Bibek Acharya
Some songs are just destined to be covered again and again. ‘Yesterday’, The Beatles’ classic from the heart and mind of Paul McCartney, is one of those songs. The track has been officially covered well over 2,200 times in all, with most renditions generally feeling as flat as a pancake in comparison to the original. One man, though, was sure to change that, and his name is Elvis Presley.
The two artists have a lot in common. Both found fame and fortune at a relatively young age, both ignited the fire in the bellies of their audiences, both encouraged a frenzy among fans, and most importantly, both revolutionised contemporary music in ways that the world had never seen before. It’s safe to say that without Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney and the Beatles, the musical world as we know it would be very different. How lucky, then, that footage of The King himself performing a cover of the Fab Four emerged online. The song, as is now well documented, came about when McCartney was approached by his late mother during his sleep. The story goes that one night while dreaming, Paul was visited by his recently departed mother, who sang the song to him in a bid to comfort his grief. While the cynics among us can easily screw up our faces at this prospect, I will choose to believe this tale simply because it makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
The Beatles may have followed the frenetic energy of Elvis over ten years later, but their power-pop sensibilities clearly resonated with the King of Rock and Roll. So much so that during some of his performances in Las Vegas in the August of 1969, Elvis would cover not only ‘Yesterday’ but also the anthemic ‘Hey Jude’. The King’s love affair with the Liverpudlian group wouldn’t end there, though, as he also went on to cover three more tracks from The Beatles. Elvis also lent his swashbuckling hips to the songs ‘Something’, ‘Get Back’ and ‘Lady Madonna’ at different points in his career. But for me, you can’t beat the soulful sounds of Presley’s vocal tone on the delicate and immersive lyrics of Paul McCartney.
Take a listen back to Elvis’ medley of ‘Yesterday’ and ‘Hey Jude’ from his Las Vegas show in 1969 below. With that is a video clip of the King singing ‘Yesterday’ as part of the rehearsals for his residency in Sin City just a year later.
