Songs › The Beatles › Yesterday

The Beatles

Yesterday

Help! · 1965 · Lennon–McCartney

GLI93

Pure Lennon

Confidence 90% · evidence quality, not position

The Beatles arriving at JFK Airport, New York, 7 February 1964. — United Press International, photographer unknown · Public domain

One Beatle, one guitar, a scored quartet. Then the whole band played it in a different key.

GARCIAPerformance creates the music

DEAD CENTERNeither wins

LENNONComposition creates the music

100

Yesterday · 93

Hollow marks: the other 49 scored songs · Hatched band: the Crossover Zone

The case

The strongest honest argument for each side, then the ruling.

The Garcia argument

This song does not need its recording. McCartney sang it alone on television in one key, and on tour all four Beatles played it in another with no strings at all. It has been performed by a great many people since. The record took two takes.

The Lennon argument

Melody, words and harmony were complete before the session, and the string quartet plays a written score down to the instruction not to use vibrato. McCartney is the only Beatle on it. Each of its many performances reproduces the same content.

The verdict: GLI 93

The Beatles' Ripple, a notch further along. Its information is entirely predetermined and entirely portable. It ranks below Strawberry Fields Forever and Because because the recording is dispensable, and above nearly everything else because nothing in it was found by playing.

What is fixed

Melody
Lyric
Harmony
The quartet score

What is open

Key
Who accompanies it

Evidence dimensions

Each runs from 0, Garcia, to 100, Lennon. Their weighted composite is 93. The published GLI is 93, the same.

Structural FixityHow much of sequence, form and duration is settled beforehand?

Elastic

Fixed

Two minutes, every bar set.

Performance ConsistencyHow far can two performances differ and still be the same work?

Transformative

Reproducible

Performed live in two keys and two instrumentations, with the content unchanged.

PredeterminationHow much of what matters exists before the performance begins?

Emergent

Predetermined

Melody, lyric and quartet score were all written.

Development MethodHow does the music move forward?

Exploratory

Composed

Composed and scored.

Recording SpecificityDoes the recording document an occurrence, or define the object?

Documents event

Defines work

Lower than its neighbours. The song travels without the record.

Transformational tolerance

High, in the way Ripple's is: it survives anything because it is all on paper.

Confidence: 90%

Fully documented, with a performance history on television and on tour.

Keep arguing

Every placement is relative. These are the songs this one was measured against.

The record

McCartney recorded vocal and acoustic guitar together in two takes on 14 June 1965. Take 2 was used.Source ↗
A string quartet was overdubbed three days later. McCartney is the only Beatle on the recording.Source ↗
George Martin wrote most of the score, with McCartney insisting on no vibrato and adding details of his own.Source ↗
On television it was done in F by McCartney alone with strings. On tour in 1965–66 all four Beatles played it in G.Source ↗

Where the sources disagree

Track length is listed as 2:05 and 2:03.

Catalog facts

Catalog no.: GLI·TB·010
Artist: The Beatles
Writers: Lennon–McCartney
Release: Help! (1965)
Released: 6 August 1965
Duration: 2:05

Sources

Classified 5 October 2026