Paul famously woke up with the melody of “Yesterday” fully formed in his head.
He played it on piano right away — but with placeholder lyrics:
“Scrambled eggs… oh my baby how I love your legs.”
He was so sure he had subconsciously plagiarized it, he asked everyone around: “Have you heard this before?”
The final version didn’t feature any other Beatles. Just Paul — singing and playing acoustic guitar — backed by a string quartet arranged by George Martin.
It was the first Beatles track to use classical instruments so prominently — paving the way for songs like Eleanor Rigby.
Ironically, it was released as a single only in the U.S., where it hit #1 for four weeks. The UK had to wait until 1976 where it reached number 8.
The Beatles were so unsure about it fitting their image… they shelved it for a year before releasing it on Help! in 1965.
It’s now one of the most covered songs in history — with over 2,200 versions recorded by other artists!
John Lennon once joked he didn’t understand what all the fuss was about:
“It’s Paul’s song, nothing to do with the Beatles.”
The working title remained “Scrambled Eggs” for months, and even George Martin called it that in early notes.
Love “Yesterday” even more now?
Subscribe for more Beatles gems you won’t find anywhere else!