Yesterday inspired by Answer Me
Richard
They reckon that it is quite similar to an ancient Frankie Laine track
called Answer ME.
I recalled that I have it on an old 78 rpm disc. I dug it out and I have to
say that apart from being a ballad and the fact that at one point he
says"Yesterday" they are not similar at all. It 's a waltz for a start.
Richard
http://www.wiz.to/richardsnow/
Teddy
"Yesterday" actually owes a lot to the verse of "Stardust"--NOT so
much that it's a rip-off. It makes sense that another songwriter who
knew and admired the Carmichael song could wake up and go right to the
piano and play a melody he heard in a dream he just had and have it be
that song.
paramucho
wrote:
The idea comes from a book that I'm still reviewing called THE WALRUS
WAS RINGO - 101 BEATLES MYTHS EXPOSED by Spencer Leigh and Alan
Clayton.
--
Ian
Impressive If Haughty - Q Magazine
paramucho
wrote:
>Article in the Times today about Yesterday.
McCartney’s Yesterday had a nudge from Nat
Maurice Chittenden
MUSIC experts say Sir Paul McCartney subconsciously borrowed the
melody of his classic ballad Yesterday from a Nat King Cole record.
The origins of Yesterday, which has been recorded by more than 2,000
artists and played on the radio more than 6m times, has always been a
mystery — not least to McCartney himself.
He woke up in his flat in London in May 1965 with the song in his
head. He realised that he might have borrowed the arrangement from
another song and asked friends if they could suggest any similar
tunes. They convinced him it was his and that it had come to him in a
dream.
Now musicologists have identified echoes of Answer Me, the 1953 UK hit
for both Frankie Laine and David Whitfield, which was later covered by
Cole.
They say the melodies, the rhythmic phrasing, the musical cadences and
even the words strongly resemble each other.
The experts believe that McCartney, aged 11, heard Cole’s version and
retained it in his subconscious until he came to write the music for
Yesterday 11 years later.
The lyrics were written later on a drive from Lisbon to the Algarve
with his then girlfriend, Jane Asher, the actress.
They include: “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now it
looks as though they’re here to stay.”
Answer Me has the lines: “Yesterday I believed that love was here to
stay, won’t you tell me where I’ve gone astray.”
The similarity was spotted by Spencer Leigh, a pop historian who has
interviewed McCartney on a programme that he presents on Radio
Merseyside.
Leigh explored the links between the songs for a book about the
Beatles called The Walrus was Ringo.
He said: “McCartney was working with this medley in his head which he
realised was a cracking tune. He was playing it to people saying,
‘Don’t you recognise this?’ “I wonder what might have happened if
somebody had said, ‘Isn’t it like Answer Me?’ He might have forgotten
Yesterday and we would have lost one of the world’s great songs.”
Leigh’s co-author, Alan Clayson, who has written separate biographies
of the Beatles, said: “It is not plagiarism. He was worried that he
had subconsciously lifted it.”
Dominic Pedler, who deconstructs songs to show how musicians came to
write them, supports the Answer Me theory in his forthcoming book, The
Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles. “There are some uncanny
similarities: the overlap of lyrics, the multiple rhyming emphasis on
words ending with ‘ay’, the similar scan of the songs,” he said.
“McCartney didn’t hijack the song, but he must have been inspired by
it.”
None of the other Beatles played during the song and would leave
McCartney to perform it alone on stage. Released as a single in
America it immediately went to No 1.
Hunter Davies, the Beatles’ official biographer, said: “Paul will
remember Answer Me. It was a popular ballad before rock’n’roll came
along. I have never thought it was similar to Yesterday, but I can
vaguely see it now.”
However, Geoff Baker, McCartney’s spokesman, said: “To me the two
songs are about as similar as Get Back and God Save the Queen.”
stuffed gay dragon
"paramucho" <i...@hammo.com> wrote in message
news:3f272ec4...@news.supernews.com...
> On Sun, 6 Jul 2003 23:27:52 +0100, "Richard" <r.h...@ntlworld.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Article in the Times today about Yesterday.
> >They reckon that it is quite similar to an ancient Frankie Laine track
> >called Answer ME.
