Paul McCartney has revealed the inspiration behind the lyric âI said something wrongâ in the Beatles hit Yesterday.
McCartney said the line may have been subconsciously inspired by a moment when he mocked his mother for sounding âposhâ.
Many assume the lyric, âI said something wrong, now I long for yesterdayâ, is about the break-up of a relationship.
McCartney, however, explained on his A Life in Lyrics podcast that the lyric may actually relate to a conversation in which he embarrassed his mother.
He said: âSometimes itâs only in retrospect you can appreciate it. I remember very clearly one day feeling very embarrassed because I embarrassed my mum.
âWe were out in the backyard and she talked posh. She was of Irish origin and she was a nurse, so she was above street level.
âSo she had something sort of going for her, and she would talk what we thought was a little bit posh. And it was a little bit Welshy as well â she had connections, her auntie Dilys was Welsh.
âI know that she said something like âPaul, will you ask him if heâs going ⦠â
âI went âArsk! Arsk! Itâs ask mum.â And she got a little bit embarrassed. I remember later thinking âGod, I wish Iâd never said thatâ. And it stuck with me. After she died I thought âOh fuck, I really wish ⦠ââ
McCartney wrote the song when he was 24, almost a decade after his mother, Mary, died of cancer.
Yesterday was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1997 and voted the number one pop song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine and MTV in 2000.
The song is also one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded music with 2,200 versions.
McCartney has previously said the death of his mother helped him express his sense of loss.
He said: âIt may be that there is so much tumbled into your youth and your formative years that you canât appreciate it all.
âIâve got a couple of those little things that I know that people would forgive me, because theyâre not big things â theyâre little things â but theyâre little things that I just think, âIf I could just take a rubber, just rub that moment out it would be betterâ.
âAnd when she died, I wonder, âI said something wrongâ, are we harking back to that crazy little thing.
âSo I donât know. Does this happen? Do you find yourself unconsciously putting songs into girl lyrics [about a lost lover] that are really your dead mother? I suspect it might be true. It sort of fits, if you look at the lyrics.â
McCartneyâs podcast explores the inspiration behind the singerâs songwriting with the poet Paul Muldoon over two seasons and 24 episodes.
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
