The Beatles
Yellow Submarine

"Once upon a time, or maybe twice, there was a paradise called Pepelandia..... Pepelandia was the kingdom of love, or "love".... as the Anglo-Saxons say.... Pepelandia was located 20,000 leagues under the sea....."

Suspended between the POP of the early albums and the birth of the Psychedelic movement, the Beatles, namely Paul, wrote a little song destined like the other songs of the "Lennon-McCartney" "company" to remain in history. As had already happened with the memorable "Yesterday", the idea of "Yellow Submarine" came spontaneously, while our Macca was lying in bed thinking, and came up with a "strange idea", as he himself recounts. Given the lyrics (in which Lennon and Donovan also collaborated) and the simple melody, McCartney envisioned his new "creation" as a children's song, and indeed "Yellow Submarine" is. Seeing that "uncle" Ringo really likes children and is very playful with them, Paul did not think twice about having Starr sing the new piece, thus giving the song that typical "humour" flair that the drummer's voice permits.

Initially, "Yellow Submarine" was included in the album marking the stylistic and artistic change of the Fab Four: "Revolver". A few years later, precisely in 1968, a fun and innovative feature-length film was made from the song of the same name. Innovative because, never before in animated cartoons had Psychedelic effects been seen. McCartney wanted the cartoon to be in the style of Walt Disney, but the screenwriters preferred to follow the Psychedelic line of "SGT Pepper's" (rightly a better idea, given the result!). As can be noted from the introduction of this review (as well as the introduction of the cartoon itself), we are faced with a purely Beatles-like sarcasm, enhanced by the fact that the Beatles did not voice themselves in the feature-length film, but other people including a cabaret artist did. In fact, the four from Liverpool said they were not involved in the making of this project, only to feature in the closing credits, gifting us with a fun and memorable "All Together Now".

The release of the film-cartoon is accompanied by the soundtrack album, which features four songs written for the occasion and a totally instrumental part, orchestrated by the producer as well as arranger of most of the Beatles' pieces, Sir George Martin. The opening is obviously entrusted to the title track, which needs no introduction..... in short, we all know the famous chorus "We all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine". Next is "Only A Northern Song" composed for the occasion by George Harrison. It's a piece with Psychedelic atmospheres, where George's compositional vein is maturing ever more rapidly; also, the "shrill" trumpet that acts as a background is played by McCartney. The album moves through the aforementioned folk-like "All Together Now" to reach a song written for the occasion by John, "Hey Bulldog". The piece is characterized by the introductory almost Hard piano riff, soon strengthened by the electric guitar. This song serves as an "interpreter" for the scene in which the Beatles of SGT Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and the Beatles "themselves" join forces to outwit the four-headed Bulldog! "It's All Too Much" is another piece written for the film by George, this track exceeds the usual 3 minutes of song form, extending to 6 and a bit more. In its entirety, it's a repetitive but tireless piece. The A-side of the vinyl ends with "All You Need Is Love", already recorded the previous year and then put in the film to describe the moment when the Beatles save Pepelandia, until that moment paralyzed by the "Blue Meanies", very essential antagonist characters for the cartoon plot. The entire B-side, on the other hand, is accompanied by the sweet and dreamy, at times aggressive orchestra arranged by George Martin.

In conclusion, I would like to say that in 1999 the complete version of the soundtrack titled "Yellow Submarine Songtrack" was released, which contains other tracks present in the film including "Eleanor Rigby", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", "With A Little Help From My Friends" and others. Moreover, this new version does not include Martin's orchestrated parts.