What does Yesterday mean?

Beatles: Yesterday Meaning

Album cover for Yesterday album cover

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. Bighead
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    Jul 11th 2006 !⃝

    Yesterday and Let it Be were written by Paul McCarney for his mother, who died when he was 14 yrs old. The first sounds like he's grieving here death, still not accepting it. The latter sounds more like resignation. Paul didn't come out publicly and admit to this about Yesterday until a few yrs ago when he thought that enough time had passed so as he could finally say that it was about his mother. In 1965 it was bad enough that a rock'n'roll group was singing such a song! Then, it being about a mother's death!!

  2. ringo
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    Jun 13th 2006 !⃝

    It is about a woman splitting with a man and he has no clue as to what he did. The song was from 1965 and the Beatles didn't split until April 10, 1970.

  3. Miguel
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    Mar 15th 2006 !⃝

    Since 'Yesterday' was one of the first songs the Beatles ever performed it's hard to imagine an upcoming break up or seeing a friendship falling apart inspired Paul to write this song.. Check out 'The Beatles Anthology' dvd set: it's great. To get more info and facts on songs you might also want to check out www.songfacts.com!!

  4. anonymous
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    Mar 4th 2006 !⃝

    "Lennonlives" is wrong, simply because the song was written quite some time after Paul was with Jane Asher. This is completely a guess, but I have always assumed it was kind of a song for John and Paul recalling their friendship near the end of the Beatles. It was kind of a last testimony to the depth of their friendship as well as a realization that the end was coming but that they accepted it.

  5. LennonLives
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    Jan 5th 2006 !⃝

    The song is about nothing, the words and mealody are nice, but as lennon says "listen to the lyrics, he's not saying anything" If you listen to it, it makes sense. If anything I guess it is about a broad taking off, and he wishes things would be how they were before. The girl left him without reason.......Although he was living in his girlfriend Janes house and they were together, maybe things were bad, and he could feel the split coming.

    I know after the split he lived there for a short time.

  6. anonymous
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    Nov 27th 2005 !⃝

    This is a song about someone who has just broken up with the person they love, and wish they could go back to when they were together. McCartney came up with the melody of this song in a dream, and later on put words to it. Gee, he can do more things in his sleep than most people can while they're awake.

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