Depending on who you ask and where you get your info, the 1965 hit song “Yesterday” by The Beatles is widely considered to be the most covered song of all time. It makes sense why it’s so loved by other musicians, too. It’s a stunning song in its own right, and it’s also fairly easy to sing. With hundreds of official covers out there, picking the best of the best is no easy task. But we’d have to say these four covers of “Yesterday” by The Beatles are pretty underrated.
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1. Bob Dylan and George Harrison
Is it technically a “cover” of “Yesterday” if one of the members of The Beatles performed it? We’d say so. George Harrison and Bob Dylan’s cover of the song is quite beautiful. And Dylan didn’t think it was that amazing of a song before taking it on.
“If you go into the Library of Congress, you can find a lot better than that,” he once said. “There are millions of songs like ‘Michelle’ and ‘Yesterday’ written in Tin Pan Alley.”
Dylan changed his mind in 1970 when he decided to give the track a spin with none other than George Harrison.
2. Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson
These two outlaw country music icons weren’t afraid to take on something new, especially when it came to different music genres. The pair recorded their cover of “Yesterday” for the album Seashores Of Old Mexico in 1987.
[Get Tickets To See Willie Nelson Live On Tour In 2024]
3. En Vogue
En Vogue was all the rage in the 1990s. The girl group was known for their R&B and dance tunes, so their cover of “Yesterday” by The Beatles was pretty unexpected. Still, it was a stunning rendition of the song that made it to their 1992 album Funky Divas.
4. The Lettermen
The Lettermen were a very popular vocal trio in the 1960s, known for their captivating covers of pop songs. It was only natural that they’d cover “Yesterday” in 1966, and the result sounded somewhat similar to the original Beatles version.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives
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