(about The Song 'yesterday')

Stevie in 1977.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney during the Beatles’ only 24-hour recording session began at 5pm on the afternoon of 16 October 1968, and concluded at 5pm on Thursday 17 October.

The reason for the mammoth session was for mixing, edits and crossfades for the White Album. What’s more, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were on holiday in Los Angeles and Sardinia respectively, leaving John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Martin and the EMI staff to complete the record. All three main studios at Abbey Road were used, in addition to two extra rooms, as the final running order was decided upon and a master tape assembled. (BeatlesBible.com)

Photo by Linda McCartney / Linda Enterprises Ltd. © Paul McCartney (https://www.lindamccartney.com/)

Sometimes, I think about how John specifically chose to sing ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ onstage with Elton at the Madison Square Garden concert, and chose to introduce the song as being by an old estranged fiancé of his named Paul, all the while wondering what Paul would think about it, and I’m left speechless.

“On that flight back to New York, John and Elton were both excited about the show. ‘We’ll have to rehearse,’ Elton said, and we discussed which songs it would be best to play. ‘Imagine’ was suggested, but John said he didn’t want to do just the greatest hits, and because Elton was already performing ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’, it made sense not to play it. John proposed ‘I Saw Her Standing There’. There was something about performing a Paul McCartney number that got him going. He knew no one would expect him to do that.”

Tony King (The Tastemaker, 2023)

“We tried to think of a number to finish off with so I can get out of here and be sick, and we thought we'd do a number of an old, estranged fiancé of mine, called Paul. This is one I never sang. It's an old Beatle number, and we just about know it.”

John introducing “I Saw Her Standing There” at Madison Square Garden, November 1974.

ALAN: I wondered exactly how you might be feeling when you closed the set with Elton, singing ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, and your jamming with Elton John and the fellas, that you never had the other three illustrious gentlemen around you. Did you feel anything strange about that?

JOHN: Well it was double strange because I used to sing a third-part harmony underneath Paul on ‘I Saw Her Standing There’. So I never actually sang the lead vocal. It was a really strange experience singing an early Beatle song that I never really sang, and singing it with somebody else. I was actually thinking, ‘Oh, I wonder what Paul will think of this’ (laughs).

John Lennon interviewed by Alan Freeman, January 1975.

the one time mclennon doesn’t top and tail it

John smiling at Paul like this will sustain me for 100 years and I hope it sustains Paul too

'Well, let's just say there's someone in the music industry--a fairly famous someone--and he's pretty certain it [Starting Over] was written for Paul, and that Paul damn well knew it was...but that in the wake of John's death most everyone thought it would be disrespectful to Yoko and Sean to dispute who John had in mind while writing it. We were talking about it after an email correspondence I started having with a friend here who says she believes it was as well. I agreed with her. So, being my curious self, I just had to ask around, and that's the information I got. Whether it's totally 100% or not, I can't say. But hearing about it from this guy in particular was enough to confirm my belief that it was. It's not only his opinion but something that seems to be pretty well known amongst a lot of industry folks. We talked about it at great length and honestly, I was a bit surprised it was something he feels so strongly about....as well as their relationship, in general. When I told him straight out at first that I thought they were a 'couple', he said, "Well, no shit! Anybody who thinks otherwise has to be a fucking idiot!" I thought that was funny as hell! Not to bash the nay-sayers round these parts, but this guy isn't one to mince words and I'm just repeating what he said so don't go yellin' at me. Couldn't help laughing when he said it. And he knows a LOT of people in the business. Far more than I could ever dream of encountering...'cause he's quite a bit older than me and way more experienced in these circles. He used to be a session player ages ago and branched out on his own a long ways back....so he's definitely been AROUND and knows his shit when it comes to the 'who's who' of the music world and all the dirt that gets turned up at its surface. I trust him totally or else I wouldn't be so certain he's right about the stuff he says. He even said that the 'recording-style' and vocal effects used on that song, in particular, are what John specifically wanted in order to send a certain message to Paul." ------------------------------------------------

This is a comment made by a woman in an old forum, who said she spoke to an industry insider. I have read many similar comments (and I myself have been in contact with someone who claimed to have spoken to a couple of people who were once close to the Beatles) that have said that John and Paul's relationship was an open secret in the music industry. Maybe that's why Howard Stern is often asking Paul a lot of uncomfortable questions about John, and even suggested that "Maybe I'm Amazed" was written for John, lol.

The dream is over. What can I say? The dream is over. Yesterday

God (1970)

The only thing you done was yesterday And since you've gone you're just another day

How Do You Sleep? (1971)

Today, I love you more than yesterday Right now, I love you more right now

I Know (I Know) (1973)

there's a story.

it's a sad one, this.

it starts - well, it's hard to say when it starts. maybe it started way before music was even a thing. maybe it started before time itself. maybe it doesn't have a start: suddenly everything just fell into place when those two teenagers sat in front of each other with guitars on their laps and played music for the first time. but, on record, one can say it really starts to be told out loud in the middle, towards the end. that's when it starts to truly be spoken of, sang of, wide open, undeniable. almost a cry for attention, for communication, "look, now i'm going to sing about this", because when everything else fails, they had music - they have always had music.

so it starts right before the big plot twist, before the season finale, before the breakup. or it starts right after that. nobody truly knows, really. real life stories are not divided in seasons, and this one is real. very, very real, very human. either way, this story starts to be told with two of us. it starts towards the end, but cries for the beginning, for the very beginning.

