Yesterday once more Dr-Doctor2004-03-13 15:19:58

Liner notes
from The Singles 1969-1973 written by Digby Diehl
As Richard and Karen began preparing material for their Now & Then album, the United States was in the midst of a '50s and '60s musical revival. Entire radio stations were going oldie, groups not heard from in years were re-emerging. Everywhere you looked, people were digging tunes out of the dust of '50s juke boxes. But as Richard observed, no one had written a song that was really a comment on this nostalgic trend. After coming up with the title and writing music to suit the shing-a-ling-a-ling lyrics of those old '50s backgrounds, Richard turned the rest of the lyric writing over to his partner John Bettis, and Yesterday Once More was born.

Perhaps because "Sha-la-la-la" is a sort of musical language from the oldies revival that is universal, Yesterday Once More became the Carpenters' biggest international hit. During one month the song was No. 1 in Japan, Israel, Venezuela, Belgium, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and England. Naturally, in the U.S.A., home of American Graffiti, Yesterday Once More sold over a million copies and became the eighth gold single.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other Notes
In the notes to the Carpenters: The Compact Disc Collection, Richard Carpenter wrote:

Karen and I introduced an "oldies" medley into our concert show starting the summer of 1972 and it met with such an enthusiastic response we decided to feature a similat medley in our upcoming album. It was around this time that certain radio stations were changing their formats to all "oldies". I thought we should write a song that would reflect this fact and also "set-up" the medley. Yesterday Once More was the result and it became our biggest worldwide hit.



YESTERDAY ONCE MORE
Words & Music by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I was young
I'd listen to the radio
Waitin' for my favorite songs
When they played I'd sing along
It made me smile.

Those were such happy times
And not so long ago
How I wondered where they'd gone
But they're back again
Just like a long lost friend
All the songs I loved so well.

Every Sha-la-la-la
Every Wo-o-wo-o
Still shines
Every shing-a-ling-a-ling
That they're startin' to sing's
So fine.

When they get to the part
Where he's breakin' her heart
It can really make me cry
Just like before
It's yesterday once more.

Lookin' back on how it was
In years gone by
And the good times that I had
Makes today seem rather sad
So much has changed.

It was songs of love that
I would sing to then
And I'd memorize each word
Those old melodies
Still sound so good to me
As they melt the years away.

Every Sha-la-la-la
Every Wo-o-wo-o
Still shines
Every shing-a-ling-a-ling
That they're startin' to sing's
So fine.

All my best memories
Come back clearly to me
Some can even make me cry.

Just like before
It's yesterday once more.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------