10 Rock Songs Written Completely By Accident
2. Yesterday - The Beatles
Out of all the rock classics of the '60s, Yesterday by the Beatles feels timeless from the moment you hear it. Being covered by nearly everyone and having a dead simple structure, this is the kind of rock song that feels like it should be in the same league as people like Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra. If you were to ask Paul McCartney where he got it from though, he would probably tell you that he has absolutely no clue.
Although it was released on the Help! album in 1965, Macca had this arrangement as far back as 1963, but didn't think it was truly his. Rather than sit at the piano and sort it out, McCartney has said that the tune for the song came to him in his sleep and drove him out of bed to create.
Initially Paul was even hesitating to show it to the rest of the band, thinking that he had probably knicked the chords from one of the old jazz standards that his father used to play him. But these were all his though, going on to become one of the most memorable musical phrases of the 20th century. Like it or not, that must have been one hell of a dream that Macca was having.