Yesterday Once More (song)

"Yesterday Once More"
Single by The Carpenters
from the album Now & Then
A-side	"Yesterday Once More"
B-side	"Road Ode"
Released	May 16, 1973
Format	7" single
Recorded	1973
Genre	Pop, Soft rock
Length	3:56
Label	A&M 1446
Writer(s)	Richard Carpenter; John Bettis
Producer	Jack Daugherty
The Carpenters singles chronology
"Sing" (1973) "Yesterday Once More" (1973) "Top of the World" (1973)
Now & Then track listing Side one "Sing" "This Masquerade" "Heather" "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" "I Can't Make Music" Side two "Yesterday Once More" "Oldies' Medley" "Fun, Fun, Fun "The End of the World" "Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)" "Dead Man's Curve" "Johnny Angel" "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" "Our Day Will Come" "One Fine Day" "Yesterday Once More (Reprise)"

"Yesterday Once More", written by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis, is a hit song by The Carpenters from their 1973 album Now & Then. Composed in the key of E, "Yesterday Once More" preceded an "Oldies Medley" on the album, consisting of nine songs from the 1960s. At the end of the song a motorcycle engine transitions into the first song of the medley, "Fun, Fun, Fun". The motorcycle was deleted on the version appearing on The Singles: 1969-1973.

The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 on the easy listening chart, becoming their eighth #1 on that chart in four years. It is the Carpenters' biggest selling record worldwide and their best-selling single in the UK, peaking at #2. Richard Carpenter admitted on a Japanese documentary that it is his favorite of all the songs he's written. He has performed an instrumental version at concerts.

According to Cash Box Magazine, on June 2, 1973, "Yesterday Once More" was the highest-debuting single, at #71. By August 4, it had reached #1.^{[citation needed]}

Dionne Warwick, a close friend of The Carpenters, performed it live in Las Vegas the night before Karen Carpenter's untimely death in 1983.

Theme

The lyrics are about remembering youth and listening to music on the radio, feeling alive, and having fun.

Cover versions

• "Hier est près de toi (Sha la la)" by Claude François (France) in 1973, adaptation by Eddy Marnay.

• In 1981, The Spinners recorded the song as a medley with "Nothing Remains the Same". The medley went to #32 on the soul chart.

• The Shaggs, now seen as one of the most important outsider music groups, recorded a cover of the song which later appeared on their 1982 compilation "Shaggs' Own Thing".

• Italo Disco singer Sabrina Salerno covered the song on her 1991 album Over the Pop.

• Redd Kross, a rock/punk band from Hawthorne, California covered the song on the 1994 Carpenters tribute album If I Were A Carpenter. This cover was also released as a double-A side single with Sonic Youth's cover of Superstar to promote the album.

• The British indie rock band Cinerama released a cover of the song as a B-side on their 2001 single "Superman".

• Swedish pop and country singer Kikki Danielsson covered the song on her 2006 album, I dag & i morgon.

Charts

Chart (1973)	Peak position
Canadian Singles Chart	1
Oricon International Singles Chart	1
Oricon (Japanese) Singles Chart	5
UK Singles Chart	2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	2
U.S. Billboard Easy Listening	1
US Cash Box Top Singles	1

See also

• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1973 (U.S.)
• List of RPM number-one singles of 1973