"Yesterdays" is a power ballad written by Axl Rose, West Arkeen, Del James, and Billy McCloud, originally released on Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion II in 1991. The song is a wistful reflection on lost innocence and the passage of time, with Rose's lyrics contrasting a carefree past against a more burdened present. The composition opens with a clean, arpeggiated acoustic guitar figure that establishes its melancholic tone before building through layered electric guitars and a full band arrangement. Rose's vocal performance moves between tender restraint in the verses and impassioned intensity in the choruses, capturing the song's emotional arc from quiet nostalgia to aching regret. Co-writer West Arkeen, a close friend of the band who contributed to several Guns N' Roses tracks including "It's So Easy," helped shape the song's melodic sensibility, while journalist Del James and roadie Billy McCloud rounded out the collaborative effort. "Yesterdays" was released as a single and received significant radio airplay, accompanied by a music video that interspersed performance footage with nostalgic imagery. The song stands apart from the harder-edged material on Use Your Illusion II, showcasing the band's capacity for introspective songwriting. It remains one of the more emotionally direct compositions in the Guns N' Roses catalog, distinct from the Jerome Kern jazz standard of the same name from 1933.
