Song of the Day 10/26: The Beatles, “Yellow Submarine (Songwriting Work Tape / Part 1)”
The Beatles recorded output apparently will be mined for sales until the last Boomer is buried, if not beyond. Recent years have seen the serial remastering of the band’s catalog, a project overseen by Giles Martin, son of legendary producer George Martin. The latest album to get the treatment is “Revolver,” the group’s 1966 great leap forward that many consider their greatest LP.
The 5-LP/CD box set drops Friday, but several tracks were pre-released to promote it, including a remixed “Taxman” and a demo of “Got to Get You Into My Life” with a fuzz guitar playing the horn lines. But the one getting the most buzz is a fragment: John Lennon singing a demo of what became the verse of “Yellow Submarine,” one of the band’s least regarded tunes.
The version we’re familiar with is dominated by its chorus, supplied by Paul McCartney, a jaunty singalong that has lived on as a children’s tune. It feels an ocean away from where Lennon began. He only had one line written, and its first half is familiar: “In the town where I was born.” But it finishes in a most unfamiliar way.
The horn-free version of “Got to Get You Into My Life” sounds like a cover by an indie-rock band of the ’90s.
In kindergarten and 1st grade I had a Yellow Submarine lunchbox. As a goofy youngster the Ringo vocals were my favorite.
Well, there is a reason those things have been unpublished for lo these 58 years. Jesus. Anybody got a recoding of Paul stirring his tea and buttering his toast? Let’s remaster that shit!
And yet. I did like Get Back documentary.
Think of it the way we look at rough drafts of literary works. They’re not meant for publication, but they’re of interest to scholars, and sometimes the broader public as well.
I started listening to the Beatles about 1963 at age 12. There was a certain something that made their music jump out. Personally, I thought their guitar playing sounded primitive compared to what American guitarists were producing, but, in a way that I decided was charming. By the time “I Want To Hold Your Hand” came out, I was hooked. I decided something had changed in their music with the album “Rubber Soul” which I regarded with considerable fondness, and “Revolver” confirmed my suspicions. I regard those two albums as their best, but how do you really choose?