<P> "Yesterday" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon--McCartney), and first released on the album Help! in the United Kingdom in August 1965 . </P> <P> "Yesterday", with the B - side "Act Naturally", was released as a single in the United States in September 1965 . While it topped the American chart in October the song also hit the British top 10 in a cover version by Matt Monro . The song also appeared on the UK EP "Yesterday" in March 1966 and the Beatles' US album Yesterday and Today, released in June 1966 . </P> <P> McCartney's vocal and acoustic guitar, together with a string quartet, essentially made for the first solo performance of the band . It remains popular today and, with more than 2,200 cover versions, is one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded music . "Yesterday" was voted the best song of the 20th century in a 1999 BBC Radio 2 poll of music experts and listeners and was also voted the No. 1 pop song of all time by MTV and Rolling Stone magazine the following year . In 1997, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame . Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) asserts that it was performed over seven million times in the 20th century . </P> <P> "Yesterday" is a melancholy ballad about the break - up of a relationship . The singer laments for yesterday when he and his love were together, before she left because of something he said . McCartney is the only member of the Beatles to appear on the recording . The final recording was so different from other works by the Beatles that the band members vetoed the release of the song as a single in the United Kingdom, although other artists were quick to do so . It was issued as a single in the US in September 1965 and later released as a single in the UK in 1976 . </P>

Who sang yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away