About the song: 

Only Yesterday is a song written by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis and recorded by American soft rock duo Carpenters. It was released in March 1975 as the second single from their sixth studio album, Horizon. The song topped the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The song’s lyrics tell the story of a young woman who is reflecting on her past and how she has changed over time. She realizes that she is no longer the same person she was “only yesterday” and that she has grown and matured. The song is a beautiful and poignant ballad that has resonated with listeners of all ages.

“Only Yesterday” has been covered by many artists, including Barry Manilow, Dionne Warwick, and Olivia Newton-John. It has also been featured in several films and television shows, including The Big Chill, Friends, and The Wonder Years.

The song is a classic example of the Carpenters’ signature sound. Karen Carpenter’s vocals are pure and angelic, and Richard Carpenter’s arrangements are lush and sophisticated. “Only Yesterday” is a timeless and unforgettable song that will continue to be enjoyed for generations to come.

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Lyrics: Only Yesterday

After long enough of being alone
Everyone must face their share of loneliness
In my own time nobody knew
The pain I was goin’ through
And waitin’ was all my heart could doHope was all I had until you came
Maybe you can’t see how much you mean to me
You were the dawn breaking the night
The promise of morning light
Filling the world surrounding me
When I hold you

Baby, baby, feels like maybe, things will be all right
Baby, baby, your love’s made me

Free as a song, singin’ forever

Only yesterday when I was sad and I was lonely
You showed me the way to leave the past and all its tears behind me
Tomorrow maybe even brighter than today
Since I threw my sadness away
Only yesterday

I have found my home here in your arms
Nowhere else on earth I’d really rather be
Life waits for us, share it with me
The best is about to be
So much is left for us to see
When I hold you

Baby, baby, feels like maybe, things will be all right

Baby, baby, your love’s made me
Free as a song, singin’ forever

Only yesterday when I was sad and I was lonely
You showed me the way to leave the past and all its tears behind me
Tomorrow maybe even brighter than today
Since I threw my sadness away
Only yesterday

You Missed

MINNIE PEARL WALKED ONSTAGE AT THE GRAND OLE OPRY FOR 50 YEARS WITH A $1.98 PRICE TAG ON HER HAT — AND THEN ONE NIGHT, SHE JUST COULDN’T ANYMORE. Here’s something most people don’t think about with Minnie Pearl. That price tag hanging off her straw hat? It wasn’t random. Sarah Cannon — that was her real name — created it as a joke about a country girl too proud of her new hat to take the tag off. And audiences loved it so much that it became the most recognizable prop in country music history. For over fifty years, that tag meant Minnie was here, and everything was going to be fun. So imagine what it felt like when she couldn’t put the hat on anymore. In June 1991, Sarah had a massive stroke. She was 79. And just like that, the woman who hadn’t missed an Opry show in decades was gone from the stage. But here’s what gets me. She didn’t die in 1991. She lived another five years after that stroke, mostly out of the public eye, unable to perform, unable to be “Minnie” the way she’d always been. Her husband Henry Cannon took care of her at their Nashville home. Friends visited, but they said it was hard. The woman who made millions of people laugh couldn’t get through a full conversation some days. Roy Acuff, her old friend from the Opry, kept her dressing room exactly the way she left it. Nobody used it. The hat sat there. She passed on March 4, 1996. And what most people remember is the comedy. The “HOW-DEEE” catchphrase. The big goofy grin. What they don’t remember is that Sarah Cannon was also a serious fundraiser for cancer research. Centennial Medical Center in Nashville named their cancer center after her — not after Minnie, after Sarah. She raised millions and rarely talked about it publicly. There’s a story about the very last time Sarah tried to put on the hat at home, months after the stroke, and what her husband said to her in that moment — it’s the kind of detail that makes you see fifty years of comedy completely differently. Roy Acuff kept Minnie Pearl’s dressing room untouched for years after she left — was that loyalty to a friend, or was he holding a door open for someone he knew was never coming back?