John Lennon Didn’t Buy a Lyric From The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’
TL;DR:
- John Lennon said The Beatles’ “Yesterday” didn’t reflect his attitude towards life.
- He explained why the past interested him.
- He had no interest in reforming The Beatles and felt he couldn’t recreate them.
John Lennon wasn’t interested in the past. For example, he criticized a famous lyric from The Beatles’ “Yesterday.” Notably, “Yesterday” was not as popular in the United Kingdom as it was in the United States.
John Lennon flipped a line from The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ on its head
The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features an interview from 1980. In it, John discussed his feelings about nostalgia. “I never went to high-school reunions,” he said.”My thing is, out of sight, out of mind. That’s my attitude toward life.
“So I don’t have any romanticism about any part of my past,” he said. “I think of it only inasmuch as it gave me pleasure or helped me grow psychologically. That is the only thing that interests me about yesterday. I don’t believe in yesterday, by the way. You know I don’t believe in yesterday. I am only interested in what I am doing now.”
John Lennon compared The Beatles’ songwriting to that of Broadway songwriters
In addition, John said that trying to recreate the past was futile. “There’s the talk about the magic between Lennon and McCartney, but there was magic between Rodgers and Hart, and Rodgers and Hammerstein,” he said. “Lennon and McCartney and The Beatles don’t exist and can never exist again.” For context, Rodgers and Hart were a Broadway songwriting duo composed of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. After Hart’s death, Rodgers formed a new partnership, Rodgers and Hammerstein, with Oscar Hammerstein II.
John revealed what he thought would happen if The Beatles reunited. “John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Richard Starkey could put on a concert, but it can never be The Beatles singing ‘Strawberry Fields’ and ‘I Am the Walrus’ again,” he opined. He said his audience couldn’t turn back the clock either.
How ‘Yesterday’ performed in the United States and the United Kingdom
“Yesterday” was one of The Beatles’ biggest hits in the United States. The tune was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks, remaining on the chart for 11 weeks in total. The tune appeared on the soundtrack of Help! The soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 for nine of its 46 weeks on the chart.
“Yesterday” became considerably less popular in the United Kingdom. The Official Charts Company reports the tune only peaked at No. 8 and lasted on the chart for nine weeks. On the other hand, the Help! soundtrack reached No. 1 and stayed on the chart for 39 weeks. Subsequently, the album hit No. 29 and stayed on the chart for five weeks.
In addition, “Yesterday” became a standard. It’s been covered by Marvin Gaye, Frank Sinatra, Linkin Park, Jay-Z, Ray Charles, Maroon 5, and numerous others.
“Yesterday” is one of the best songs ever even if John disliked its message.
