Something Happened to Me Yesterday

{{Infobox song

| name = Something Happened to Me Yesterday

| cover =

| alt =

| type =

| artist = the Rolling Stones

| album = Between the Buttons

| released = 20 January 1967 (UK)
11 February 1967 (US)

| format =

| recorded = 3–11 August 1966

| studio =

| venue =

| genre =

  • Rock
  • music hall{{cite web|first= Ed|last= Masley|title= Sgt. Pepper and beyond: A look back at 20 great albums released in 1967|website= azcentral |date= May 30, 2017|url= https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2017/05/30/20-great-albums-1967-sgt-pepper/347569001/|quote= ...the Kink-y music hall of “Something Happened to Me Yesterday".|accessdate= November 3, 2023}}
  • trad jazz{{cite web |last1=Greenwald |first1=Matthew |title=Something Happened to Me Yesterday by The Rolling Stones - Track Info {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/something-happened-to-me-yesterday-mt0032698433 |website=allmusic |access-date=12 January 2023 |language=en}}
  • country folk

| length = 4:55

| label = Decca/ABKCO (UK)
London/ABKCO (US)

| writer = Mick Jagger, Keith Richards

| producer = Andrew Loog Oldham

| tracks = {{Between the Buttons tracks}}

}}

"Something Happened to Me Yesterday" is the closing track of the Rolling Stones' 1967 album Between the Buttons.

Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and recorded in August and November 1966, "Something Happened to Me Yesterday" is the first officially released Rolling Stones track to feature Richards on separate lead vocal. Jagger sings the verses, while Richards sings the chorus. Richards plays electric and acoustic guitars; Charlie Watts is on drums and Bill Wyman on bass; Brian Jones whistles and plays trumpet, trombone and tuba;It's Only Rock n Roll - James KarnbachStones Complete Recording Sessions - Martin Elliott Jack Nitzsche plays piano; and the Mike Leander Orchestra performs the brass section.

At the time of the song's release, Jagger said: "I leave it to the individual imagination as to what happened."{{cite web |last= |first= |title=Something Happened to Me Yesterday |work=timeisonourside.com |publisher= |url=http://timeisonourside.com/SOSomethingHappened.html |accessdate=2006-07-28}} Matthew Greenwald calls it "one [of] the most accurate songs about LSD".

The song ends with a spoken passage by Jagger: "Well, thank you very much, and now I think it's time for us all to go. So, from all of us to all of you, not forgetting the boys in the band and our producer Reg Thorpe, we'd like to say 'God bless.' So, if you're out tonight, don't forget: if you're on your bike, wear white. Evening, all."{{Gilliland |show=39 |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19798/m1/ |title=The Rubberization of Soul: The great pop music renaissance |track=5}} Jagger has said (plainly facetiously) that this passage is "something I remember hearing on the BBC as the bombs dropped". However, this sort of homily was typically rendered at the end of an episode of the early police procedural Dixon of Dock Green by PC Dixon, an old school bobby.

Personnel

According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon:{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2016|p=203}}

The Rolling Stones

  • Mick Jagger{{snd}} vocals (verses)
  • Keith Richards{{snd}} vocals (chorus), acoustic guitar, electric rhythm guitar, bass
  • Brian Jones{{snd}} saxophone{{refn|group=note|While Margotin and Guesdon are confident Jones played saxophone on the track, they are uncertain if he played anything else, such as tuba and clarinet.{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2016|p=203}}}}
  • Bill Wyman{{snd}} bass guitar
  • Charlie Watts{{snd}} drums

Additional musicians

  • Jack Nitzsche{{snd}} piano
  • Unidentified session musicians{{snd}} tuba, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, violin

Notes

{{Reflist|group=note}}

References

{{Reflist}}

=Sources=

{{refbegin}}

  • {{cite book |last1=Margotin |first1=Philippe |last2=Guesdon |first2=Jean-Michel |title=The Rolling Stones All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track |date=2016 |publisher=Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers |location=New York |isbn=978-0-316-31774-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g5eTCwAAQBAJ}}

{{refend}}