Saturday 9: Yesterday

Saturday 9: Yesterday (1965)

Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here.

Chosen because June 18 is Paul McCartney's 80th birthday. 

1) Paul McCartney sings that yesterday all his troubles seemed so far away. Can you recall a time when your life seemed carefree?  When I was a kid with nothing more pressing to do than go to school, go to church, play, and explore the world around me. My family all kept me very sheltered from the unpleasant and difficult things in life.

2) He has always insisted the melody to "Yesterday" came to him in a dream. Did you dream last night?  Science says everyone dreams every night, so I supposed I did...but it's a rarity that I remember any of my dreams.

3) The lyrics were inspired, in part, by the death of Paul's mother when he was 14. Thirteen years later, he named his daughter Mary after her. Are you named after anyone? If you're a parent, did you name your children in honor of anyone?  I'm not named after anyone. My son's middle name is my grandfather's first name, which is spelled Allen, because it was his grandparent's last name. (There is supposed to be some connection to Ethan Allen.)

4) Over the years, Paul has performed on bass, acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards and drums, but not the first instrument he owned: the trumpet. A present from his dad for his 14th birthday, he exchanged the trumpet for a guitar because, "you can't sing while playing the trumpet." Have you more recently a) exchanged a gift, b) donated a gift you didn't want to charity or c) regifted?  I rarely, if ever, exchange anything and I can't remember regifting anything recently so I guess I'll say donated since I've been purging my stuff lately.

5) Paul grew up seeing how much his dad enjoyed placing a bet and then listening to the horse race from his favorite armchair in the living room, so he took his salary from making the film A Hard Day's Night and surprised his father with a racehorse. After father and son proudly watched Drake's Drum win at Liverpool's Aintree Racecourse, the horse retired to Paul's farm in Scotland. If money were no object, what gift would you give a loved one?  I'd pay off our daughter's home or have a big, modern kitchen added on to my mom's house...she has the tiniest kitchen you can imagine and she does all this canning and cooking and baking. It would be nice to give her lots of room to do it.

6) Paul is considered one of the world's wealthiest entertainers, worth an estimated $1.2 billion. This month, as he approaches his 80th birthday, he is winding up a 16-city North American tour, during which he performs 30+ songs in a 2 hour, 40 minute show. If you had all the money you needed, would you continue to work? Or would you kick back and relax?  I would not! I would probably do volunteer work for a cause I care about or maybe dabble in books or antiques as a hobby, but I would definitely not have a job I absolutely, positively had to go to every day.

7) Paul first joined the Beatles when he was recruited into the band by John Lennon. They met as teenagers when Paul showed up at a church picnic where John's band was performing. Paul recalls pedaling over on his bike to hear them, his guitar flung over this back. When did you most recently ride a bike?  Several years ago on vacation...unless you count the exercise bike. I do that a couple of times a week.

8) Paul met his first wife, Linda, at a London club and then again four days later when she was a photographer at a press party for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band. Think about one of your romances. Where did you meet?  I met my husband at work, before that I suppose I met everyone at school or in college at a frat party.

9) TV journalist Barbara Walters played matchmaker for Paul and his current wife, Nancy. During the summer of 2007, when Paul was vacationing in The Hamptons, Barbara repeatedly and intentionally invited them to the same parties and picnics. Have you had any success in a matchmaking scenario -- as either the matchmaker or one of the dates?  I'm the one who put my sister-in-law and her husband together.

Join in the Saturday 9 fun here!