One morning in 1964, Paul McCartney awoke in the small attic bedroom of his girlfriend Jane Asher’s house at 57 Wimpole Street in London. A melody had come to him in his sleep, so complete, so moving, so natural that he was convinced it had to belong to someone else. He darted to the piano at the foot of his bed and began playing the tune before it could fade. To make sense of its structure, he filled in placeholder lyrics that began with the line, “Scrambled eggs, oh my baby how I love your legs.” He spent weeks asking everyone around him, bandmates, friends, and industry insiders, if they had heard the melody before. George Martin, The Beatles’ producer, shook his head. None of the musicians or engineers at Abbey Road recognized it. Even Ringo Starr and George Harrison hadn’t heard it before. Still, Paul hesitated. “I thought someone must’ve written it already,” he recalled. “I had to make sure it hadn’t come from somewhere else.” It felt too perfect to be entirely his. During these uncertain weeks, McCartney carried the tune with him everywhere. He would test it out on friends, cautiously humming the melody and asking, “Does this ring any bells?” No one could name it. There was no trace of it in any existing catalog. Gradually, he came to accept that it had come from his own subconscious, a fully formed gift that arrived in sleep. As The Beatles began work on the album “Help!” in 1965, Paul began refining the lyrics. The humorous “Scrambled Eggs” lines gave way to something more poignant. The opening verse eventually settled on “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away,” and the song took on a tone of heartbreak and loss. Unlike most Beatles songs that featured harmonies or full band arrangements, “Yesterday” was stripped down to Paul’s voice, an acoustic guitar, and a string quartet. It marked a distinct stylistic turn.

July 9, 2025 Williams 0

    London, 1964 — In the early hours of a morning in 1964, Paul McCartney awoke in a small attic bedroom at 57 Wimpole […]