Paul McCartney Admits ‘Yesterday’ Lyrics Were Inspired by His Mother

Paul McCartney has long said the lyrics of "Yesterday" weren't inspired by his late mother. However, the icon finally admitted that they, perhaps, were subconsciously inspired by his mother, Mary.

He touched on this topic in the latest episode of his podcast McCartney: A Life in Lyrics. Sir Paul said about the lyrical inspiration behind the classic song, "But the more you think about it, ‘Why’d she have to go? I don’t know, she wouldn’t say.’ Losing your mother to cancer, no one said anything. We didn’t know what it was at all."

Mary McCartney died in October 1956 from complications following a breast cancer surgery. Paul McCartney was only 14.

"Yesterday" is considered one of the greatest songs of all time. Nevertheless, not everyone is a fan of the tune.

In January, Classic Rock published a list titled "The 10 Worst Beatles Songs."

Among the songs featured on the list were "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Revolution 9." Number one, with quite the bullet, on the list was "Yesterday." Below is part of the reasoning for the unexpected ranking:

" ... After enduring the 'Help!' original for over half a century – not to mention the 2000-plus cover versions – all I hear is a sickly, mawkish, ubiquitous, unflushable turd. And what really sticks in my craw is that back in 2012, the BBC calculated that Yesterday had generated some £19.5 million in royalty payments."

Interestingly, this list was published on the Classic Rock website with no author byline or dateline. This is very unusual for the outlet's website and most websites, in general. Call it a hunch/speculation, but it wouldn't be shocking if there was originally an author byline, but the author of this Beatles list received some intense messages.

Sending threatening messages to an author about their opinion pieces is awful and inexcusable. At the same time, any writer needs to brace themselves for the absolute worst when releasing any kind of list, ranking or opinion piece. This is especially the case when they make rather incendiary comments, like saying "Yesterday" is the worst song by the Beatles.

Even Maxwell and his silver hammer would agree that "Yesterday" isn't one of the Beatles' worst songs.

If Paul McCartney retired from music after the Beatles broke up, no one would blame him. How do you follow up nearly a decade of being in a band that changed music, changed culture, and maybe changed the world?

But McCartney clearly had a lot of fuel left in the tank. In the decades since, he's been a formidable force in music: he dominated radio in the '70s with Wings, he was ubiquitous on MTV in the early days of the cable channel and has collaborated with Kanye West and Rihanna, the surviving members of Nirvana, Diana Krall, David Gilmour, George Michael, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Elvis Costello, among others. He's delivered classic theme songs for Cameron Crowe and James Bond, and besides recording scores of rock and pop albums, he's also composed classical music and done experimental electronic music under the name The Fireman.

He continues to record and release new music at a surprising pace, as if he still has something to prove. During the pandemic, he returned to true "solo" artist mode, recording all of the instruments by himself (with the exception of one song, "Slidin'," which was started during the sessions for the previous album). But whether he's recording all by himself, with his longtime backing band, or collaborating with other big-name artists, it's always been interesting to follow his career. You never know when he's going to release another classic. He's been cranking them out, after all, for over six decades.

Now in his 80s, Sir Paul is amazingly still steadily touring. He recently announced a slate of tour dates in South America, Europe and his in native U.K. He still loves to perform live, still sounds great and continues to be a massive draw. Why wouldn't he keep it going until the wheels fall off?

It was tough to narrow it down, but here are the ones that we think are Paul's best post-Beatles songs.