MYSTERIES SURROUNDING TWO SONGS ON THE BEATLES YELLOW SUBMARINE ALBUM

QUESTION NUMBER ONE: IS “YELLOW SUBMARINE” A SONG BEGINNING AS A JOHN LENNON INSPIRED TRACK OR WAS IT BASICALLY A TRACK ORIGINATING WITH PAUL McCARTNEY?

Note: My posing of the question is to get at the truth not in the spirit of what I see too much of on the internet which is the pitting of the contributions of John and Paul against one another. We all have favorites within the group, but I want to understand the complete and accurate picture of the development of the song. Remember the Beatles themselves were not always the best sources of information about themselves. They were much too busy living their lives to have had 100% recollection of information that fans, historians and critics yearn for…today!!!

It was commonly accepted that the song Yellow Submarine was regarded as a Paul McCartney composition. However, the Revolver boxset has apparently shed some doubt about some of those perceptions. There are a couple of Yellow Submarine work tapes that show John Lennon singing the opening verse of the song in a somewhat dark, morose and somewhat introspective manner with different lyrics as he seemed to be trying to work out where the song should go from there. (” In the town where I was born, no one cared, no one cared”). In many interviews I have read, Paul said that the idea for this children’s song came to him in a dream and that it was indeed HIS song. My curiosity forces me to ask the question, which is it? Was Paul intrigued by John’s opening line and lead-in melody and became inspired to come up with the catchy chorus and the general subject theme of the song? Would love to know exactly what transpired. It seems that John because of his tough guy self-engineered image may have feared falling under the label he termed as being called “Granny Music” or in this case “Kiddie Music.” This was before the song had developed into a children’s song but one can certainly see John reacting in this way as the song developed. Remember also that singer songwriter Donovan should have also been given a writing credit on the song as he contributed some of the lyrics, On the White Album John was also frightened that his song Good Night would be seen as being too syrupy for his tough guy image and therefore he gave the song to Ringo to sing. The only thing that John took credit for on the Yellow Submarine song was the wild party-like “blunderbuss” section. The Yellow Submarine work-tapes seem to shed some doubt on that assertion. I want to know the full story surrounding this song’s development and origin and creation!

THE EVIDENCE: THE WORK TAPE

The Beatles – Yellow Submarine (Songwriting Work Tape / Part 1)

Yellow Submarine (Songwriting Work Tape / Part 2)

DO YOU LIKE THE SHOUT OUT OF “LOOK OUT” OR “LOOK UP AND THE ALTERNATING LOOK DOWN” AS ONE OF THE PROPOSED TREATMENTS OF THE SONG IN THE WORK TAPES?? I CAN’T QUITE TELL IN THIS DEMO VERSION WHAT IS CLEARLY BEING SUNG. LET US KNOW BELOW IN THE COMMENTS!

Once the song’s theme and entire melody was finished through Paul’s imagination John did do a demo version of virtually the entire song which was posted by someone on YouTube. The individual posting this also apparently added additional instrumentation to John’s vocal.

Yellow Submarine (John Lennon Lead Vocal) — Rubber Soul Version

The Beatles version with Ringo on lead vocal:

The Beatles – The Beatles – Yellow Submarine (Official Music Video) [Remastered 2015]

QUESTION NUMBER TWO: IT’S ALL TOO MUCH-WHAT IS SAID AT THE BEGINNING/OPENING OF THE SONG AND WHO PLAYS THE FEEDBACK GUITAR AT THE OPENING OF THE NUMBER?

YOUTUBE FEATURED THE FULL 8 MINUTE VERSION WITH SOME LYRICS THAT WERE REMOVED FROM THE RECORDING

The Beatles – It’s All Too Much (long version – stereo mix)

YOU WILL HEAR MUCH SPECULATION ABOUT WHO PLAYS THE FEEDBACK GUITAR ON THE YOUTUBE LINK JUST BELOW. I LEFT WATCHING THIS NOT KNOWING ANYTHING MORE ABOUT WHO IS ACTUALLY PLAYING THE FEEDBACK GUITAR-IT IS ONLY PURE SPECULATION ON THE VIDEO CREATOR’ S THEORIES. SOMEONE HAS TO KNOW FOR SURE AND I WANT TO KNOW THE ANSWER! MANY PEOPLE HAVE ATTEMPTED TO DISCERN WHAT JOHN IS SAYING AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SONG PRIOR TO THE FEEDBACK INTRO TO THE NUMBER. THE FEEDBACK GUITAR HAS BEEN ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN, TO PAUL, AND TO GEORGE. THERE MUST BE SOME EYEWITNESS THAT CAN TELL US DITINCTLY WHO IT IS. WAS IT DONE SEPARATELY FROM THE SONG ITSELF AND THEN ADDED LATER TO START THE NUMBER? I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO THESE QUESTIONS.

‘IT’S ALL TOO MUCH’ The Beatles Track That Buried John’s Killer Guitar Is Now Revealed In 2025 Remix

FOR EVERY SONG THAT APPEARED ON THE REVOLVER ALBUM BEATLES FRIEND, KLAUS VOORMANN, DESIGNED THE COVER OF THE SHEET MUSIC FOR THE SONGS. OF COURSE HE ALSO DESIGNED THE FAMOUS COVER FOR THE REVOLVER ALBUM. THE YELLOW SUBMARINE SONG WAS ALSO TO LATER APPEAR ON THE SOUNDTRACK TO THE FILM YELLOW SUBMARINE.

YELLOW SUBMARINE SHEET MUSIC-DESIGNED BY KLAUS VOORMANN

THE SHEET MUSIC FOR IT’S ALL TOO MUCH:

SPEAKING OF BEATLES SHEET MUSIC…

YOU WILL NOTICE THAT I USED THE SHEET MUSIC FOR THE 2 QUESTIONS I HAD ABOVE AS THE OPENING PREMISE OF THE POST.

FOR THOSE WHO MAY HAVE MISSED OUT ON MY PRIOR NOTIFICATION OF THESE THREE INFORMATIVE NEW BOOKS WRITTEN BY CANADIAN WRITER, ANDREW CROFT. YOU MAY WISH TO PICK THESE UP. THE 3 TITLES COLLECT MANY INTERESTING STORIES ABOUT RARE SHEET MUSIC THAT HAVE A BEATLES ASSOCIATION. I AM A COMPLETIST AND IF I GET ONE OF THE TITLES, I NEEDED TO GET ALL 3 WHICH I WAS FORTUNATE TO HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN ACCOMPLISHING. HAPPY TO LEARN THAT EACH VOLUME HAS STORIES AND PHOTOS THAT GREATLY APPEALED TO ME DESPITE NOT HAVING AN INITIAL VERY STRONG INTEREST IN COLLECTING BEATLES SHEET MUSIC!

Collecting Beatles Sheet Music & Song Books

ORIGINALLY ONLY AVAILABLE AS A LIMITED 3-BOOK SET, NOW YOU CAN OBTAIN THE BOOKS INDIVIDUALLY!