The Beatles

Released: March 18, 1996

Songwriter: Paul McCartney Lennon-McCartney

Producer: George Martin

[Spoken Word: George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney & Studio Technicians]
What key is it in?
What key is it in?
It'll be in F, for you
Yesterday
I'm in G, but it'll be in F
And it goes E minor to A seventh to D minor
Ready
Here we go
Okay man

[Verse 1: Paul McCartney]
Yesterday
All my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Suddenly
There's a shadow hanging over me
I'm not half the man I used to be
Oh, yesterday came suddenly

[Chorus: Paul McCartney]
Why she had to go
I don't know, she wouldn't say
I said something wrong
Now I long for yesterday

[Verse 2: Paul McCartney]
Yesterday
Love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe in yesterday

[Chorus: Paul McCartney]
Why she had to go
I don't know, she wouldn't say
I said something wrong
Now I long for yesterday

[Outro: Paul McCartney]
Yesterday
Love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe in yesterday

The Beatles are arguably the most famous, critically-acclaimed, and successful rock band of all time—certainly the preeminent group of the 20th century. They started out as four teenagers playing grimy basement clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, but they progressed to become world-beating rock stars who are still influential to this day.

John Lennon first formed a skiffle group called The Quarrymen in March 1957. A fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined shortly thereafter, eventually inviting his friend George Harrison to audition for the band. After finally impressing John with his guitar skills, George was asked to join—but this juncture would be short-lived as John’s departure to college signaled the other quarrymen to go their separate ways.

By 1960, Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison had re-branded from ‘Johnny & the Moondogs’ to ‘The Silver Beetles’ at the behest of their new bass player, Stuart Sutcliffe. The name would eventually evolve into ‘The Silver Beatles’ by July of that year, before settling on ‘The Beatles’ come August—just in time for their trip to Hamburg with new drummer, Pete Best. Though club residencies in Germany would prove fundamental to the group’s progress as a whole, the tour turned out to be a blessing and a curse, following the deportation of a then-seventeen-year-old George Harrison, and the eventual tragic death of Stuart Sutcliffe.

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