Stevie Nicks Called This Paul McCartney Classic a ‘Perfect Song’
Paul McCartney has written many songs, either for The Beatles or his solo career, that people could call perfect. He’s one of the most successful songwriters ever and for good reason. Like many other artists, Stevie Nicks is a fan of Paul McCartney, and she believes that this hit he wrote for The Beatles is “perfect.”
Stevie Nicks said ‘Yesterday’ by Paul McCartney is a ‘perfect song’
“Yesterday” was released in 1965 on the Help! album. It was later released as a single in the U.S., reaching No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. This ballad was written by McCartney, who reflected on lost love in the lyrics. It’s one of The Beatles’ most memorable tunes and is the most covered song ever, with thousands of people trying to put their own spin on it.
Speaking with Rolling Stone, Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks said this song is a personal favorite and called it a “perfect song.” She sees it as a prophetic song, where McCartney sings about what would eventually happen to his wife, Linda.
“I think ‘Yesterday’ was very much a premonition of Paul of what was to come with Linda – finding his one great love and then what it was to lose her. It’s the perfect song,” Nicks said.
The Beatles wrote many iconic love songs, with “Yesterday” being a highlight among many. There are still plenty of songs like “Something,” “And I Love Her,” and “Michelle” that not only showed the talents of McCartney but also George Harrison and John Lennon as well. All of their love songs inspired Nicks and was impressed at how these ballads went beyond the surface.
“These guys truly wrote about the intricacies of relationships,” Nicks said. “It was going deeper, and that’s what we were surprised by.”
McCartney wrote ‘Yesterday’ after discovering it in a dream
Stevie Nicks might have her own interpretation of how Paul McCartney came up with “Yesterday,” but he famously suggests that the song came to him in a dream. In an interview with the BBC, Sir Paul said he woke up one morning and recalled a tune he found while sleeping.
He went straight to the piano and wrote down the tune. He inserted nonsense words like “scrambled eggs” to keep the melody in place before he could find the correct lyrics.
“I fell out of bed and the piano was right there just to the side,” McCartney shared. “I just had this tune. And now I had some chords. And to solidify it in my memory, I blocked it out with some dummy words. ‘Scrambled eggs. Oh my baby, how I love your legs. Scrambled eggs.’ Using dummy lyrics wasn’t something I did a lot.”
Many have suggested that the song isn’t about a broken relationship but actually about his mother, who died from cancer when he was 14. McCartney said he didn’t write “Yesterday” with that in mind, but it might have been there subconsciously.
“Some people find it hard to believe that I was 22 when I wrote ‘Yesterday,’” McCartney told BBC. “I’d lost my mother about eight years before that. It’s been suggested to me that it’s a losing my mother song, to which I’ve always said, ‘No, I don’t believe so.’ But, you know, the more I think about it, I can see that might’ve been part of the background.”
