Beatles – Yesterday

“Yesterday” is a song originally recorded by The Beatles for their 1965 album Help!. According to the Guinness Book of Records, “Yesterday” has the most cover versions of any song ever written. The song remains popular today with more than 3,000 recorded cover versions, the first hitting the United Kingdom top 10 three months after the release of Help!. Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) asserts that it was performed over seven million times in the 20th century alone. The song was not released as a single in the UK at the time of the US release, and thus never gained number 1 single status in that country. However, “Yesterday” was voted the best song of the 20th century in a 1999 BBC Radio 2 poll of music experts and listeners. In 2000, Yesterday was voted the #1 Pop song of all time by MTV and Rolling Stone Magazine.

“Yesterday” takes the form of a melancholic acoustic ballad about a break-up. It was the first official recording by The Beatles that relied upon a performance by a single member of the band: Paul McCartneywas accompanied solely by a string quartet. The final recording differed so greatly from other works by The Beatles that the other three members of the band vetoed the release of the song as a single in the United Kingdom (however; in 1976, it was eventually issued as a single there). Although credited to “Lennon/McCartney“, the song was written solely by McCartney. (Wikipedia)

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Lyrics and Guitar Chords

Yesterday by The Beatles
Transcribed by Christopher Kulka

F: xx3211  Em: x22xxx  A7: xx2x2x  Dm: xxx231 Bb: x13331  C: x32x1x
C/E: xx2x1x  Dm7: xxx211  G7: 32xxx1 G/A: xxxxx3 Bbmaj7: x13231
Gm: 233222  C7: x3231x  F/C: x33211  G/B: x2xx33
(F)

(F)Yesterday(Em)all my(A7)troubles seemed so(Dm)far away, (Bb)Now it (C)looks
as though they're (Bb)here (F)to stay (C/E)oh (Dm7)I believe (G7)in
(Bb)yes(F)terday.

(G/A)Why (A7)she (Dm)had (C)to (Bbmaj7)go (Dm)I don't (Gm)know, she
(C7)wouldn't say.  (F)  (G/A)I (A7)said (Dm)some(C)thing (Bbmaj7)wrong,
(Dm/A)now I (Gm)long for (C)yester(F)day.

Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be.  There's a shadow hanging over
me, oh yesterday came suddenly.

Chorus:

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play.  Now I need a place to hide
away, oh I believe in yesterday.

(F/C)Mm mm (G/B)mm mm (Bb)mm (F)

Tags: 1960s, beatles, Paul McCartney, rock

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