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Paul McCartney Recalls Embarrassing ‘Yesterday’ Lyric Inspiration: ‘It’s Only in Retrospect You Can Appreciate It’

Paul McCartney talked about an embarrassing interaction with his mom that inspired the bridge on the Beatles' 'Yesterday' on 'A Life in Lyrics' pod.

Casual asides, silly moments, regrettable comments — they all tumble around in a songwriter’s mind and if they’re lucky those incidents are transformed into lyrics that last forever. Paul McCartney has had more than a couple of those, including a very formative one he discussed on the latest episode of his songwriter podcast, “A Life in Lyrics.” “That would be better,” he said, before breaking into the bridge of the song that has been covered more than 2,000 times and wondering if sometimes he “unconsciously” flips scenarios into “girl” lyrics when he’s really thinking about his dead mother.

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