About the song
Background
- Songwriters: Richard Carpenter (music) and John Bettis (lyrics) crafted this soft-rock masterpiece.
- Release: The song appeared on the Carpenters’ 1975 album Horizon and was released as a single the same year.
- Reception: “Only Yesterday” was a major hit, reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming the Carpenters’ eleventh number one on the Adult Contemporary charts.
Lyrics
The lyrics express a poignant nostalgia for lost youth and a sense of time slipping away. Here are some notable lines:
- “When I was young I’d listen to the radio / Waitin’ for my favorite songs” – Evokes a simpler childhood time of carefree enjoyment.
- “Only yesterday when I was young / So many happy songs were waiting to be sung” – Expresses wistfulness for lost innocence and potential.
- “Long ago and far away / I have lost my way” – Suggests a feeling of being adrift and disconnected from the past.
- “They’re singing songs of love, but not for me / A love that used to be” – Hints at a lost love that lingers in the memory.
Themes
- Nostalgia: The song’s primary theme is a bittersweet longing for the past and the awareness of lost youth.
- Time: It reflects on how quickly time passes and how the experiences of yesterday can seem distant and unreachable.
- Regret and Longing: There’s a subtle undercurrent of sadness and regret for missed opportunities or lost loves.
- The Inevitability of Change: The lyrics acknowledge that life changes, and the past can only be revisited in memory.
Overall
“Only Yesterday” is a beautifully melancholic ballad that taps into the universal experience of time passing. Its gentle melody and Karen Carpenter’s emotive vocals amplify the poignant message. The song perfectly captures the mixture of sweetness and sadness that arises from reflecting on the past.
Video
Lyrics
After long enough of being aloneEveryone must face their share of lonelinessIn my own time, nobody knewThe pain I was goin’ throughAnd waitin’ was all my heart could do
Hope was all I had until you cameMaybe you can’t see how much you mean to meYou were the dawn breaking the nightThe promise of mornin’ lightFilling the world surroundin’ meWhen I hold you
Baby, baby, feels like maybeThings will be all rightBaby, baby, your love’s made meFree as a song, singin’ forever
Only yesterday when I was sad and I was lonelyYou showed me the way to leave the past and all its tears behind meTomorrow maybe even brighter than todaySince I threw my sadness awayOnly yesterday
I have found my home here in your armsNowhere else on earth I’d really rather beLife waits for us, share it with meThe best is about to beAnd so much is left for us to seeWhen I hold you
Baby, baby, feels like maybeThings will be all rightBaby, baby, your love’s made meFree as a song, singin’ forever
Only yesterday when I was sad and I was lonelyYou showed me the way to leave the past and all its tears behind meTomorrow maybe even brighter than todaySince I threw my sadness awayOnly yesterday (only yesterday, only yesterday)
Only yesterday when I was sad and I was lonelyYou showed me the way to leave the past and all its tears behind me