> >I recalled that I have it on an old 78 rpm disc. I dug it out and I have
to
> >say that apart from being a ballad and the fact that at one point he
> >says"Yesterday" they are not similar at all. It 's a waltz for a start.
> >
> >Richard
> >
> >http://www.wiz.to/richardsnow/
> >
>
>
> McCartney's Yesterday had a nudge from Nat
> Maurice Chittenden
>
>
>
> MUSIC experts say Sir Paul McCartney subconsciously borrowed the
> melody of his classic ballad Yesterday from a Nat King Cole record.
> The origins of Yesterday, which has been recorded by more than 2,000
> artists and played on the radio more than 6m times, has always been a
wow, this is big news.
as john paul young would say "litigation's in the air, everywhere i look
around."...:)
David McKay
convincingly shown.
David McKay
Spirit of 64
"Yesterday" but wouldn't call it a lift.
BTW Nat "King" Cole's version of "Answer Me, My Love" is extraordinarily
beautiful, imo. Seek it out.
Teddy
> But Yesterday also owes a lot to Georgia on my Mind, as Ian Hammond has
> convincingly shown.
>
> David McKay
Incidentally, also a Carmichael song, but use your ears and try
singing a line of the verse of "Stardust" and then a line of
"Yesterday" and you'll notice they're a lot alike. OK, get a CD if you
need to. OK, go have coffee and forget the whole thing.
Mister Charlie
"Teddy" <hennes...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:5d47aa5.03070...@posting.google.com...
I find a remarkable similarity between Yesterday and They're Coming To
Take Me Away. Seriously.
;-)
Spirit of 64
"Yesterday" and you'll notice they're a lot alike. OK, get a CD if you need to.
OK, go have coffee and forget the whole thing.
There you go.
Rynosseros, Now With New ThickerHide Technology
<2...@FBIIIIIIII.com> wrote:
>
>as john paul young would say "litigation's in the air, everywhere i look
>around."...:)
>
From the soundtrack of "Strictly Courtroom"?
stuffed gay dragon
"Rynosseros, Now With New ThickerHide Technology"
<no.got....@eotworld.com> wrote in message
news:84ujgv06opqvg0n88...@4ax.com...
;-)
R.A.G. Seely
news:3f272ec4...@news.supernews.com:
> They include: “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now it
> looks as though they’re here to stay.”
>
> Answer Me has the lines: “Yesterday I believed that love was here to
> stay, won’t you tell me where I’ve gone astray.”
In a newspaper article, it's easier to illustrate similarities with lyrics
than in the melody, so maybe this isn't significant, but it may be worth
pointing out that the lyrics to Yesterday came long after the melody, and
long after Paul went around asking folks if they'd heard the tune before.
Till I see an analysis similar to Ian's with Georgia, I'm keeping an open
mind on this one ...
-= rags =-
paramucho
The idea that he would be inspired by the music in 1963 and then
separately by the lyric in 1965 would have to border on the
miraculous. The musical evidence presented in the book is flawed.
saki
news:Xns93B1E005CFA0Fli...@127.0.0.1:
The BBC has a sound clip of both songs and an interview with Spencer Leigh
(who, we might note, has a book to sell, not that that's a bad thing):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3050614.stm
I'm having a tough time hearing any similarity between the songs, or even
(as Leigh seems to re-explain during the interview) that they have the same
mood, which to my mind provides tenuous ground for the hypothesis.
----
"Doo-lang, doo-lang, doo-lang...."
------------------
sa...@ucla.edu
The Robinsons
However, perhaps Spencer explains better here on NPR
A British music buff says he's found the inspiration for the Beatles'
hit song "Yesterday" in "Answer Me," a song recorded in 1953 by Nat King
Cole. Robert Siegel talks with historian Spencer Leigh about his theory.
audio clip from this link.
.
http://discover.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.jhtml?prgDate=07/07/2003&prgId=2
Regards.
Joe R.
"saki" <sa...@ucla.edu> wrote in message
news:Xns93B272F23A...@169.232.47.140...
saki
news:BqEOa.816$HQ5...@news-binary.blueyonder.co.uk:
> I can see what you mean Saki.
