E major · Camelot 12B · 86 BPM
Yesterday Once More
by Carpenters
- 86
- BPM
- E major
- Key
- 12B
- Camelot
- 26
- Danceability
- 70
- Acousticness
Richard Carpenter and John Bettis wrote "Yesterday Once More" during the sessions for Carpenters' 1973 album Now & Then, and the song grew into the centerpiece of the record. Its theme was reminiscence, looking back at the songs of a generation that had passed. On the album, it ran straight into a long medley of eight covers of 1960s tunes, framed as a faux oldies radio program, and that entire sequence filled the B-side of the LP. The duo, siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter, built their sound on Karen's contralto voice over Richard's arrangements.
The single became a major hit. It peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, held off the top spot by Jim Croce's "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", and marked the duo's ninth top-ten entry and fifth single to stall at number 2. On the easy listening chart it reached number 1, their eighth chart-topper there in four years. It was also their best-selling single in the UK, where it peaked at number 2, and it became their biggest-selling record worldwide. Cash Box reported it as the highest-debuting single of June 2, 1973 at number 71, and by August 4 it had climbed to number 1.
Richard Carpenter later said, in a Japanese documentary, that it was his favorite of all the songs he had written. He performed an instrumental version of it at concerts.
Yesterday Once More runs at 86 BPM, the tempo of boom-bap hip-hop, reggae and slow R&B. In classical terms it sits in andante territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.79 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 698 ms. It is in E major, Camelot 12B, which shares its notes with C# minor and mixes cleanly with A major and B major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.