We're on our way home We're going home You and I have memories That stretches out ahead

and then, it goes on, it goes on to plead, to beg, scream, to desperately reach:

Oh! Darling, if you leave me I'll never make it alone Believe me when I beg you Don't ever leave me alone

the story sees confusion, it sees defeat, it sees someone who wants. someone who is trying, but failing because they don't know the way. someone who needs, who desperately needs, but doesn't know how to ask. they were on their way back home, but now, they've lost the way, they can't find the road. or, rather, the road is there, but it's all foggy. where's home? but they're trying. the many ways i've tried.

The wild and windy night That the rain washed away Has left a pool of tears Crying for the day Why leave me standing here? Let me know the way

it sees heartbreak.

I don't believe in Beatles I just believe in me Yoko and me And that's reality The dream is over What can I say?

it sees anger,

That was your first mistake You took your lucky break and broke it in two. Now what can be done for you? You broke it in two.

A pretty face may last a year or two But pretty soon they'll see what you can do The sound you make is muzak to my ears You must have learned something all those years

and desperation, always desperation, a need to know, please tell me why-

Well, I wake up in the morning, I'm still dreaming 'bout you Tell you, pretty baby, I'm blue Wake up in the evening, I'm still screaming out Over you, over you Well, tell me why, why, why do you treat me so bad, so bad When you're the best friend a man ever had?

and questions, a perpetual need to know, followed by a perpetual failure to ask-

Dear friend, throw the wine I'm in love with a friend of mine Really truly, young and newly wed Are you afraid, or are you blue?

and apologies - because they were just lost. lost. and frightened. why? because i was afraid of losing you. am i afraid? yes, i am. are you blue? yes. yes i am.

I was feeling insecure You might not love me anymore I was shivering inside I was shivering inside Oh, I didn't mean to hurt you I'm sorry that I made you cry Oh no, I didn't want to hurt you I'm just a jealous guy

and the story, after all of that, sees understanding. it's because i couldn't speak, and neither could you. but i know now. and it's getting better all the time.

And I know and I'm sorry (yes I am) But I never could speak my mind [...] And I know and I'm guilty (yes I am) But I never could read your mind I know what I was missing But now my eyes can see I put myself in your place As you did for me Today, I love you more than yesterday Right now, I love you more right now

and, after so long, it sees the spring coming after a long winter. a friend that will never fade away, a love that will never disappear.

You want a friend you can rely on One who will never fade away And if you're searching for an answer Stick around, I say It's coming up, it's coming up It's coming up, like a flower

and finally, it goes back to where it first started when they sang it aloud, open and clear, in two of us: there's pleading for the start, for the past, we have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead, let's go back to that road, let's walk it again, let's escape, you and me. we've been through it all, we've been apart for far too long, it's okay now, we're okay now, i miss you, let's get it together, let's walk that road again like we used to. let's get back home. because when i see you, it's like we both are falling in love again.

It's time to spread our wings and fly Don't let another day go by my love It'll be just like starting over Startin' over Why don't we take off alone Take a trip somewhere far, far away We'll be together all alone again Like we used to in the early days

and then there's a bright future ahead. there is. hapiness and promises. for love, for acceptance, for family. i'm okay now, i can handle this, i want to see my kid growing up. and we can start over. it is coming up, like a flower. it's getting better all the time.

Before you go to sleep Say a little prayer Every day in every way It's getting better and better

and there's: i want to spend the rest of my life with you. whatever happens. i want to look you in the eye when we're eighty and make sure you know i love you just as much.

Grow old along with me Whatever fate decrees We will see it through For our love is true

and then. well.

then the story sees tragedy. unexplicable, cruel, devastating tragedy. unjustifiable loss. it sees, for the first time, not music but silence for a while, silence.

just silence and hidden-away, chest-aching sobs.

and then it sees music again. this time to mourn. it's not two of us, it's the one who remains. the one who wishes the other was here. always, always reaching for the start.

But as for me I still remember how it was before And I am holding back the tears no more I love you

now, music is still desperate, still trying to reach. but, now, it will never be able to get to the other side. or is it?

in real life, we don't have happy endings all the time. most of the time we don't. we're left with what ifs. what if. what if i had been braver. what if i was born a girl. what if. what if. could we have been together? could i have saved you?

What opportunities did we allow to flow by Feeling like like the timing wasn't quite right? What kind of magic might have worked if we had stayed calm, Couldn't I have given you a better life?

it's a story of what if. what if whatever fate decrees had been different? was it fate who decreed it? could i have given you a better life? because you deserved a better life. you did.

and it keeps coming back to it: the past, the desire to still be on that road going back home. going back home. we'll be together all alone again like we used to in the early days / i live through those early days

And they can't take it from me, if they try I live through those early days So many times I had to change the pain to laughter Just to keep from getting crazy

and then, and then, the story sees magic, sees love, as it has always done. so much love. it keeps seeing love. after sorrow, after darkness, love. even though fate was mean, even though it's sad: the love is still here. the love never left. a love so true it endures. it endures in song and it endures in the way paul keeps talking about john to this day, reafirming it, making sure people know. whatever fate decrees, our love is true. will forever be.

there's a story.

it's one that is so real. so painstakingly human. as beautiful as it is sad. it's all there, in the music, in the silence, in the words and in the what ifs. music speaks when they don't. music reaches. it reaches. it has always done so. always for them. they changed the world just with how much their music reached each other. and you’re in my song.

And if I say I really loved you And was glad you came along Then you were here today For you were in my song

there's a story, the story of a love so strong it changed the world.

it's like you and me are lovers.