Yesterday

The Beatles (Live 1966)

To my knowledge, "Yesterday" was performed "live" only twice in 1965. Both performances were on television ("Blackpool Night Out" in England and the Ed Sullivan Show in the U.S.) and in both instances, John, George and Ringo left the stage and Paul sang the song to the accompaniment of his acoustic guitar and the studio orchestra. "Yesterday" was not on the Beatles' 11-song set list when they toured the world that year. But in 1966 it was, albeit without the orchestra or the exodus of 75% of the band. The Beatles performed the song as a group: Paul sang and played bass, John played the chords on the electric guitar, lead guitarist George played the 'cello licks from the record, and Ringo drummed throughout, ending with a bar-band flourish. Interestingly enough, they played it a whole tone higher on the road: the record was in F, but in concert they did it in G. The Beatles were a pretty sloppy live act by 1966, and the recording here was pieced together from two different performances, one from Munich and one from Tokyo. Nothing is real.