YELLOW SUBMARINE: The Beatles’ Bizarre Multimedia Project

Intern Op-Ed: C.J

I listen to a lot of music when I work. I’m not sure if it’s because it gets me into a motivating rhythm, or because it just keeps me relaxed. Maybe working in such a music-rich environment like Wholesome is to blame. Being surrounded by so many bits and pieces of music culture in the studio makes it hard to not blow through 3 or 4 CCR albums in the span of a work day. It contributes to the vibe I suppose. Lately my go-to has been the Beatles’ core discography. I’ve always been a classic rock guy, so naturally I hold the Beatles and their music in pretty high regard. I generally don’t care much for their early stuff, but everything from Help onwards has made for some of my most formative music-listening experiences. During a particularly long day of editing a particularly Beatles discussion-heavy episode of Let’s Make A Show, I’d already listened to the entirety of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and The White Album. Chronologically the next step was Yellow Submarine, an album that everyone seems to write off as filler made out of contractual obligation. The animated film it’s attached to is one of my all time favorites, and I’ve always found the album itself to be an interesting curiosity.

I want to briefly acknowledge just how absolutely insane the Yellow Submarine film is. It's a narratively thin, but visually spectacular trip. The basic premise involves The Beatles fumbling their way across the universe (ha) to save the magical world of Pepperland from music-hating clown monsters called the Blue Meanies. The story doesn’t have much substance to it, essentially existing only to connect the psychedelic music segments with a bit of Beatles banter. Hilariously, the boldest narrative element the film has going for it is the decision to make Ringo of all people the main character. The main appeal of the film really is its visuals. The combination of 60's pop-art, photography, and watercolors make for an instantly memorable aesthetic that only this film has.

Considering the nature of soundtrack albums, all the album really needed to be was the of the film and the already released Yellow Submarine single. However, this album features 4 entirely new Beatles songs, each with their own interesting history. All Together Now and Hey Bulldog were Lennon-McCartney joints created specifically for the film’s soundtrack. I think this is pretty evident in the case of Hey Bulldog as it accompanies one of the more organic action sequences in the film. Despite this, the song manages to stand on its own when listened to independent of the film’s context. It’s a fun, high-energy jam that features a hilarious vocal meltdown from Lennon and McCartney near the end. The same can’t really be said for All Together Now which honestly feels like a bit of a throwaway. It doesn’t really relate to its accompanying scene at all, nor does it stand out as a particularly memorable Beatles jam. Nothing about All Together Now really warrants a place in the film’s score, which is hilarious considering that’s the entire reason the song exists.

The 2 remaining original tracks are unreleased Harrison joints that were intended for other projects at some point. Only a Northern Song was a track apparently rejected from inclusion on Sgt. Pepper, and I can honestly see why it was left on the shelf. The lyrics reflect Harrison’s creative frustrations with working under contract with Northern Songs; the band’s publishers at the time. I personally really like this song, but I also understand why most don’t share my sentiment. Since many of my favorite Beatles songs are Harrison compositions, I like to think I have a higher than average tolerance for his psychedelic experimentations. That being said, this track is very busy for no real reason. Its segment in the film comes out of nowhere, but functions well as an audio-visual representation of a trip (although I personally think that the Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds segment later in the film accomplishes the same thing with a stronger emotional beat). It’s abundantly clear that the band had no idea what to do with this track, but the animators did something really creative with it given the freedom they had.

The film’s closing track is It’s All Too Much; one of my favorite Beatles songs of all time and a true hidden gem. A Harrison joint that was shelved for months and apparently planned for inclusion in Magical Mystery Tour before being reassigned to the film score. Unlike Only a Northern Song, it feels as though the band had much more faith in this song. Why else would they assign a previously unreleased Harrison song to one of the film’s most impactful, elaborate sequences? The song’s production is more “rough around the edges” than was typical of the band at the time, but it perfectly compliments the feedback-heavy lead guitar. Being a late-game Harrison song, there’s a lot of elements of traditional Indian music present and I’m 100% down with that. The song’s segment serves as an incredible finale to the film. It’s a brightly-colored, mind expanding celebration of love that you can’t help but adore. Another great allusion to a hallucinogenic experience.

Yellow Submarine actually overachieves within the context of what it was made for. It gives you the film’s brilliant score, along with some interesting oddities that likely wouldn’t have existed had they not been integrated into the film. I think its reputation as a half-baked filler album comes from its inclusion in the Beatles’ studio discography. This album was released 6 months after the film’s theatrical run, long after the band had stopped giving a shit about the project. The White Album had been their focus for a while, and it was a significant departure from the band’s prior two years of work. While they’d maintained an on-off investment in the film’s production, most of their work on the album was already done. By no means does this album reach the normal standard of the Beatles’ studio work, but that’s not entirely its own fault.