|
Yellow
Submarine
(John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
Ringo
Starr: Vocals, drums
John Lennon: Acoustic guitar, vocals, scream, bubble sounds
Paul McCartney: Bass, vocals, scream
George Harrison: Tambourine, vocals
Everyone: Sound effects
George
Martin: Sound effects, vocals
Mal Evans: Bass drum, vocals
Neil Aspinal: Vocals
Geoff Emerick: Vocals
Patti Haarrsion: Vocals
Brian Jones: Vocals, bottles, glass
Marianne Faithfull: Vocals
Alf Bicknell: Vocals, water sounds
John Skinner: Water sounds
Terry Condon: Water sounds
78-Plate Brass Band
Recorded
May 26 and June 1 1966.
Available
on:
Revolver
Yellow
Submarine
Anthology 2 (Instrumental version)
The Beatles 1962-1966 (Red Album)
The Beatles 1
A Collection of Beatles Oldies
Paul
McCartney has always insisted that Yellow Submarine was
meant to be a children's song. Like with Yesterday,
he woke up on morning with the melody in his head.
Folksinger
Donovan remembers that Paul asked him to help finishing
the lyrics, and that he suggested the line "sky of
blue and sea of green, in our yellow submarine," which
Paul ended up using on the final recording.
Ringo
sings the lead vocal on Yellow Submarine. The simple melody
and the humoristic feel to the song made it ideal for him
to sing.
Yellow
Submarine is packed with sound effects, mostly from bits
and bobs the Beatles found in the so-called trap room at
Abbey Road Studios; a small room which houses everything
from a cash till to old hosepipes and hand bells from wartime.
Studio
staff also joined in, and John Skinner and Terry Condon
were given the task of making whoosing noises.
"There
was a metal bath in the trap room," Skinner says in
Mark Lewisohn's book The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions.
"We
filled it with water, got some old chains and swirled them
around. It worked really well. I'm sure no one listening
to the song realised what was making the noise."
Both singer
Marianne Faithfull and Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones
were present during the recording of Yellow Submarine. They
both contributed with vocals, and Brian Jones also contributed
with sounds from chinking glasses.
Some say
that the recording of Yellow Submarine was partly inspired
by Bob Dylan's Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35, which was
on the charts in spring 1966. One fact that supports this
theory is that the Beatles met Dylan the day before they
recorded Yellow Submarine.
The short
brass band solo on the song was sampled from another record,
possibly Krier & Helmer's Le Reve Passe from 1906.
Some claim
Yellow Submarine is a veiled reference to drugs. In New
York, Nembutal capsules were apperently known as 'yellow
submarines' at the time. However, Paul denied these allegations,
insisting it was a children's song.
Yellow
Submarine was released as a single in the US (double A-sided
with Eleanor
Rigby) on August 8 1966, and topped the charts for two
weeks. In the UK, it topped the charts for four weeks (released
August 5 1966).
Live versions
of Yellow Submarine can be heard on Ringo Starr's album
Live From Montreux from 1992, and his All Starr Band Volume
1 record from 1997.
Yellow
Submarine
(John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
In the
town where I was born
Lived a man who sailed the sea
And he told us of his life
In the land of submarines
So we sailed on to the sun
Till we found the sea of green
And we lived beneath the waves
In our yellow submarine
We all
live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
And our friends are all aboard
Many more of them live next door
And the band begins to play
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
As we live a life of ease,
Everyone of us has all we need
Sky of blue and sea of green
In our yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
|
