Answer Me & Yesterday: The similarities

Just when I thought that Funfare has put a period to the minor controversy about the Beatles’ classic Yesterday, I would get the following very enlightening rejoinder from my favorite salinawit (or translate a song) specialist Pete Lacaba who will have to take over this corner today.

Let’s give Pete an ear:

Your May 10 column, about the Beatles’ Yesterday reminded me of the time when I would sing (kantang la-sing, of course) Nat King Cole’s Answer Me in piano bars, during which I would segue to a couple of lines from Yesterday, or I would sing those lines to the tune of Answer Me. This must have been around 2003 when news about the similarities between Answer Me and Yesterday first came out.

Ganito iyon: “You were mine yesterday... / All my troubles seemed so far away. / Now I need a place to hide away. / Please answer me, my love.”

It was also probably at around this time that I decided to do a salinawit of Answer Me (No. 59 in my chronological compilation). I had already earlier done a salinawit of Yesterday (No. 27).

Below are the notes I attached to Salinawit No. 59 when I e-mailed it to friends and my piano-barkada.

Salinawit Blg. 59: SAGUTIN MO ’KO (Answer Me/Mutterlein). Sa mga kantang pinasikat ni Nat King Cole, isa ito sa matagal nang bahagi ng aking banyo repertoire (ang isa pa ay ang Making Believe You’re Here). Pero ngayon ko na lang nalaman, nang isalin at i-research ko ito, na ang Answer Me ay adaptation din pala ng isang kantang Aleman, ang Mutterlein.

Di pa gaanong nagtatagal, nasa news din ang kanta. Binigyang-pansin kasi ng ilang musicologists ang malaking pagkakahawig ng ilang mahahalagang bahagi ng kantang ito sa ilang bahagi ng Yesterday ng Beatles. May posibilidad na nakaimpluwensiya raw ito, kahit subconsciously, kay Paul McCartney, na sole author ng lyrics. Compare:

Answer Me: “… yesterday, / I believed that love was here to stay, / Won’t you tell me where I’ve gone astray? / Please answer me, my love.”

Yesterday: “Yesterday, / All my troubles seemed so far away. / Now I need a place to hide away. / Oh, I believe in yesterday.”

(Ayon sa Wikipedia, ang working title ni Paul sa Yesterday ay Scrambled Eggs, at ganito originally ang mga unang linya niya: “Scrambled eggs, / Oh, baby, how I love your legs.”)

Narito ang ilang Internet items tungkol sa isyung ito:

• From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3050614.stmbbc.co.uk

Last Updated: Monday, 7 July, 2003, 09:16 GMT 10:16 UK

King Cole ‘influenced’ Beatles hit

Sir Paul said the tune came to him in a dream in 1965

Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney’s hit ballad Yesterday was “influenced” by a Nat King Cole track, music experts have said.

 Sir Paul said in 1965 that he awoke in his London flat with the tune for Yesterday in his head and asked friends if they recognized it.

They said they thought it was his melody and that it had come to him in a dream.

Now, music experts have said the song — which has been covered by more than 2,000 artists and played on the radio at least six million times — have been subconsciously influenced by the song Answer Me.

It was recorded by Frankie Laine, David Whitfield and Nat King Cole.

Musicologist Spencer Leigh told BBC Radio 4’s Today program he did not think Sir Paul had plagiarized the tune, but that it had been an influence on his famous hit.

“I think he would have heard it when he was 10 or 11, he certainly would have known the song.

“McCartney said he woke with this wonderful melody in his head, and he felt it had come from somewhere else,” Mr. Leigh said.

However, Sir Paul’s spokesman told BBC News Online: “To me the two songs are about as similar as Get Back and God Save the Queen.”

The songwriter had originally planned to call the song Scrambled Eggs, but then changed it to Yesterday, giving the song a more sombre, reflective mood.

 The song begins with the line: “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away/Now I need a place to hide away.”

