The new fantasy movie, Yesterday, is about a world where no one knows The Beatles' songs except one guy, Jack, who uses them to become famous.
The soundtrack features fifteen classic Beatles song — here's an "I did not know that!" fact about each of them:
1. Paul McCartney composed the melody of "Yesterday" in his sleep.
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When he woke up, he immediately went to the piano and found the chords to the tune in his head. He then spent the following months playing the song for everyone he met, and asking them if they'd heard it before as he was worried it was some old song caught in his subconscious mind and not a song he dreamt up. Eventually, when enough people said they'd never heard it, he accepted it was his!
2. The McCartney classic "Let It Be" was also inspired by a dream, one where Paul's deceased mother appeared to him.
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One night, when the band was having a lot of internal troubles, Paul dreamt of his mother who passed away of breast cancer when he was 14. In the dream, she counseled him not to worry so much about the band's problems and to "Let it be."
3. John Lennon only wrote one line of "I Saw Her Standing There," but without that one line it probably wouldn't have become the classic it is a today.
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When Paul finished writing the song, he played it for John with its original opening line of "She was just seventeen/Never been a beauty queen." John changed it to "She was just seventeen/you know what I mean," which charged the song with a sexual energy teenagers responded to.
4. "Something" was the first Beatles' song written by George Harrison to reach #1, but when Frank Sinatra performed it in concert he introduced it as "my favorite Lennon/McCartney song."
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Ol' Blue Eyes also added a Sinatra-ism to his version, singing: "Stick around, JACK, it might show..."
5. Harrison's other chart topper with The Beatles, "Here Comes The Sun," was written in the garden of the man his wife would eventually leave him for.
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The man was none other Eric Clapton, who was great friends with Harrison (and even played lead guitar on The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at George's request). Interestingly, despite the love triangle drama, George and Eric would remain life-long friends, with George even saying, "I'd rather she be with him than some dope."
(The video above is of George performing the song at 1971's The Concert for Bangladesh.)
6. "Carry That Weight" is one of the few times all four Beatles sang in unison on a track — and certainly the most prominent example.
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You can hear the singing quartet on the "Boy, you gotta carry that weight!" chorus, with Ringo perhaps most audible!
7. "The Long and Winding Road" may have been a #1 hit, but Paul hated the recording of his song so much that — when he sued to dissolve The Beatles as a legal entity — he cited it as one of the reasons he wanted out.
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Paul was so upset because John and then Beatles' manager Allen Klein (who was hired against Paul's wishes) gave the song and the rest of the recordings that would become the Let It Be album to producer Phil Spector to prepare for release. Spector slowed down the recording of "The Long and Winding Road," added lots of strings and choir singers, and left a rough bass track full of mistakes by Lennon in the final mix instead of calling in regular bassist Paul to fix it — despite the fact Paul lived just around the corner from the studio.
(The video above is an understated live version of the song by Paul more in-line with his original vision of the song.)
8. If Paul's father had his way, the famous "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" in "She Loves You" would have been "Yes, yes, yes!"
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After John and Paul played their latest co-composition on acoustic guitars in the living room of the McCartney home, Paul's dad Jim suggested the change to "Yes, yes, yes!" because he thought there were enough "Americanisms" in songs.
9. The title of "A Hard Day's Night" came from Ringo, who, after a long day at the studio, walked outside saying, "It's been a hard day's..." and then, upon noticing it was nighttime, added, "...night."
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Inspired, John and Paul then wrote the song. Other songs inspired by "Ringoisms" include "Eight Days A Week" and "Tomorrow Never Knows."
10. While John and Paul wrote nearly 200 songs together, "In My Life" is the only one with significant disagreement over its authorship.
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John said in a 1980 interview that while Paul contributed to the middle eight, the song was almost exclusively his. Paul, however, remembers composing the melody after John showed him his completed lyrics.
Recently, a mathematics professor analyzed The Beatles' entire catalogue and determined there is only a .018% chance Paul wrote the song.
11. The Beatles actually re-recorded their smash "I Want To Hold Your Hand" for the German market. It was entitled "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand."
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This was early in The Beatles' career, and their record label didn't think they could have a hit in Germany unless they sang the song in German. The Beatles didn't speak German, but sang a phonetic translation of the lyrics.
12. Paul's "Hey Jude" originally began as "Hey Jules," and was intended to comfort John's son, Julian, after John left Julian's mother for Yoko Ono.
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Interestingly, while Paul wrote the song about Julian, John thought the song was written about him. To John's ears, the line "You were made to go out and get her" referred to him and Yoko.
13. Paul played drums on "Back in the U.S.S.R." instead of Ringo, because Ringo had temporarily quit the band during the sometimes contentious sessions for The White Album.
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With Ringo gone, Paul played drums on this track and "Dear Prudence." Ringo did eventually play drums on "Back in the U.S.S.R," though, backing The Beach Boys when they covered it at their July 4th concert in Washington D.C. in 1984 (seen above).
14. The iconic, up-tempo piano intro to "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" was played by John who hated the song. After many days of struggling to record of the song, he showed up at the studio high and pounded the keys to get out his aggression.
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Funnily enough, John's stoned and frustrated intro set just the right tone for the song, and helped the band finally figure out the song's arrangement!
(The video above is of a 76-year-old Paul playing the song last year at his Grand Central Station gig.)
15. The John-penned "All You Need Is Love" premiered on the first live, international satellite television production ever, seen by somewhere between 400-700 million people worldwide.
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In 1967, the technology to share a television feed worldwide was brand new, so to celebrate, 19 nations participated in the Our World television program. The Beatles were chosen to represent England and performed live at Abbey Road Studios surrounded by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Graham Nash, and other celebrities.
(The video above is a cool, short documentary on how the program — and groundbreaking technology — came together.)