1965 Hit Was Called 'Scrambled Eggs' for Months

The Beatles' "Yesterday," one of the band's seminal classics, is revered for its gentle yet heart-wrenching lyrical storytelling of a narrator reminiscing about his lost love - but its lyrics came after a long period of struggle for Paul McCartney.

"Yesterday," while credited to the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership, was written entirely by Paul McCartney. Additionally, in a first for the Fab Four, the song was also the first Beatles song not to feature the other Beatles, comprised of just McCartney on vocals and acoustic guitar, along with a string quartet arranged by the band's producer, George Martin.

Perhaps it was this new venture for the young artist, just 22 years old at the time of recording, that made McCartney doubt his own songwriting talents. A concern that was brought on because the song came to him with ease - so easily, in fact, that it arrived in his sleep.

"I woke up with a lovely tune in my head," McCartney said in an interview for Barry Miles in the authorised 1998 biography Many Years From Now (via Biography). "I thought, ‘That's great, I wonder what that is?'"

The song was written while the Beatles worked on their second feature film, Help!, which McCartney would divide his time with, along with staying with his then-girlfriend, Jane Asher, and her parents, at London's exceptionally wealthy area of Wimpole Street, Marylebone.

"There was an upright piano next to me, to the right of the bed by the window. I got out of bed, sat at the piano, found G, found F sharp minor 7th – and that leads you through then to B to E minor, and finally back to E," he continued. "It all leads forward logically. I liked the melody a lot but because I'd dreamed it I couldn't believe I'd written it."

However, it would still be some time before he felt confident coming up with lyrics for the melody. "So, first of all, I checked this melody out, and people said to me, ‘No, it's lovely, and I'm sure it's all yours,' It took me a little while to allow myself to claim it, but then like a prospector I finally staked my claim; stuck a little sign on it and said, ‘Okay, it's mine!'" McCartney told Miles (via The Paul McCartney Project).

"It had no words. I used to call it ‘Scrambled Eggs'." According to the Beatles icon, the original opening lyrics went along the lines of: "Scrambled eggs/Oh my baby how I love your legs/Not as much as I love scrambled eggs."

Additionally, while finishing the song on the set of Help!, the film's director, Richard Lester, threatened to take the piano from him if he didn't come up with any lyrics. "Either finish it or give it up!" McCartney recalled him saying.

Perhaps that final push was what Paul needed to complete the song, now one of the most covered songs of all time. While a sort of early solo project for the artist, "Yesterday" serves as a prime example of the emerging voice of the songwriter, who would later become the most successful in modern music.

As recalled by McCartney, his bandmate, guitarist George Harrison, had a jest that was more profound than the band could've realised at the time. "Blimey, he's always talking about that song. You'd think he was Beethoven or somebody!"

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 28, 2026 at 6:08 PM.