Seeing things in a different light. Subject: The meaning of the most recorded song, ever.

(Originally Posted on October 8, 2017)

My Goodness, the year’s journey has moved our spinning planet almost to a close so quickly. Here we are in October, the Halloween month. A day where most children and adults can’t stop themselves beaming with excitement over its celebrated door to door sweets tradition for youngsters, and costume parties for all the others.

However, October 31 has left one famous Beatle inside a complete reversal toward festivity, and perhaps many of his devoted fans also morn. Sir James Paul McCartney suffered tragedy at the age of fourteen when his dear mother, Mary, passed away October 31, 1956, shortly after surgery to help stop the spread of discovered breast cancer. An infliction young Paul and brother Mike had no idea mum even progressed with the awful existed disease. Read now exactly in Paul’s own words, his experience as he remembers this horrible time.

“My mum dying when I was fourteen was the big shock in my teenage years. She died of cancer, I learnt later. I didn't know then why she had died.

“My mum wanted us to speak properly and aspired to speak the Queen's English. One of my most guilty feelings is about picking her up once on how she spoke. She pronounced 'ask' with a long 'a' sound. And I said, 'Oh - "aarsk"! That's "ask," mum,' and I really took the piss out of her. When she died, I remember thinking, 'You asshole, why did you do that? Why did you have to put your mum down?' I think I've just about got over it now, doctor.

My mother's death broke my dad up. That was the worst thing for me, hearing my dad cry. I'd never heard him cry before. It was a terrible blow to the family. You grow up real quick because you never expect to hear your parents crying. You expect to see women crying, or kids in the playground or even yourself crying - and you can explain all that. But when it's your dad, then you know something's really wrong, and it shakes your faith in everything. But I was determined not to let it affect me. I carried on. I learnt to put a shell around me at that age. There was none of this sitting at home crying - that would be recommended now, but not then."

Paul continues. "That became a very big bond between John and me, because he lost his mum early on, too. We both had this emotional turmoil which we had to deal with and, being teenagers; we had to deal with it very quickly. We both understood that something had happened that you couldn't talk about - but we could laugh about it because each of us had gone through it. It wasn't OK for anyone else. We could both laugh at death - but only on the surface. John went through hell, but young people don't show grief - they'd rather not. Occasionally, once or twice in later years, it would hit in. We'd be sitting around, and we'd have a cry together; not often, but it was good.” (Quoted from Anthology.)

All through the last 53 years, I’ve been a huge, devoted Beatles fan, yet yesterday I read a comment from one of my posts about Paul’s song titled, “Yesterday” that read, “Yesterday" isn't about a girlfriend...It's about Paul's mother, who died of breast cancer.”

I had never heard such a conclusion of that nature before. At first, the statement just didn’t sit right; it didn’t jell with my hopeless romantic emotions and strengths as a songwriter influenced by my idolized duet composers John & Paul and their approach to original music immersed by love themes. How on earth could anyone twist the lyrics away from lost love heartbreak for the girl of your dreams then proclaim the words spill flowing tears over losing your mother nine years earlier? Impossible I thought. Here is how I answered the above comment––“Interesting approach, (person’s name,) I can clearly see how some of the lyrics might portray losing a mother, however, by the composer singing, "I said something wrong now I long for yesterday" seems to point at a lover jumping to conclusions in a misguided argument with his better half.”

Immediately after I clicked my answered comment to send, I had second thoughts.

I did a little research and still found no substantial promise of any truth concurring out of the mouths of Beatles and inner circle individuals, but let’s take a look at the lyrics closer, and with an open mind, see how remarkable Paul’s words may have honored in tribute, his beloved parent.

Verse 1: Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away. Now it looks as though they're here to stay. Oh, I believe in yesterday.  Okay, in the mind of a fourteen-year-old, troubles usually kept a very low profile. Things like acne, shyness around certain girls he fancied and getting punished for bad school grades couldn’t compete with the end of the world. However, to learn your mother died and your only fourteen is overwhelmingly the onslaught of continuous troubles.

Verse 2: Suddenly I’m not half the man I used to be. There’s a shadow hanging over me. Oh, yesterday came suddenly. Okay, young Paul stood clueless to this diseased condition that distraught his mother, and suddenly, without any warning upon him, she was taken from the young man just starting to sprout out of childhood, who can confess without her guidance and loving assurance, he is half the man he was while under her leadership care.

Bridge: Why she had to go, I don’t know, she wouldn’t say. I said something wrong now I long for yesterday. Okay, again, McCartney family members and friends all agreed young Paul and his brother should stay unprivileged as to the knowledge Mary McCartney indeed agonized from breast cancer and might not recover. Therefore, asking questions why she had to go without her explanations make perfect sense, but the next line is the whole reason I’m writing this article, the same line I commented on as my evidence “Yesterday” is not about Mary McCartney. After all these years, I think this tune may well be about the wonderful mom Paul called his own, and please tell me if it hits you as hard as it did me…I SAID SOMETHING WRONG, NOW I LONG FOR YESTERDAY. What did he say that was so wrong? Here is, in my humble opinion, the answer, and I quote young fourteen-year-old Paul, his first words upon hearing mother had died, “What are we going to do without her money?” Of course, he was referring to her nursing job the household relied on, paycheck to paycheck. Seconds after those ugly, uncalled for words blurted pass his lips, Paul felt vastly ashamed wishing he could take back such a cruel and harmful statement. Hence, he longs for yesterday before he said such a horrible thing.

Verse 3: Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play. Now I need a place to hide away. Oh, I believe in yesterday. Okay, unlike John singing hide your love away, Paul needs a place to hide away, not because he lost a girlfriend, more so, he needs to hide his guilt, unable to face his family and anyone else who thought the selfish remark about his mother’s income reeked with bad taste.  

And there is my take on a new angle for the meaning behind the most recorded song in history and most probable, the future as well.       

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