Yesterday by The Beatles (1965) opens with one of pop music's most quietly devastating chord progressions. Beginning on G major, the harmony almost immediately pulls away toward the shadowed territory of F sharp minor, lending the song an air of wistfulness before a word has been sung. The movement to B7 introduces a subtle tension, a sense of something unresolved and reaching, before the phrase settles onto E minor with a sigh of bittersweet release. That arc from brightness through shadow to resignation feels both surprising and inevitable, which is precisely why the opening stays with you. A product of the mid-sixties shift toward more harmonically sophisticated pop songwriting, Yesterday rewards players and listeners alike with a progression that earns its emotional weight on every repetition.