The song looks back longingly at the past, childhood, or lost experiences
Paul McCartney carries the Nostalgia motif harder than the others: 27% of his songs touch it, vs 15% Lennon / 27% McCartney / 12% Harrison.
Song count per year
% of each member's catalogue with this tag (by writing credit)
Remember
Remember
Remember
Looks back on past love
McCartney's 'future nostalgia' – remembering the present
Anticipates future regret of being missed
Recalls first time meeting her
Memories of past lover
Yearns for self-assured younger self
Remember
Yearning for previous night
Longing for an idealized past
'Had it been another day'
Once
Looking back on places, friends, lovers
Once
Retreat to boyhood as escape
Childhood Liverpool setting
Liverpool childhood memories
Looking back twenty years
Wistful Victorian-era pageantry
Parents look back on sacrifices
Looks back on school, anger, cruelty
Edwardian leisure imagery
Pre-rock pop revived for a new audience
Remember
Homage to 1920s pop era
Looking back on lost-then-found beloved
Once
Longing for a vanished way home
'Everybody had a good year'
'A long, long time ago'
Memories longer than the road ahead
Once
'The life that we once knew'
Looking back on 'forgotten dreams'
Looking back with longing
Updated
Book
The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics
Alan Aldridge
Book
Revolution in the Head
Ian MacDonald
Course
Tom Morello – Teaches Electric Guitar
MasterClass · Riffs, rock songwriting, fretboard theory.
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