The cover Billy Joel said helped take The Beatles’ “seriously”
The Beatles are undeniably one of the best bands the world will ever know and have remained popular for over 60 years. It can be easy to forget that when The Beatles first rose to fame in the early 1960s, they were not always beloved. The Beatles were not respected as the talented musicians and lyricists that we consider them to be today. The Beatles had to work hard to gain respect from critics and musicians alike, and this was not lost on lifelong fan Billy Joel.
The Beatles were looked down upon for their long hair, loud music and working-class accents. Though hysteria surrounded them in the form of screaming fans, not everyone thought they were talented or deserving of such jubilation. Regardless, Beatlemania took off and marked a distinct end to the post-WWII period. The pandemonium that surrounded the Fab Four followed them to the US. Their reputation preceded them, and as such, many still refused to see the Liverpudlians as serious musicians.
It’s a well-known fact that Billy Joel is a serious fan of The Beatles. Joel has cited The Beatles as an inspiration for his own music countless times. When it comes to Beatles lore, Joel is undeniably a great source of intel. Having solidified his own name in rock and roll history, Joel is now able to consider the two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, friends.
Having been a fan of The Beatles since his teenage years, Joel saw firsthand how they were thought of in the early days of their career. Talking to Stereogum in 2022 for McCartney’s 80th birthday, Joel revealed his favourite McCartney song to be ‘Yesterday’ and spoke about how the song afforded The Beatles the opportunity to be taken seriously for their music.
A lone guitar and a singular voice, ‘Yesterday’ was a different style of song for The Beatles. Having been known for their rock and roll, ‘Yesterday’ was a stripped-back and simple song by comparison. This afforded McCartney’s lyrics the opportunity to take centre stage. Joel compares it to the classical music of Scarlatti and states that, like Scarlatti, it is “very simple, very profound. It just cut through everything else.”
Joel says that the cover of ‘Yesterday’ by Ol’ Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra, was instrumental in allowing people to take The Beatles seriously. Sinatra was notorious for disliking new popular music, taking several swipes at the Fab Four when they first came to the US. Sinatra referred to them as “vulgar nincompoops” and “kid singers”. However, it would appear that by 1969, Sinatra would change his tune, covering McCartney’s ‘Yesterday’ for his album My Way.
Having Sinatra’s seal of approval, according to Joel, meant that people who didn’t take The Beatles seriously would think, “This must be a pretty damn great song if Frank is doing it”. Joel believed that Sinatra’s cover of ‘Yesterday’ was “Very significant” in shifting people’s opinions on The Beatles.
‘Yesterday’ has gone on to become the most covered song of all time, according to Guinness World Records. Boasting over 1600 covers, ‘Yesterday’ continues to move listeners and inspire musicians, as it had with a young Billy Joel in 1965. Regardless of the version, ‘Yesterday’ has solidified itself as one of the most beloved breakup ballads for six decades, and I am certain that this will continue for decades, if not centuries, to come.