Answer Me has the line: “Yesterday, I believed that love was here to stay, won’t you tell me where I’ve gone astray.”

Mr. Leigh said: “George Martin didn’t point out it was similar [to Answer Me], if he had, I think McCartney would have changed his tune.”

McCartney didn’t hijack the song, but he must have been inspired by it.

• From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yesterday_(song)

Similarities to other songs

In July 2003, British musicologists stumbled upon similarities between the lyric and rhyming schemes of Yesterday and Nat King Cole’s Answer Me, leading to speculation that McCartney had been influenced by the song. McCartney’s publicists denied any resemblance between Answer Me and Yesterday. [23] From the story:

“[Yesterday] begins with the line: ‘Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away/Now I need a place to hide away.’ Answer Me has the line: ‘Yesterday, I believed that love was here to stay, won’t you tell me where I’ve gone astray.’” [23]

Ian Hammond speculated that McCartney subconsciously based Yesterday on Ray Charles’ version of Georgia On My Mind, but closed his article by saying that despite the similarities Yesterday is a “completely original and individual [work].”[3]

In 2006, Italian producer and songwriter Lilli Greco claimed Yesterday to be a cover of a 19th century Neapolitan song called Piccere’ Che Vene a Dicere’. In the same article, Greco claimed that McCartney and Lennon had an “encyclopaedic knowledge” of world music and were particularly fond of Neapolitan songs.[24] Neither Lennon nor McCartney could read sheet music, and the article does not indicate when — or if — McCartney or Lennon heard a performance of the song.

FYI, here are the salinawit versions of the two songs:

Answer Me

Music: Gerhard Winkler

Original German lyrics: Gerhard Winkler and Fred Rauch (Mutterlein)

English Lyrics: Carl Sigman

Answer me, oh, my love,

Just what sin have I been guilty of?

Tell me how I came to lose your love?

Please answer me, sweetheart.

You were mine yesterday.

I believed that love was here to stay.

Won’t you tell me where I’ve gone astray?

Please answer me, my love.

If you’re happier without me,

I’ll try not to care.

But if you still think about me,

Please listen to my prayer.

You must know I’ve been true.

Won’t you say that we can start anew?

In my sorrow now I turn to you.

Please answer me, my love.

* * *

Sagutin Mo ’Ko

Sa himig ng Answer Me (Mutterlein)

Salinawit: Pete Lacaba

Sagutin mo ’ko, irog ko:

Ano ang kasalanan ko sa ’yo?

Pag-ibig mo ay bakit nawala?

Pa’no naging bula?

Kahapon lang, akala ko,

Habang-buhay ang pag-ibig mo.

Saan ako nagkulang sa iyo?

Sagutin mo ’ko, irog.

Kung ngayon ka maligaya,

Matatanggap ko ’yan.

Ang hiling ko lamang, hirang,

Ay dinggin itong dasal.

Ako’y naging tapat sa ’yo,

Sana ay muling ibigin mo.

Maglalakad ako nang paluhod.

Sagutin mo ’ko, irog.

* * *

Yesterday

Words & music: John Lennon & Paul McCartney

Yesterday,

All my troubles seemed 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.

Why she had to go

I don’t know,

She wouldn’t say.

I said something wrong.

Now I long

For yesterday…

Yesterday,

Love was such an easy game to play.

Now I need a place to hide away.

Oh, I believe in yesterday.

* * *

Kahapon Lang

Sa himig ng Yesterday

Salinawit: Pete Lacaba

Kahapon lang

Ay wala akong dinaramdam.

Ngayo’y pasan ko ang mundo

At sugatan ang puso ko.

Biglang-bigla,

Ang pag-ibig ay naging bula,

Kay dilim nitong aking daan.

Kahapon lang ay nasaan?

Ang inibig ko

Nang lubos

Ay wala na.

Di na babalik

Kaylanman

Ang pagsinta…

Kahapon lang,

Ang pag-ibig ay parang laro.

Saan ako ngayon magtatago?

At nasaan ang kahapon lang?