What the movie “Yesterday” gets wrong about music, and the Beatles

Songs and performers are inextricably linked

Yesterday Overview: Where I spoil the mess out of the movie.

Pretty much as much as the promos do.

You likely know most of the story: Jack Malik wakes up from a bike vs bus accident (prompted by a worldwide power outage) to discover that he’s lost his front teeth. Then things get weird.

Just another failed singer/songwriter, Jack was resigned to amusing his friends and filling lonely evenings with his capable covers and modest original songs. Gifted a new guitar after his accident, he plays “Yesterday” for his friends. They respond with the stunned silence that accompanies moving artistic performances.

Shocked by their reaction, Jack insists the song was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. His friends don’t know the names, and look at him quizzically when he talks about the Beatles.

While we must consider that the movie is set in Lowestoft, on the opposite side of the UK from Liverpool, it is still improbable that his friends would not have known of the Beatles. Thus we are transported into…