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The most unusual recording session of all time

David Hartley | February 24, 2026



Yellow Submarine is one The Beatles’ most well known and familiar songs, but the story behind the song is more unusual than you might think.

Written by David Hartley

Comments

This post currently has 42 comments.

  5. @riklionheart23

    February 24, 2026 at 11:29 pm

    One of my earliest school memories, back in the 70s, aged five was the class learning to sing Yellow Submarine. I just thought it was a fun song, then much later and to my surprise, I found out it was a Beatles tune 😂

  7. @WorldOfBob1

    February 24, 2026 at 11:29 pm

    Really great thanks David, (and thanks to Geoff Emerick too). Lots (for me to) take way from this – onr thing Leaping out, is how great Ringo's vocal is!! So much personality – truly like a top tier folk singer or summat… 🙏🏻 👏👏

  11. @SeanCumes

    February 24, 2026 at 11:29 pm

    Why is there not a single mention anywhere, of sky of blue (sky of blue) and sea of green (sea of green) in our yellow (in our yellow) sssss(Club marine) submarine, a HA!!

  23. @jmarty1000

    February 24, 2026 at 11:29 pm

    From this story, one can begin to understand John's disillusionment with fame, life, and The Beatles. The way his initial expression of pain and personal anguish was transformed into a technicolor feature film cartoon industry product.

  24. @Neonman371

    February 24, 2026 at 11:29 pm

    I’m used to the familiar final version obviously, but these takes are cool… totally different vibe and i can hear the Donovan influence on it, the final version is too kiddie, the original was in the lane of like..Universal Soldier or Colors.

  33. @davidswanson5669

    February 24, 2026 at 11:29 pm

    1:45 Maybe you’ll explain later in the video – but it seems clear to me that you shouldn’t base the “genesis” of a song purely based on an early recording. Just because John is singing some version of the song, doesn’t mean it wasn’t already workshopped between the two of them already (even just enough for John to learn the melody and maybe something about the lyrics). Maybe the lyrics about “no one cared” is all John, but that doesn’t mean that Paul didn’t create the melody and the atmosphere that John picked up on. And the song can still be Paul’s “baby”, no matter who sparked the idea for the song. It implies that Paul had the biggest emotional connection with it and vested interest in order to see it progressed as much as possible.

  36. @gerrycoogan6544

    February 24, 2026 at 11:29 pm

    What an excellent, fascinating and informative video.
    I'd been vaguely aware that John's input to the composition was more significant than is generally known but I'd never heard his original rough demo until now.
    I've often been struck by how brilliantly The Beatles could take very basic ideas and develop them so impressively into their perfect final form. (Happiness Is A Warm Gun is an outstanding example of this ability).

    Yellow Submarine is also a superb but generally overlooked example of how The Beatles learned to exploit recording studio techniques to create a truly unique sonic picture, just as much as Tomorrow Never Knows or Strawberry Fields Forever were. The band put an enormous amount of time and effort into the production, experimenting with different ideas and sounds until they were satisfied with the finished production.

    It remains one of the most joyous, fun-filled pop songs ever created and it continues to bring a smile to people of all ages and backgrounds.

  37. @nicolasnamed

    February 24, 2026 at 11:29 pm

    Could you add sources to the description?

    It's cool if not, but if you do it will be more effective for me to cite this video as a source for a project I'm working on

  39. @karl9386

    February 24, 2026 at 11:29 pm

    In general I find this channel to be too biased towards Lennon. The author has clearly been taken in by the Lennon myth which is to say he just hasn't done the research.

    People who really know the Beatles, who do the research, even the ones who start off as Lennon fans eventually realise that the true avant guard revolutionary genius pushing the whole project and making Lennon the songwriter he became, was Paul McCartney. Just as Philip Norman. He wrote 'Shout' which was just an opinion piece and he was all about John. Lennon, said Lennon was 75% of the Beatles. Then in 2007 he published a book on Lennon as everyone around at the time was starting to get old so before they all died he went and actually did research and got primary sources etc and he quickly discovered he'd been wrong, that it was McCartney who was the true genius. He then had to write a book on McCartney detailing how he was the avant-garde genius pushing the whole project and how his solo career was one of the biggest and most successful of all time. Go read the biography Philip Norman, a devout Lennon fan, did on McCartney where he admitted that the genius was McCartney. Many other Beatles historians are saying the same thing now as they've also come to the same conclusion and don't want to be on the wrong side of history. Lennon gets the praise of the masses because he was great at self marketing and then he went and got shot and became a martyr. Have you noticed that there are hundreds of videos about how Lennon hated this or that about McCartney but you'll find nothing about McCartney dissing on Lennon? That's because he wasn't insecure like Lennon. He knew, they both knew, that he was the better songwriter and avant-garde revolutionary genius and that history would bear out the facts and he was right, history is starting to bear it all out and once he dies he too will be martyred but with facts, not mythology like Lennon. Both with the Beatles and in his solo career Lennon could never keep up with McCartney. To be clear Lennon was one of the greatest, maybe even the second greatest thing in songwriter on the 20th century, I am not an anti Lennon man as some of my favourite songs like 'Happiness is a warm gun' and 'Because' we're his songs. Starr was an amazing drummer, very underrated. And Martin was the perfect producer. Harrison was the lucky one, not Ringo as most people think. But I just find it irksome the narrative that Lennon was the true genius, the avant-garde artist. It was mainly Paul. And anyone who says Harrison was more talented is clearly an idiot just trying to sound cool and intelligent by going against established opinion.

