# Esoteric songwriting credit question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esoteric-songwriting-credit-question/1027650>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** music\
**Created:** [February 13, 2026, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esoteric-songwriting-credit-question/1027650 "2026-02-13T22:31:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esoteric-songwriting-credit-question/1027650/1 "2026-02-13T22:31:42Z")

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The song “[Seems Like Only Yesterday](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTpEoaHTUHs&list=RDVTpEoaHTUHs&start_radio=1)” appears on Jesse Winchester’s 1977 album, “Nothing But A Breeze.”

The record label credits the song to Stoney Edwards. However, every online resource lists Winchester as the composer.

I notice that Edwards did cover a couple of Winchester’s songs. Was his crediting “Seems Like Only Yesterday” to Edwards a payback of sorts?

Or some other explanation?

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2026, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esoteric-songwriting-credit-question/1027650/2 "2026-02-14T22:17:05Z")

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[This article](http://www.jessewinchester.com/PDFs/Article%20-%20Mother%20Jones%20Mag%20Jul%201977.pdf) for _Mother Jones_, which includes an interview with Jesse Winchester, and is from his own site, seems to make it clear that it is an old Stoney Edwards tune.

> It was not until we got off politics completely and on to music that Winchester began to relax. We talked about the music on his latest (and best) album, Nothing But A Breeze, which was released coincident with the tour. Besides seven excellent new compositions of his own, the album features an old Stoney Edwards tune called “Seems Like Only Yesterday”; “It Takes A Young Girl,” which Winchester describes as “a song I first heard done by B.B. King and which I slowed up”; and the haunting old Everly Brothers number called “Bowling Green.”

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2026, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esoteric-songwriting-credit-question/1027650/3 "2026-02-14T22:44:51Z")

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T

> [@don\_t\_ask](#):
>
> [This article](http://www.jessewinchester.com/PDFs/Article%20-%20Mother%20Jones%20Mag%20Jul%201977.pdf) for _Mother Jones_, which includes an interview with Jesse Winchester, and is from his own site, seems to make it clear that it is an old Stoney Edwards tune.

Thanks for finding that, it’s an interesting read.

I am still puzzled though. I can’t find the song anywhere in Edwards’ discography. I suppose it’s possible he never recorded it, but that seems unlikely for such a great tune, plus how would Winchester have ever heard it, if that were the case?