Is "Yesterday" by The Beatles the most copied song?

Question

By "copied" I mean sung by other artists.

Answer 1

Yes, it's the most covered song in the whole of rock.

Wikipedia says:

"According to the Guinness Book of Records, 'Yesterday' has the most cover versions of any song ever written, while BMI asserts that it was performed over seven million times in the 20th century alone. The song remains popular today with more than 3,000 recorded cover versions, the first hitting the United Kingdom top 10 three months after the release of Help!. Some sources still assert that White Christmas by Bing Crosby has more cover versions."

Hope that helps. Some interesting notes about the song:

a. The song was written by Paul McCartney, and the 'working version' was called 'Scrambled Eggs' and ran: 'scrambled eggs, oh, you've got lovely legs' (songwriters often do this, they put in any words that will fit until they get the tune right, then work harder on the lyrics).

b. McCartney claimed he dreamed the melody of 'Yesterday'.

c. 'Yesterday' caused a bit of tension in the The Beatles as it was a pure McCartney song, rather than a collaboration, and was very successful.

d. Personally, I still think the original is better than 95% of the covers I've heard (haven't heard all the covers, though!)

Answer 2

Dig A Pony I've Got A Feeling For You Blue I like the single versions of Across the Universe and Let It Be and it was still hard to choose. Interesting to note this is the only album not to feature Ringo on lead vocals

Answer 3

Well, Elvis did his version, but the track is pretty rare. Boyz II Men did their version in the II album, which is a capella.

Answer 4

Covered you mean. Yes.