# In 1965, George Martin called a Beatles song a “problem”. It’s now been streamed over 1,000,000,000 times

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/in-1965-george-martin-called-a-beatles-song-a-problem-its-now-been-streamed-over-1000000000-times/
- Published: 2026-10-22T18:11:12+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/in-1965-george-martin-called-a-beatles-song-a-problem-its-now-been-streamed-over-1000000000-times/
- Topics: Art, Culture, Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- “Yesterday” challenged the Beatles’ usual band format.
- George Martin shaped its delicate string arrangement.
- The song has surpassed one billion streams.

## Summary

Paul McCartney’s “Yesterday” challenged the Beatles’ usual rock band sound because it was a delicate ballad intended to feature one Beatle alone. Producer George Martin called it a problem, but the recording’s string arrangement helped turn that challenge into one of the group’s best-known songs.

Martin said the song did not fit the pattern of two guitars, bass and drums, so he drew on his arranging experience. McCartney proposed using a seventh interval in the outro, and the finished track features his solo performance with strings. The headline says “Yesterday” has now been streamed more than one billion times.

## Coverage

- [Far Out: In 1965, George Martin called a Beatles song a “problem”. It’s now been streamed over 1,000,000,000 times](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/in-1965-george-martin-called-a-beatles-song-a-problem-its-now-been-streamed-over-1000000000-times/)
- [Far Out: The 1977 hit, streamed more than 1,330,000,000 times, Paul McCartney claimed belonged to The Beatles](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/1977-hit-streamed-more-than-1330000000-times-paul-mccartney-claimed-belonged-to-the-beatles/)

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.