The Beatles: "Yesterday and Today" Quiz

Answer: "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver"

Both "Yesterday and Today" and "Revolver" were released in 1966, with the latter being released in August 1966, two months after "Yesterday and Today". "Rubber Soul", "Help!", and "Beatles VI" were all released in 1965, "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Magical Mystery Tour" were both released in 1967, and the White Album was released in 1968. All of these are U.S. release dates. "Beatles VI" was solely a U.S. album containing songs included on the U.K. album "Beatles for Sale", a couple songs from the U.K. version of "Help!" and a couple of singles.

Answer: The butcher cover

The original album cover featured a photo of the Beatles wearing butcher coats with dolls parts and raw meat strewn about. Taken by Australian photographer Robert Whitaker, the photo was actually part of a triptych which also included a photo of a woman bowing in front of the Beatles who were holding a string of sausages and a photo of George hammering long nails into John's head.

Although Capital Records president Alan Livingston claimed that Paul told him that the butcher cover was the Beatles' statement on the Vietnam War, Whitaker disputed this, stating that the images were entirely his idea.

He said it was a "satirical commentary on the Beatles' fame, inspired by the German surrealist Hans Bellmer's images of dismembered dolls and mannequin parts".

Answer: Paperback Writer

Part of the reason that the controversy of the album cover took the Beatles by surprise was that the photo had already appeared in public, albeit in the U.K., without an uproar. The ad appeared three times in different magazines, with one including the title, "BEATLES: WHAT A CARVE-UP!" The single "Paperback Writer"/"Rain" was released in May 1966 and reached number one in numerous countries including Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the U.S. and the U.K. "Yesterday and Today" was released three weeks later with between 250,000 to 750,000 copies (estimates vary) being printed with the butcher cover.

A small number of those were released as advanced copies to disc jockeys and music reviewers, and immediate complaints about the cover resulted in the albums being recalled.

Answer: George Harrison

George Martin said that the album cover was his first real disagreement with the band: "I thought it was disgusting and in poor taste... it suggested that they were madmen, which they were, but not in that way". George Harrison agreed with Martin, but he decided to go along with the group: "I thought it was gross, and I also thought it was stupid. Sometimes we all did stupid things, thinking it was cool or hip when it was naïve and dumb, and that was one of them.

But again, it was a case of being put in a situation where one is obliged, as part of a unit, to cooperate. So we put on those butchers' uniforms for that picture." He later maintained however that the album cover was "the definitive Beatles collectible". Paul and John were both enthusiastic; Paul stated that, "It didn't seem too offensive to us.

It was just dolls and a lot of meat. I don't really know what he [the photographer] was trying to say, but it seemed a little more original than the things the rest of the people were getting us to do". John added, "My original idea for the cover was better - decapitate Paul". Ringo later laughed about it during an interview, "It seemed like a good idea at the time".

Answer: Paul McCartney

Both versions of the "Yesterday and Today" album covers turned up in lists of "Paul is dead" clues. The original cover was supposed to indicate Paul's grisly death and the second cover meant that Paul was in a box six-feet-underground. The second cover photo, known as "the trunk cover" was also taken by Robert Whitaker and was shot in the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein's office.

After the album had been recalled, several thousand copies of the original cover were destroyed, but it was eventually decided that it would be more economical to just paste the new photo on the old cover.

These versions became known as "second state butcher covers" and could be identified by an upside-down black triangle that appears near Ringo's elbow; the triangle is from the black turtleneck that Ringo wore in the original photo.

There are also the original "first state butcher covers" floating around, including some known as the "Livingston butchers", which were from a box of the original album covers that Capital president Alan Livingston had taken home; these were sold by his son twenty years later.

Answer: If I Needed Someone

The song wasn't released as a single by the Beatles, but the Hollies released it in December 1965, reaching number 20 in the U.K, making it George's first chart hit as a songwriter. Both George and John reportedly dismissed the Hollies' version, setting off a bit of a controversy between the two bands. George's inspiration for the song was his soon-to-be wife Pattie Boyd, the muse for other songs such as Eric Clapton's "Layla" and "Wonderful Tonight". Clapton later performed "If I Needed Someone" at the "Concert for George" held in 2002, a year after George's death.

Other artists who covered the song include James Taylor, Type O Negative, and Roger McGuinn.

Answer: What Goes On

Like "Act Naturally", "What Goes On" had a country twang to it. The song was originally written by John Lennon in the pre-Beatles years and was recorded as a demo in 1963 as a possible follow-up to "Please Please Me". When the song was revisited for the "Rubber Soul" sessions, John stated that "Ringo and Paul wrote a new middle-eight together when we recorded it." In a 1966 interview, Ringo was modest about his work on the song: "I contributed about five words to 'What Goes On.' I haven't done a thing since."

Answer: Yesterday

Although credited to Lennon/McCartney, Paul wrote the song himself and was the only Beatle to perform on the recording, playing acoustic guitar accompanied by a string quartet. The single was a massive hit, reaching number one in numerous countries and was nominated for Song of the Year at the 1966 Grammys but lost to Tony Bennett's "The Shadow of Your Smile".

The song generated a lot of cover versions, so much so that in 1986, "Guinness World Records" declared it to be the most covered song with over 1600 versions, and by 2003, Chris Ingham's "Rough Guide to the Beatles" declared the number to be over 2500 versions.

When the song was first recorded, producer George Martin asked Beatles' manager Brian Epstein if they should release the song as a Paul McCartney song rather than a Beatles' record, but Epstein wouldn't hear of it: "No, whatever we do we are not splitting up The Beatles...This is The Beatles - we don't differentiate". Years later, John stated: "I sat in a restaurant in Spain and the violinist insisted on playing 'Yesterday' right in my ear.

Then he asked me to sign the violin. I didn't know what to say so I said, 'OK,' and I signed it...One day he's going to find out that Paul wrote it...But I guess he couldn't have gone from table to table playing 'I Am the Walrus'".

Answer: Day Tripper

Song-writing credits for "Day Tripper" have frequently been credited solely to John although he claimed in a 1972 interview, "I think Paul helped with the verse". Paul stated that the song was written at John's house in 1965: "That was a co-written effort; we were both there making it all up but I would give John the main credit. Probably the idea came from John because he sang the lead, but it was a close thing. We both put a lot of work in on it." The meaning of the song varied depending on the interview.

In 1970, John claimed: "It was a drug song. In a way, it was a day tripper - I just liked the word...I've always needed a drug to survive. The (other Beatles) too, but I always had more, I always took more pills and more of everything, 'cause I'm more crazy".

In 1980, he changed his tune: "It's just a rock'n'roll song. Day trippers are people who go on day trips, right? Usually on a ferryboat, or something. But the song was, kind of, 'You're a weekend hippie.' Get it?" The song was released as a double a-side single with "We Can Work it Out", and three promotional videos were released of the song, so that the group wouldn't need to make as many studio appearances.

Answer: Nowhere Man

"Nowhere Man" was released as a single in the U.S. and Canada in February 1966, reaching number three in the U.S. and number one in Canada. John stated that he wrote the song about himself when he was having a bit of writer's block: "I'd spent five hours that morning trying to write a song that was meaningful and good, and I finally gave up and lay down.

Then 'Nowhere Man' came, words and music... as I lay down...So letting it go is what the whole game is. You put your finger on it, it slips away, right?" As to whether Paul contributed to the song, Paul claimed: "It ["Nowhere Man"] was really an anti-John song, written by John... I maybe helped him with a word here or there, but he'd already got most of it".

The song appeared in "Yellow Submarine" referring to character Jeremy Hillary Boob as the "Nowhere Man".