>
> However, perhaps Spencer explains better here on NPR
>
> A British music buff says he's found the inspiration for the
> Beatles'
> hit song "Yesterday" in "Answer Me," a song recorded in 1953 by Nat
> King Cole. Robert Siegel talks with historian Spencer Leigh about his
> theory.
>
> http://discover.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.jhtml?prgDate=07/07/2003&prgId
> =2
I appreciate the link. This makes it much clearer what Leigh's on about,
but it's still stretching it, IMHO.
Wonder what the Frankie Laine version (released as a single in the UK in
1953) sounds like? That'd be a better test.
----
"Won't you tell me where I've gone astray....?
------------------
sa...@ucla.edu
Scarlotti
> Wonder what the Frankie Laine version (released as a single in the UK in
> 1953) sounds like? That'd be a better test.
>
> ----
> "Won't you tell me where I've gone astray....?
> ------------------
> sa...@ucla.edu
The Frankie Laine version is similar to Cole's, only it's addressed to
the Lord rather than to the lost lover:
"Answer me, Lord above
Just what sin have I been guilty of
Tell me how I came to lose my love..."
Laine recorded a second version for South African release addressed to
the lost lover as well.
The similarities between ANSWER ME and YESTERDAY are slight -- I'd
never noticed them before chancing upon this thread -- but, once
pointed, pretty hard to deny:
"She was mine YESTERDAY
I believed that love was here to stay..."
That is, while ANSWER ME almost certainly provided the inspiration for
YESTERDAY, they're far from being carbon copies.
The Robinsons
INSPIRATION for Yesterday. Since Macca had dreamt a tune he thought was
somebody elses, then touted it round his close circle, it does not seem
unreasonable to make this suggestion, especially given the similar lyric &
tune. Of course, it's NOT plagiarism, neither is it a case of My Sweet
Lords revisited.But If Spencer has helped to uncover the history of this
landmark song, then surely that's a good thing. Good to see the debate
raging on this newsgroup anyway, I'm sure Spencer would approve of this
ongoing dialogue.
As he said. "McCartney said he woke with this wonderful melody in his head,
and he felt it had come from somewhere else" - So where did it come FROM?
Both Spencer and everyone else are waiting for Macca's comments and/or
rebuttal on this one. I can see the similarity myself but it's not that
striking, and though some of the lyric is also similar - you can say that
of many another song. Mind you, Spencer really knows his stuff and
would notput this out without some careful thought beforehand.
Joe R.
Liverpool.
"Scarlotti" <Scar...@searchhawkmail.com> wrote in message
news:4c6e579a.03070...@posting.google.com...
Christopher Jepson
> The Frankie Laine version is similar to Cole's, only it's addressed to
> the Lord rather than to the lost lover:
>
> "Answer me, Lord above
> Just what sin have I been guilty of
> Tell me how I came to lose my love..."
And according to the NPR report, the rewrite came about because the original couldn't get
played on the BBC due to its religious nature -- it was a "God-botherer" (another wonderful
Britishism!).
Chris Jepson
R.A.G. Seely
> On reflection, I can also see that 'Answer Me' may well have been the
> INSPIRATION for Yesterday. Since Macca had dreamt a tune he thought
> was somebody elses, then touted it round his close circle, it does not
> seem unreasonable to make this suggestion, especially given the
> similar lyric & tune.
I have the uncomfortable sensation that we're seeing a claim mutate into
proven fact here , before the case is really established. As I suggested
the other day, the similarity of lyric is completely irrelevant. As for
the tune, it's not clear to me that the similarity is as convincing as
claimed, but then I don't claim to have made any real analysis. (I'd love
for someone like Ian to make an analysis similar to his of Georgia. How
come that case isn't better known outside RMB??)
saki
news:3F0C8B37...@mail.med.upenn.edu:
I thought so too!
I wonder how long this policy was in force? Roger Ford in rec.music.rock-
pop-r+b.1950s mentioned that songs from that era by Don Cornell referring
to "kingdom of heaven" and "the Bible tells me so" were also on the BBC
no-play list, but by 1958 Little Laurie London had a hit with "He's Got
The Whole World In His Hands"---was that banned as well, I wonder, or was
it considered sufficiently oblique?
