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“Yesterday” By Beatles.

“Yesterday” is one of the most popular songs in the history of world’s recorded

songs. It is popular even today with 2200 cover versions thus making the song the most covered

song of the history. This is the song recorded and heard for times more than any other song.

These are the reasons that it received awards from BBC Radio, MTV and Rolling Stone

Magazine etc. McCartney claims to have composed the melody of the song in a dream (Turner,

p83). He also claims to have written the words of the lyric as well as the title (Miles, p204). It

was sung by “The Beatles” for their album “Help” in 1965. Since then, the song has achieved

milestones over the years. It is a melancholy about a broken love relationship sung by a single

member of “The Beatles”. The story symbolizes the yesterday for the happy days of the past

when there used to be joys all around. The basic theme of the song is the message which tells

never to lose your love and try to maintain it for the whole of your life. It is love that beautifies

the life and nothing else. When there remains no love, one earnestly waits and desires for it to

come back. But that never happens as the time once gone never returns. The small lyrical ballad

is outstanding in the sense that it narrates the whole story from the very beginning to the end. It

has the memories of the golden days, of the separation and the longings for the days to return.

The song is complete in nature to the extent that it covers the whole of turns and twists a love-

story brings with it.

The song begins with the title word, “yesterday”. The poet starts to tell the story of

his failure. He tells the reader that there was a time when everything went right for him. There

was beauty and love. Life was magnificent. He adds: “all my troubles seemed so far away”

informing the audience that his life had no miseries, sorrows and concerns. What he had to care

for was the sweet moments he could enjoy with his girl-friend. Life was no more than a story of
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the dreamland where all the demands were accord approval. But he knows nothing what

happened to his life? The charm of life then was get up from the deep sleep. The troubles which

he bade “good bye” had arrived again. They had the intentions to live there forever: “now it

looks as though they are here to stay”. But as is the nature of love and the story with every lover,

hope plays its role does not letting the lover leave its rope; just stick to it. He believes in the

honesty of the “yesterday” in the words: “oh, I believe in yesterday”. The way the “yesterday” is

appealed here is heart-touching. It looks like he is negotiating with the yesterday to persuade her

to bring the gone glory to his life once again.

Then comes the part of the story where the poet tells us the situation at the present.

He tells: “suddenly, I am not half the man I used to be”. The poet shows us the ruins of his dream

valley in the words that he is no more the perfect person. He is living with a broken heart. He

sees no attraction in life any more. He convinces us that life comes from inside and it does not

matter what looks outside. A man hit at heart can never be taken as alive though walking like a

live man. He goes further explaining that: “there’s a shadow hanging over me”. The darkness

prevails over him. He sees no light to proceed in the course of life. Something ugly like shadow

has taken possession of him. He is not able to see beyond that shadow and for him; the world is a

place of anxiety. The poet goes further and complains against the instability of the world and all

that is inside it including humans. He weeps that the routine of life did not give him enough time

to get to the taste of joys to his full. It was so much a short time for the enjoyment of his love.

The troubles were in a very much hurry as to replace the pleasures. The poet’s desire for the

“yesterday” to come back ran towards him so quickly: “oh, yesterday came so quickly”. He

wants to fight against his fortune why it brought to him the desire for the yesterday at once? Why

it did not give him more time?

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“Why she had to go, I don’t know, she wouldn’t say”. Here the poet’s tone protests

against his beloved’s behavior. He complains she left him without bothering to inform him of the

reason. In a very humble manner, the poet tells the audience that he does not know why his girl-

friend left him. He speaks of her haughty conduct that he tried to know the reasons but she did

not tell and will never tell him. The poet’s conditions are deplorable as he tries to console

himself that he might have said or done something wrong which excited the anger of his girl-

friend and caused the breakup. The words wrote are awful and the tone in which the words were

uttered are terrible: “I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday”. He reproaches himself

for the wrong been done. He reprimands himself that he caused his beloved to fall apart.

The last cry begins with laughter over the past: “yesterday love was such an easy

game to play”. The poet tells that the love which he had in the past now looked to him like a

game he played. He feels he was fully skilled in all the rules of the game. He was competent

enough to go for the victory. No one has seen the future and the proverb fits the writer best when

he symbolizes love for the game; you win today, you may lose tomorrow. To the writer, love is

no more a sincere, calm and grave phenomenon. Love is now nothing more than enjoyment and

the skilful use of techniques like a game. He adds: “now I need a place to hide away”. The writer

is in trouble. He is totally ruptured. He needs solitude where to reassemble his disintegrated

parts. Here there is the symbolism that the writer needs yet another love to restart his life with

the very new basis. For the purpose, he argues that he believes in “yesterday”: “oh, I believe in

yesterday”. He hopes for a better future like the golden past. He yearns for the sweet period to

come back to him. He really expects so and it is the quality of an intelligent person to

acknowledge the harsh facts of life and strive for the betterment. The writer has a firm belief in
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“yesterday”. This time he symbolizes the yesterday for his trust in his own self to once again

bring to his life the splendor of love.

“Yesterday” is no doubt a history. It is about realizing the past where our lives used to

be. It teaches us the bad effects our actions cause to our life. We do not want to repeat the same

but we cannot go back. In a symbolic way, the writer means of the song to teach a lesson not to

run away from the miseries life brings. It shows how to face the problems. The song speaks of

how the human being desires for the past because the past is always beautiful. It is a love-song

having depth in its meanings. The writer aims at conveying the humans to cherish what they

have. Enjoy what the life has brought for them because these joys are not to stay for long. They

are to perish very soon and the longing to bring them back would be of no use for them. The

personification in the song is outstanding when the writer tells the story of a broken relationship

and where the lover wishes for the sweet old days to come back.

Works Cited.

Turner, Steve. A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song. New York, NY:
HarperPerennial, 1994. Print.

McCartney, Paul, and Barry Miles. Many Years from Now. Milano: Rizzoli, 1997. Print.
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