3 of the Most Nostalgic Songs From 1965 That I Still Listen to Today

The songs in 1965 evoke a certain sense of reminiscing and wishing for earlier, simpler times, even if you were born decades later. The three songs all came out in 1965 and will always evoke a feeling of nostalgia.

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“Yesterday” by the Beatles

There likely isn’t a more nostalgic song, from any era, than “Yesterday” by the Beatles.  The song is credited as written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, although Lennon later said it was all McCartney.

“The worst thing for John was that he didn’t write ‘Yesterday,’” McCartney maintains. “I did, and he would get really quite biffed because you would be in New York and the pianist would go and hum the song. That would annoy him.”

“Yesterday” appears on Help!, their fifth studio album. One of the Beatles’ biggest hits, the song says, “Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away / Now it looks as though they’re here to stay / Oh, I believe in yesterday / Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be / There’s a shadow hanging over me. / Oh, yesterday came suddenly.”

“Yesterday” is reportedly the most-covered song of all time, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

“The Sound Of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel

Simon & Garfunkel’s first No. 1 hit, “The Sound Of Silence” is on both Simon & Garfunkel’s freshman Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. and sophomore Sounds Of Silence records. The song is written by Paul Simon, one-half of the duo, along with Art Garfunkel.

“The Sound Of Silence” says, “In restless dreams I walked alone / Narrow streets of cobblestone / ‘Neath the halo of a streetlamp / I turned my collar to the cold and damp / When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light / That split the night / And touched the sound of silence.”

“I Got You Babe” by Sonny & Cher

“I Got You Babe” is a feel-good, sing-along song that is on Sonny & Cher’s sophomore album, Look At Us. Written by Sonny Bono, “I Got You Babe” is the duo’s first No.1. single.

A song about only needing each other, “I Got You Babe” says, “They say our love won’t pay the rent / Before it’s earned, our money’s all been spent / I guess that’s so, we don’t have a plot / But at least I’m sure of all the things we got / Babe / I got you babe I got you babe.”

Perhaps ironically, Cher didn’t like “I Got You Babe” at first. It remains one of the biggest hits of their career together.

Photo by Mark and Colleen Hayward/Redferns