McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?

Subject: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 01:05 PM

Excerpted from

Times of London

July 06, 2003

Experts claim Paul McCartney subconsciously took the melody for Yesterday from a popular 1950s composition.

Music experts say Sir Paul McCartney subconsciously borrowed the melody of his classic ballad Yesterday from a Nat King Cole record.

The origins of Yesterday, which has been recorded by more than 2,000 artists and played on the radio more than six million times, has always been a mystery -- not least to McCartney himself.

Now musicologists have identified echoes of Answer Me, the 1953 U.K. hit for both Frankie Laine and David Whitfield, which was later covered by Cole.

They say the melodies, the rhythmic phrasing, the musical cadences and even the words strongly resemble each other.

They include: "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as though they're here to stay."

Answer Me has the lines: "Yesterday I believed that love was here to stay, won't you tell me where I've gone astray."

The similarity was spotted by Spencer Leigh, a pop historian who has interviewed McCartney on a program that he hosts on Radio Merseyside.

Leigh explored the links between the songs for a book about the Beatles called The Walrus was Ringo.

Dominic Pedler, who deconstructs songs to show how musicians came to write them, supports the Answer Me theory in his forthcoming book, The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles.

"There are some uncanny similarities: the overlap of lyrics, the multiple rhyming emphasis on words ending with 'ay,' the similar scan of the songs," he said.

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

None of the other Beatles played during the song and would leave McCartney to perform it alone on stage.

Released as a single in the United States it immediately went to Number One.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 01:07 PM

So?

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: X
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 01:19 PM

So?! Because he owes some people some money.

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 01:28 PM

Isn't he dead?

No... wait... that's just his career...

whatever...

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: Cool Beans
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 02:24 PM

Cheez Louise! You want to sue over who owes whom for rhyming day and stay? Somebody send a check to Ira Gershwin's estate: It's very clear/Our love is here to stay/ Mot for a year/ But ever and a day...

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: greg stephens
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 02:29 PM

Wow, shock horror, I shall certainly reappraise the position of the Beatles in pop music history. Still, at least they were the first band to have hairstyles and jackets.

Subject: ADDPOP: Answer Me My Love
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 02:43 PM

I suppose there are some similarities, but I don't think either the tune or lyrics is close enough to "Yesterday" to warrant a charge of plagiarism.
I really like the Nat "King" Cole recording.
Lyrics found at Lyrics World.

---

Answer Me (My Love)

-Artist: Nat King Cole
-peak Billboard position # 6 in 1954
-English Words by Carl Sigman and Music by Gerhard Winkler


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



(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 (you must know)I've been true (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

Answer me, my love


Original lyrics were by Fred Rauch - I imagine it must have been in German. Anybody got 'em?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 03:38 PM

The good thing about folk song is that we've always recognised that songs can change, and grow, and give birth to other songs, without this implying sharp practice.

"The love of money is the root of all evil."

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: X
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 03:55 PM

"Not having money is the root of all evil." ;o)

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: Peter T.
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 06:24 PM

This is ridiculous, the songs are nothing like each other. "Answer Me" is one of Cole's best known songs, and has a completely different style and shape, emphasis and everything. For real plagiarism, try George Harrison's "Something", whose first line is a direct, clear, steal from James Taylor's Something In the Way She Moves (an Apple artist at the time), and known to be such. yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 06:39 PM

Oh, who the hell gives a flying turd? It just doesn't matter.

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: harvey andrews
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 07:08 PM

Peter T and Art......agreed!

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: Peter T.
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 07:30 PM

Always.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: M.Ted
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 10:36 PM

I heard the song, to say that there is no similarity is an understatement--the original German song was apparently titled "Answer Me, My Lord", and was re-written, since "Lord" songs were not then played on the radio--

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 09 Jul 03 - 05:48 AM

The most distinctive thing about "Yesterday" is it's melody - which bears absolutely no similarity to that of "Answer Me". Yes McCartney might have (subconciously or otherwise) borrowed two lines of lyrics, but as the phrasing and emphasis is so different, I think even that's unlikely.

Now if we start looking at Folk Songs . . . . . . . .

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jul 03 - 06:00 AM

Interesting....

Subject: RE: McCartney - Lifted Lyrics?
From: IanC
Date: 09 Jul 03 - 06:34 AM

... GUEST - I think the drift of the above is that it's not.

;-)