You probably know the lyrics off by heart:

"When I was young
I'd listen to the radio
Waiting for my favourite song
When they'd play I'd sing along."

Anyone around in the 70s instantly recognizes "Yesterday Once More," a huge hit for the Carpenters in 1973. 

It came about because songwriter Richard Carpenter didn't have time to write new material for an album, so they were planing to re-record some oldies in their laid back style. But when it became evident that wasn't enough to justify an entire LP, they needed a new song to tie everything together.

Enter "Yesterday Once More."

Although it could have been a very different song. 

(Lyricist Richard) Bettis revealed that he “wrote maybe five pages of (song) titles. There must have been 70 of them. We had two or three days to write. I showed up in his piano room and saw my sheets of paper all over the floor. I saw a circle, and it was ‘Yesterday Once More.'”

“We couldn’t figure out how to do the verses. Were we going to do one of those ‘Rock and Roll Heaven’ things, referring to old records and artists like Buddy Holly, or were we not?” 

Thankfully, they went another way. 

This 1973 Feel-Good Hit by The Carpenters Still Hits All the Right Notes 53 Years Later