Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday

"Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday"
Single by Stevie Wonder
from the album My Cherie Amour
B-side "I'd Be a Fool Right Now"
Released September 30, 1969
Format Vinyl record (7" 45 RPM)
Recorded 1967
Genre Pop, R&B, Soul
Length 3:06
Label Motown
Writer(s) Ron Miller, Bryan Wells
Producer(s) Harvey Fuqua, Johnny Bristol
Stevie Wonder singles chronology
"My Cherie Amour"
(1969)
"Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday"
(1969)
"Never Had a Dream Come True"
(1970)

"Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" is a 1969 soul song written by Ron Miller and Bryan Wells, released by American Motown singer-songwriter-musician Stevie Wonder on the album My Cherie Amour. The song continued Wonder's success on the pop charts. It reached #7 on the pop singles chart and become Wonder's ninth Top 10 single of the 1960s. The single fared even better on the UK singles chart where it reached #2 in December 1969, and at that time, it was Wonder's biggest UK hit.

Stevie recorded also an Italian version with the title "Solo te, solo me, solo noi" (Only you, only me, only us). The song was later reworked by Jennifer Rush on her 1985 Movin' album. This unusual, electronic version became well known in Europe, particularly Germany where it reached No. 1 for 14 weeks.

Background

The song had been first recorded, in 1966, by blue-eyed Motown soul singer Chris Clark.[1]

At the time the song was released, Wonder was going through some vocal problems and was required to wait before recording a song. Due to this, instead of making Wonder record new ones, they decided to release songs that he had recorded years earlier, and this song was one of them (it was recorded two years earlier)

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1969–70) Peak
position
Australia[2] 11
Canada 10
UK 2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 7
U.S. R&B (Billboard)[3] 5
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 9

Year-end charts

Chart (1969) Rank
Australia[2] 91
Canada[4] 47
UK[5] 46
U.S. (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual)[6] 75
U.S. R&B (Billboard)[3] 53

Personnel

Covers

This track was covered by the disco band Boystown Gang and by jazz saxophonist Houston Person.

References

  1. "Stevie Wonder Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday". whosampled.com. 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  2. 1 2 Steffen Hung. "Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  3. 1 2 "1969: The Top 100 Soul/R&B Singles". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  4. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  5. "Top 100 1969 - UK Music Charts". Uk-charts.top-source.info. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  6. Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.


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