Paul McCartney Said ‘Magic’ Made Him Write The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’

Paul McCartney has given fans insight into how he wrote many of his most famous songs. He said he wrote The Beatles’ “Yesterday” because of magic and a dream. The cute Beatle felt the tune could not be explained in purely natural terms.

Paul McCartney had no idea how he came up with the tune for The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’

The Beatles wrote many songs that were innovative and inspired new genres of music. “Yesterday,” on the other hand, was pretty old-fashioned. It could have been a hit for Frank Sinatra in the 1940s or Elvis Presley in the 1950s — or for Michael Steven Bublé or Meghan Trainor today. It’s beloved not because it was novel but because it was such a well-written example of a traditional pop ballad.

During a 2011 interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Paul discussed the origin of “Yesterday.” “‘Yesterday’ came to me in a dream, but at this time it wasn’t just my mom saying a phrase,” he said. “This was a whole tune that was in my head. I had no idea where it came from.

“Best I can think is that my computer [in my head] through the years loaded all these things and finally printed out this song in a dream kind of thing,” the “Silly Love Songs” singer said. “I have to believe that that’s magical. I have no other rational explanation for it.”

Was is the most magical song by The Beatles?

It’s interesting that Paul said there was “magic” behind “Yesterday.” In 1967, The Beatles embraced a psychedelic sound and look with the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The record had a surrealist aesthetic, which fits with pop culture portrayals of magic. The band’s following record was called Magical Mystery Tour. The title track of that record might be the only Beatles song that’s directly about magic — unless you count George Harrison’s explorations of Eastern spirituality on songs like “Within You Without You” and “The Inner Light.”

With that in mind, it’s unusual that Paul connects “Yesterday” to magic. It doesn’t feel like a supernatural song. It’s just a phenomenally well-written pop ballad. Maybe that’s as magical as it needs to be. The song was special enough that an infinite number of famous musicians decided to cover it.

Why John Lennon didn’t agree with the lyrics of ‘Yesterday’

“Yesterday” is one of the most famous songs that Paul wrote. In a 1980 interview from the book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, John said he didn’t share the sentiment behind the song. “I never went to high school reunions,” the “Imagine” singer 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 added. “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 [chuckles], by the way. You know I don’t believe in yesterday. I am only interested in what I am doing now.”

Magic helped Paul write “Yesterday” — and it wasn’t the sort of magic that John could have captured.