In addition to feeling uncertain about religion on the airwaves, Auntie
Beeb also refused to play songs with indelicate (whether actual or
rumored) language, such as Johnny Horton's "Battle of New Orleans"
("bloody British" didn't go over well). Outright lewd lyrics were also
banned, such as Lonnie Donegan's "Digging My Potatoes" from 1956, or
Johnny Ray's "Such a Night".
Advertising was verboten, so no "Maybellene" by Chuck Berry or any song
mentioning a brand name. "Morbid" songs were also left off the playlists,
excluding songs like Mike Berry's "Tribute to Buddy Holly" and Ray
Peterson's "Tell Laura I Love Her".
In any case, if one wanted to make a case for Macca having been
influenced by "Answer Me" by either Laine or Cole, I suppose both
versions might have gotten airplay on Radio Luxembourg, a popluar
alternative to the BBC (and no wonder with its more liberal rock-and-roll
playlist).
----
"...where you drink champagne and it tastes
just like cherry cola...."
------------------
sa...@ucla.edu
The Robinsons
interesting suggestion and would be a useful addition to the debate.
Joe R.
"R.A.G. Seely" <rags__A@T__math.mcgill.ca.invalid> wrote in message
news:Xns93B3B81139C5Dli...@127.0.0.1...
Steven Sparks
>In addition to feeling uncertain about religion on the airwaves, Auntie
>Beeb also refused to play songs with indelicate (whether actual or
>rumored) language, such as Johnny Horton's "Battle of New Orleans"
>("bloody British" didn't go over well).
Johnny Horton did a special version of "The Battle of New Orleans" for the
British market. It details the battle from the British point of view! It's is
interesting (historically), but is not as good as the version released in the
US.
R.A.G. Seely
> Then Ian should make the case for 'Georgia' here or elsewhere...That's an
> interesting suggestion and would be a useful addition to the debate.
But he did! It's easily found on Google, and there might be a copy on his
website.
paramucho
<rags__A@T__math.mcgill.ca.invalid> wrote:
>"The Robinsons" <joes...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in
>news:mZ0Pa.524$j_6...@news-binary.blueyonder.co.uk:
>
>> Then Ian should make the case for 'Georgia' here or elsewhere...That's an
>> interesting suggestion and would be a useful addition to the debate.
>
>But he did! It's easily found on Google, and there might be a copy on his
>website.
Here's a much better version of the article:
http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME05/Oldsweetsongs.html
paramucho
<joes...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>"R.A.G. Seely" <rags__A@T__math.mcgill.ca.invalid> wrote in message
>news:Xns93B3B81139C5Dli...@127.0.0.1...
>> "The Robinsons" <joes...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in
>> news:6HPOa.8607$La....@news-binary.blueyonder.co.uk:
>>
>> > On reflection, I can also see that 'Answer Me' may well have been the
>> > INSPIRATION for Yesterday. Since Macca had dreamt a tune he thought
>> > was somebody elses, then touted it round his close circle, it does not
>> > seem unreasonable to make this suggestion, especially given the
>> > similar lyric & tune.
>>
>> I have the uncomfortable sensation that we're seeing a claim mutate into
>> proven fact here , before the case is really established. As I suggested
>> the other day, the similarity of lyric is completely irrelevant. As for
>> the tune, it's not clear to me that the similarity is as convincing as
>> claimed, but then I don't claim to have made any real analysis. (I'd love
>> for someone like Ian to make an analysis similar to his of Georgia. How
>> come that case isn't better known outside RMB??)
>>
>> -= rags =-
>Then Ian should make the case for 'Georgia' here or elsewhere...That's an
>interesting suggestion and would be a useful addition to the debate.
I know I should. I wrote the author of the piece in the Times but I
haven't done anything else and I do have some contacts. Unfortunately
I'm down with my annual case of the flu and can only perform
relatively mindless tasks -- such as posting :-)
paramucho
Melodically, "Answer Me" and "Georgia" are quite similar at the
beginning, however the killer evidence for "Georgia" is that eleven of
the twelve chords are the same and McCartney points to the chord
sequence himself -- it's a one-off.