Today, Ray Coleman; Boxtree, 1996.

The Beatles as Musicians. The Quarry Men Through Rubber Soul, Walter Everett; Oxford University Press; 2001.

A Hard Day’s Write – The Stories Behind Every Beatles’ Song, Steve Turner; Carbon, 1994.

In Search of the Sources of ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and ‘Yesterday,’ Ian Hammond; Journal on Media Culture; Old Sweet Songs; http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME05/Oldsweetsongs.shtml

Paul McCartney in Casual Conversation with Jarvis Cocker at LIPA; August 15, 2018

Thanks to Andreas Dress on Unsplash for this episode’s image.
This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts.