Listen To John Lennon’s Acoustic Demo Of The Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’
The track features on the upcoming super deluxe reissue of the Fab Four’s game-changing ‘Revolver’, out on October 28.
An acoustic demo of John Lennon singing “Yellow Submarine” from The Beatles’ Revolver has been shared ahead of the Super Deluxe Edition reissue of the band’s 1966 album on October 28. You can listen to it below.
The outtake of the light-hearted, whimsical Revolver track is a surprise turn from the Fab Four. Lennon’s brief, melancholic demo (here referred to with the subtitle ‘Songwriting Work Tape/Part 1’) has never been bootlegged nor even rumored, making the album’s upcoming reissue all the more enticing for Beatles fans.
In the opening of Lennon’s version of “Yellow Submarine” some of the lyrics read: “In the place where I was born/ No one cared, no one cared /And the name that I was born /No one cared, no one cared.”
The song’s original opening lyrics are: “In the town where I was born/ Lived a man who sailed to sea/ And he told us of his life/ In the land of submarines.”
Although bandmate Paul McCartney wrote the song’s classic singalong chorus it was perhaps less known that Lennon was so involved in its composition.
The album’s 14 tracks have been newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell in stereo and Dolby Atmos. Martin discovered things about “Yellow Submarine” that he didn’t expect during his in-depth work on the project.
“I had no idea until I started going through the outtakes,” he said [via Rolling Stone]. “This was a Lennon-McCartney thing. I said to Paul, ‘I always thought this was a song that you wrote and gave to Ringo and that John was like, ‘Oh, bloody ‘Yellow Submarine.’ Not at all.”
‘Yellow Submarine’ is known as a song showcased by Beatles drummer and singer Ringo Starr. McCartney, meanwhile, has recalled in a new foreword that he’s written for Revolver: Special Edition: “One twilight evening, lying in bed before dozing off, I came up with a song that I thought would suit Ringo and at the same time incorporate the heady vibes of the time. ‘Yellow Submarine’ — a children’s song with a touch of stoner influence, which Ringo still wows audiences with to this day.”
Indeed, the drummer had been featuring the song on tour with the 15th incarnation of his All-Starr Band until earlier this month, when the schedule was curtailed due to his twice contracting Covid-19.
In addition to the demo version of “Yellow Submarine”, the ‘second version/unnumbered mix’ take of another Revolver highlight, “Got To Get You Into My Life” has been shared, which you can also hear above. Raw and vibe-y, the ‘second version’ is shorn of the official version’s hallmark brass and offers a whole new insight into the song’s composition.
Earlier this month, a new, official animated video for Revolver’s opening track, “Taxman,” directed by Danny Sangra, was also made available to view on the group’s official YouTube channel. The colorful video uses selected lyrics from the song along with bold illustration and images of The Beatles from the era of the LP’s making in 1966.
Revolver will be released worldwide in a range of beautifully presented, newly mixed and expanded Special Edition packages by Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe.
The album’s original mono mix has been sourced from its 1966 mono master tape. Revolver’s sweeping new Special Edition follows the universally acclaimed remixed and expanded Special Editions of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (2017), The BEATLES (‘White Album’) (2018), Abbey Road (2019), and Let It Be (2021).
The expanded Special Editions of Revolver include the 5CD/4LP Super Deluxe format, 2CD Deluxe, picture disc, 1LP, and 1CD, and the album will also be available for download and streaming. The physical and digital versions will feature the album’s original mono mix along with 28 early takes from the sessions and three home demos. A four-track EP will feature both the stereo and original mono mixes for “Paperback Writer” and “Rain.” The new Dolby Atmos mix is to be released digitally.
