THE ESSENTIAL VIDEOS
1 Yesterday
Year: 1965 Album: Help!
DIRECTOR: TIM KILEY
STYLE POINTS After a brief introduction from George Harrison (as the audience’s screams fade for a moment), Paul McCartney performs a close-up, solo acoustic version of his poignant song, smiling occasionally through the renewed screams. Let’s call it one of the earliest-ever videos in the simple filmed-performance style.
FUN FACT “Scrambled eggs/Oh my baby how I love your legs.” Not quite as meaningful, lyrically, as the opening lines of “Yesterday,” but those were the nonsensical words Paul tossed in to remember the melodic phrasing once the tune first came to him. As to his performance of the song on the Sullivan show, Paul later recalled, “I had to do ‘Yesterday’ on my own; I’d always had the band with me. So I was standing there—‘Come on, get it together, it’s OK’—and the floor manager said, ‘You nervous?’ I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘You should be. There’s 73 million people watching.’”
2 Day Tripper
Year: 1965 Album: Yesterday and
