Music

“Yesterday”: Elvis Presley’s Unrecorded Influence on a Timeless Classic.0lan

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1. Elvis Presley never officially recorded a version of Yesterday by The Beatles. Despite his status as the King of Rock and Roll, there is no known studio recording or live performance by Elvis of this iconic Beatles song. The song Yesterday was written by Paul McCartney and released by The Beatles in 1965.

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2. However, Elvis Presley did occasionally perform cover versions of popular songs during his live shows, and it’s possible that he may have included “Yesterday” in his repertoire at some point. Elvis was known for putting his own unique spin on songs, so it would have been interesting to hear his interpretation of this timeless Beatles classic. Unfortunately, no known recordings of Elvis performing “Yesterday” exist.

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3. Elvis Presley and The Beatles had a mutual admiration for each other’s music. In 1965, The Beatles famously visited Elvis at his home in Bel Air, California. It was a meeting that brought together two of the biggest names in the history of popular music. While they didn’t collaborate on any songs, the meeting marked an important moment in music history, showcasing the influence and impact that both Elvis Presley and The Beatles had on the music industry.

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 had to go?

I don’t know, she wouldn’t say.

I said something wrong.

Now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday love was such an easy game to play.

Now I need a place to hide away.

Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Why she had to go?

I don’t know, she wouldn’t say.

I said something wrong.

Now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday love was such an easy game to play.

Now I need a place to hide away.

Oh, I believe in yesterday.

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More About Yesterday

“Yesterday” is a song originally recorded by the Beatles for their 1965 album Help!.

Although credited to “Lennon-McCartney”, the song was written solely by Paul McCartney. It remains popular today with more than 2,200 cover versions, and is one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded music.

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At the time of its first appearance the song was released by the Beatles’ record company as a single in the United States but not in the United Kingdom (for further details see below). Consequently, whilst it topped the American chart in 1965 the song first hit the British top 10 three months after the release of Help! in a cover version by Matt Monro.

“Yesterday” was voted the best song of the 20th century in a 1999 BBC Radio 2 poll of music experts and listeners and was also voted the No. 1 Pop song of all time by MTV and Rolling Stone magazine the following year.

In 1997, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) asserts that it was performed over seven million times in the 20th century alone.

“Yesterday” is a melancholy acoustic guitar ballad about the break-up of a relationship.
McCartney is the only Beatle to appear on the recording, and it was the first official recording by the Beatles that relied upon a performance by a single member of the band. He was accompanied by a string quartet.

The final recording was so different from other works by the Beatles that the band members vetoed the release of the song as a single in the United Kingdom. (However, it was issued as a single there in 1976.)

In 2000 McCartney asked Yoko Ono if she would agree to change the credit on the song to read “McCartney-Lennon” in the The Beatles Anthology, but she refused.

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