    Tomorrow Never Knows – who started experimenting with tape loops and got Lennon onto them? That's right -McCartney. A day in the life – who came up with the line 'I'd love to turn you on', who came up with the glissendos, the final piano chord fadeout, the interloping upbeat part followed by the ahhh ahhhh ahhh ahhhh part which was the dream "had a smoke and I went into a dream". In short who came up with everything that made the it the mindblowing song it became? McCartney. Who made Come Together the song it became after Lennon suggested an upbeat Chuck Berry rip-off diddy? Who slowed it down and based the song around a swampy bass and piano, who made it the sign we love today? McCartney. Who played the guitar solo in Taxman because poor old George didn't have the talent? Mccartney. George could do it so Paul, in the midst of revolutionising all music on earth with his songwriting and doing bass, piano, guitars, vocals, producing at night when George Martin had gone home, had to stop and come up with the guitar part and then he had to play it as George didn't have the creative talent nor the technical ability to play it, still considered the best guitar solo on any Beatles song. He also did slide guitars on Baby You Can Drive My Car and guitar a whole bunch of other songs like the blazing rifts on Good Morning Good Morning that even Hendrix found impressive. The lead guitar on Ticket to ride is Paul. He plays lead guitars in Back in the USSR, super rocking guitars. Another Girl is also McCartney, Harrison did 10 takes trying to come up with the guitar part but couldn't so Paul took over. More times than you'd realise it's Paul playing guitar, not George .Again – do the research. Had he devoted his time solely to guitar he'd have been better than George overall no doubt about it. Who insisted that Revolution, originally a 50s doowop, be made into a rock and roll song? McCartney. What is widely considered the most important and revolutionary album in history? The one that turned the entire Western musical canon on its head? Sgt Pepper's. Who was responsible for Sgt Pepper's? McCartney. Sgt Pepper's wasn't a Beatles album, it was an album by Paul McCartney with the Beatles. While Lennon was getting stoned and watching TV everyday in his neighbourhood of brokers and lawyers in Weybridge on the outskirts of London, McCartney was downtown making Sgt Pepper's and setting up artist studios and galleries. And even Strawberry Fields Forever. This video is right that Lennon asked Martin to mix the two versions together (3 had actually been made but only 2 used) but who was responsible for all the music on the 2 versions? Both Lennon and McCartney, the lyrics were all Lennon's but the music was co-written. Read 'With A Little Help From My Friends' by George Martin himself where he states "John came in with an idea late on Friday so we did a couple of takes then I went home for the weekend. On the Monday John and Paul came in with a whole bunch of new ideas for the song". Note – "and Paul". It was co-written. In fact listen to any of Lennon's songs and you'll notice how dominant the bass is on every song. And the piano parts as well. Sexy Sadie is all about the piano, that Radiohead famously ripped off to use in Karma Police. I could go on and on and on but I'm getting tired typing all this. But you get the picture. Without Paul's touch Lennon's songs never would have reached the heights they did. John's inputs made McCartney's song better but not always, e.g. the disgraceful bass playing on The Long and Winding Road that some idiots like to think was deliberate sabotage but the real reason is much simpler – John was a phenomenal songwriter but an average musician. But Paul's contributions to Lennon's songs always made them better, always. What about 'Eight Days a Week'? Hands down the most interesting song on 'Beatles for Sale'. Written by McCartney and gifted to Lennon to sing. Name an equivalent song that Lennon gifted to McCartney? And so who was the best musician without doubt, except for drums. McCartney? Who is widely considered one of the greatest, most innovative, most technically challenging, most influential bassists of all time? Also one of history's greatest lyricists and vocalists. And I would argue history's greatest harmony vocalist. Listen to 'I Want to Tell You' his harmony vocals are insane, particularly the final flourish with Indian inspired undertones. And listen to 'Act Naturally'. Ringo is no-one's idea of a superb vocalist lol, so how do you go about harmonising with his voice? Well McCartney did, that's why he was the one chosen to do it. It's a great song, one of their last covers, and Ringo's voice is perfectly suited as it's jolly and country-western sounding but the harmony vocals, for a voice like Ringo's, my god they are next level. And George Martin was a serious man in his 40s who worked 9-5 Mon-Fri. The Beatles did a lot of their work outside those hours and when they did who was producing them? McCartney.

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