The untold story about Yesterday

BREAKING NEWS:  One of Funfare’s predictions in its annual “Halu-Halong Hula-Hula” published last Tuesday was that Pia Guanio (photo) would get pregnant in 2012. The good news is that, yes, Pia is five weeks pregnant as confirmed by Pia’s manager June Torrejon yesterday. “Positive ang test the other night,” said June. Pia’s husband Steve Mago must be very happy. It will be the couple’s first child.

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Did you know that The Beatles’ Yesterday, said to be the most covered song in history, was initially titled Scrambled Eggs?

I stumbled upon this “untold story” in the Rolling Stone magazine’s Special Collectors Edition featuring The Beatles’ 100 greatest songs, a copy of which was given to me as a gift last Christmas by my friend Raoul Tidalgo.

The mag is dated Nov. 24, 2010 but does it matter? Any Beatlemaniac (like this one) would love to include it in his collection even if it were dated ages ago.

There’s a story about and behind each of the 100 Beatles songs. I’m sharing the one about Yesterday since it happens to be one of my favorites because of its simple “sing-able” melody and haunting lyrics  Yesterday all my troubles seem so far away. Now it looks as though they’re here to stay. Oh I believe in yesterday. Suddenly I’m not half the man I used to be. There’s a shadow hanging over me. Oh yesterday came suddenly…

I first heard the song when I was in college and I hummed it all the time  while doing my homework, rushing to school, taking a bath, lazying around at the dorm and especially when I was feeling blue.

Would it have sounded the same if it were titled, uhm, Scrambled Eggs?

The song’s main writer was Paul McCartney, one of the only two surviving Beatles (the other is drummer Ringo Starr), who recorded it on June 14 and 17, 1965, and released it on Sept. 13 the same year.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn from the Rolling Stone mag that the song, still called Scrambled Eggs, began in a dream.

Recalled McCartney, “I fell out of bed. I had a piano by my bedside, and I must have dreamed it because I tumbled out of bed and put my hands on the piano keys and I had a tune in my head. It was just all there, a complete thing. I couldn’t believe it. It came too easy.”

According to the story, afraid that he might have unconsciously plagiarized a melody he had heard somewhere else, McCartney shelved the song for months but he would strum a few bars every now and then and let Starr and George Martin (an original Beatle member who eventually dropped out) listen to them. The late John Lennon was quoted as saying, “The song was around for months and months before we finally completed it.”

I wonder how the song would have sounded if the line “scrambled eggs/Oh, my baby, how I love your legs” was included in the final copy which McCartney completed while on a holiday with his then girlfriend, actress Jane Asher, eventually “creating a frank poem of regret that he has called ‘the most complete song I have ever written.’”

The story didn’t say how the title Scrambled Eggs was changed to Yesterday.

After experimenting on what instrument to accompany the song with (guitars, drums, a string quartet or whatever, finally deciding that a piano should be “it”), the Fab Four buckled down to recording the song said to have “captured the Beatles’ inventive spirit, opening the door to a willingness to experiment with new sounds.”

Added the story, “Yesterday signaled to the world that the Beatles  and rock & roll  had made a sudden leap from brash adolescence to literate maturity.”

Still, the guys were not sure how the public would react to the song, so they didn’t release it as a single in UK, with McCartney saying, “We were a little embarrassed by it. We were a rock & roll band.”

The rest is history.

Released in the US, Yesterday instantly went to No. 1 and soon, it won the heart of the whole world, until everybody was singing it… up to this very day. It was recorded more than 2,500 times, covered by several singers including Ray Charles, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

Okay, all together now:

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play. Now I need a place to hide away. Oh I believe in yesterday.

What’s Up?

From election lawyer Romy Macalintal, reacting to Funfare’s item about Asiong Salonga last Wednesday: Who’s the better Asiong Salonga, Former Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada or his nephew Laguna Gov. E.R. Ejercito? Well, there is no such thing as a better imitation. The original will always shine to overpower the facsimile. Erap was the better Asiong. His eye contact, movements (however slight) and body language were all there justifying his much-deserved FAMAS Best Actor award. I still remember how, during our younger days, I admired Erap’s portrayal of Asiong Salonga that I even predicted to my friends he would be the Best Actor for his very excellent performance. My wife and I watched the new Asiong movie. While Gov. E.R. also showed his talent in acting, I would still say that Erap as Asiong and Vic Diaz as Totoy Golem together were really unbeatable by Gov. E.R. and John Regala (Best Supporting Actor). But I extend my congratulations to Gov. E.R. for reviving the movie for the new generation and for imparting the lesson that indeed crime does not pay at ang nabubuhay sa baril ay sa baril din * namamatay.

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Oyo & Kristine’s firstborn

Here’s the photo sent to Funfare of Ondrea Bliss, the first child of Oyo Boy Sotto and wife Kristine Hermosa. The baby was born last Dec. 26, weighing 5.9 lbs. The couple was married last January on a beach in Batangas.

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