Yes (McAlmont & Butler song)

"Yes"
Single by McAlmont & Butler
from the album The Sound Of... McAlmont & Butler
Released	15 May 1995
Format	CD
Recorded	1995
Genre	Britpop, neo soul
Length	4:53, 4:00 (edit)
Label	Hut
Writer(s)	David McAlmont & Bernard Butler
Producer(s)	Bernard Butler & Mike Hedges
McAlmont & Butler singles chronology
"Yes" (1995) "You Do" (1995)

"Yes" is the debut single by McAlmont & Butler, released in May 1995 and later included on their debut album The Sound Of... McAlmont & Butler. It was their first UK hit, written and performed by the duo and peaked at number 8 on the UK singles chart.^[1] It remains their most successful single.

Both McAlmont and Butler had departed from their previous bands in acrimonious circumstances shortly before the release - McAlmont from Thieves, Butler from Suede. The lyrics of the song were a thinly disguised attack on their former colleagues. In 2013 Bernard Butler spoke to NME about the song's genesis:

"It was the first piece of music I wrote after I left Suede. I wrote it as an instrumental. Everything was in place, but it didn't have the voice... Everything I'd done in the past six months had been really dark. I'd come out of a very sad situation and lost a lot of friends, so it was a very liberating song. I met David at the Jazz Café in Camden and said, 'I've got this song, do you want to try it out?' He came back to me two days later and sang the first verse. He had no second verse, so I just said 'Sing the first one again'... I wanted it to be like a great piece of '60s vinyl."^[2]

Track listings

CD1

1. "Yes" (Full Version) – 4:53
2. "What's the Excuse This Time?" – 5:07
3. "Disappointment" – 7:32

CD2

1. "Yes" (Edit) – 4:00
2. "Don't Call It Soul" – 3:57
3. "How About You?" – 5:49

References

1. "Artist Chart History: Bernard Butler". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
2. "The 100 Greatest Britpop Songs". NME (London, England: IPC Media). 11 May 2013. p. 34.