Book claims ‘Yesterday’ not original

The Times of London has reported that Sir Paul McCartney may have subconsciously borrowed the tune and lyrics to “Yesterday” from an earlier song.

The Beatles song, which McCartney has reportedly said came to him one morning in 1965, resembles a ‘50s ballad called “Answer Me,” says pop historian Spencer Leigh, who’s co-authored a new book on the band.

The song, by Gerhard Winkler, Fred Rauch, and Carl Sigman, was a 1953 British hit for Frankie Laine and David Whitfield; “Answer Me” was so popular that versions by both men were on the charts simultaneously that year. In 1954 Nat King Cole covered the song as “Answer Me My Love.”

Leigh’s claim comes in a new book on the Beatles called “The Walrus Was Ringo.” A forthcoming book by Dominic Pedler, “The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles,” concurs with Leigh’s theory.

“To me,” McCartney’s spokesman Geoff Baker told the Times, “the two songs are about as similar as ‘Get Back’ and ‘God Save the Queen.’ ”