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'Yesterday' hit top 10 as cover song before Beatles version

Sir Paul McCartney
Recording artist Paul McCartney performed onstage during "The Night That Changed America: A GRAMMY Salute To The Beatles" at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Jan. 27, 2014 in Los Angeles.
Larry Busacca | Getty Images for NARAS 2014

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Today's Morning Edition music is the song "Yesterday" by the Beatles, which was No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart 50 years ago Monday.

Paul McCartney wrote the song and is the only Beatle to perform on it. He says the melody came to him in a dream, but it took him months to come up with the lyrics.

Until he thought of suitable words, McCartney used placeholder lyrics that began with, "Scrambled eggs, oh my baby how I love your legs..."

When the song was done, the other Beatles didn't want to release it as a single at first because it was so different than their other songs. As a result, Matt Monro's cover version cracked the top 10 before the Beatles' version.