Yesterday - Reception

Reception

"Yesterday" is one of the most recorded songs in the history of popular music; its entry in Guinness World Records states that, by January 1986, 1,600 cover versions had been made, by an eclectic mix of artists including Cilla Black, Marianne Faithfull, Tose Proeski, The Mamas and the Papas and Barry McGuire, The Seekers, Joan Baez, Donny Hathaway, Michael Bolton, Bob Dylan, Liberace, Frank Sinatra, Matt Monro, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles (1967), Marvin Gaye, Daffy Duck, Jan & Dean, The Sylvers, Wet Wet Wet, P. P. Arnold, Plácido Domingo, The Head Shop, Billy Dean, En Vogue, LeAnn Rimes, Muslim Magomayev and Boyz II Men. In 1976, David Essex did a cover version of the song for the ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II. After Muzak switched in the 1990s to programs based on commercial recordings, Muzak's inventory grew to include about 500 "Yesterday" covers. At the 2006 Grammy Awards, McCartney performed the song live as a mash-up with Linkin Park and Jay-Z's "Numb/Encore". It is Vladimir Putin's favourite Beatles song.

"Yesterday" won the Ivor Novello Award for 'Outstanding Song of 1965', and came second for 'Most Performed Work of the Year', losing out to another McCartney composition, "Michelle". The song has received its fair share of acclaim in recent times as well, ranking 13th on Rolling Stone's 2004 list "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and fourth on the magazine's list "The Beatles 100 Greatest Songs" (compiled in 2010). In 1999, Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) placed "Yesterday" third on their list of songs of the 20th century most performed on American radio and television, with approximately seven million performances. "Yesterday" was surpassed only by The Association's "Never My Love" and the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Loving Feeling". "Yesterday" was voted Best Song of the 20th century in a 1999 BBC Radio 2 poll.

"Yesterday", however, has also been criticised for being mundane and mawkish; Bob Dylan had a marked dislike for the song, stating that "If you go into the Library of Congress, you can find a lot better than that. There are millions of songs like 'Michelle' and 'Yesterday' written in Tin Pan Alley". Ironically, Dylan ultimately recorded his own version of "Yesterday" four years later, but it was never released.

Shortly before his death in 1980, Lennon explained that he thought the lyrics did not "resolve into any sense... They're good – but if you read the whole song, it doesn't say anything; you don't know what happened. She left and he wishes it were yesterday – that much you get – but it doesn't really resolve. ... Beautiful – and I never wished I'd written it." "Paul wrote this great song, 'Yesterday.' It's a beautiful song. I never wished I'd written it, and I don't believe in yesterday... Life begins at 40, so they promise and I believe it. What's going to come?" Lennon made reference to the song on his album Imagine with the song "How Do You Sleep?". The song appears to attack McCartney with the line "The only thing you done was Yesterday, but since you've gone you're just another day". Lennon later said in an interview with Playboy that the song was actually an attack on himself as opposed to McCartney.