| Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday | |
| Cover: | yestermeyesteryouyesterday.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Stevie Wonder |
| Album: | My Cherie Amour |
| B-Side: | I'd Be a Fool Right Now |
| Released: | September 30, 1969 |
| Recorded: | 1967 |
| Genre: | Pop, R&B, soul |
| Length: | 3:06 |
| Label: | Motown |
| Producer: | Harvey Fuqua, Johnny Bristol |
| Prev Title: | My Cherie Amour |
| Prev Year: | 1969 |
| Next Title: | Never Had a Dream Come True |
| Next Year: | 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 (1969). The song continued Wonder's success on the pop charts. It reached number 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 number 2 in November 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), translated by Peter Ricci.[1] The song was later reworked into an unusual, electronic version by Jennifer Rush on her 1985 Movin' album.[2]
The song had been first recorded, in 1966, by blue-eyed Motown soul singer Chris Clark.[3]
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). The song's main theme is nostalgia[4] for a loved one.
Cash Box called it a "sparkling easy-blues-beat ballad" with "interesting lyric, performance and production."[5]
| Chart (1969–70) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia[7] | 11 | |
| Belgium | 7 | |
| Canada RPM Top Singles | 10 | |
| Canada RPM Adult Contemporary [8] | 15 | |
| Netherlands | 2 | |
| New Zealand (Listener) [9] | 10 | |
| South Africa (Springbok) [10] | 14 | |
| Spain (AFE)[11] | 18 | |
| UK[12] | 2 | |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 7 | |
| U.S. R&B (Billboard) [13] | 5 | |
| U.S. Billboard Easy Listening[14] | 10 | |
| U.S. Cash Box Top 100 | 9 |
| Chart (1969) | Rank | |
|---|---|---|
| Canada [15] | 47 | |
| U.S. (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual) [16] | 75 | |
| U.S. R&B (Billboard) | 53 |
