
The aforenoted George Harrison (1943-2001), who plays tambourine on this song as well as serving other roles, was of course The Beatles’ lead guitarist. So that means the only member of the Fab Four we haven’t mentioned thus far is Ringo Starr, who under normal circumstances is the group’s drummer but, unconventionally in the case of “Yellow Submarine”, acted as lead vocalist. The former was a model and the latter a musician, though at the time, their fame was largely attributable to romantic associations. That is to say when “Yellow Submarine” was dropped, Boyd was married to George Harrison and Faithfull was the main squeeze of Mick Jagger (of the Rolling Stones). And speaking of the Rolling Stones, also involved in this recording was the band’s original frontman, Brian Jones (1942-1969), who played the ocarina.

THE TEAM BEHIND “YELLOW SUBMARINE”Ī number of other notable figures also participated in laying down this track. That list includes Pattie Boyd and Marianne Faithfull serving as backup vocalists. Both are celebrities in their own rights.

He was a behind-the-scenes’ man who was instrumental to the group’s massive success. Meanwhile this track was produced by the late George Martin (1926-2016), who may not be as popular as the Fab Four proper but was considered ‘a Fifth Beatle’. And one of his most-recent studio albums, “McCartney III”, just came out in 2020, 40 years after the death of John Lennon, who was murdered at the age of 40 on the streets of New York.īut given that The Beatles basically ushered in the era of pop music, and Lennon was one of the main creative forces behind their success, he has endured, in memory and accomplishment, as a legend in the game nonetheless.Īlso interesting to note, even though he isn’t a credited writer of this piece, is that Donovan, a singer who was pretty hot stuff himself during the late 1960s, did make a small lyrical contribution of “Yellow Submarine”. Paul McCartney of course went on to have just about as decorated a career as a musician that one can dream of. This song was composed by the songwriting team of Paul McCartney alongside his co-Beatles’ frontman, if you will, John Lennon. The Beatles, in actuality, was somewhat of a short-lived group, only being around for decade, and so was their collaborative history between these two musical titans. In other words, this pair penned many, if not most of the Fab Four’s biggest hits.

It was given this award particularly for accomplishing the feat of achieving the “highest certified sales of any A-side in 1966”. It has also been certified platinum by the RIAA and gold in the UK and Canada. The year following its release, “Yellow Submarine” also won the prestigious Ivor Novello Award. It has been speculated that the reason it didn’t top the Hot 100 as well is because at the time The Beatles were concurrently dealing with the backlash of John Lennon putting forth that they were “more popular than Jesus”. It not only was a number one hit in a dozen countries, including of course the United Kingdom but it also achieved the number 1 spot on the US Cash Box Top 100.Īnd it charted in about 20 nations overall – a pretty amazing feat for the 1960s especially – and in the process peaked at number two on the Billboard US Hot 100. This track served as a double A-side alongside another Beatles’ classic, “ Eleanor Rigby“. But “Yellow Submarine” was more successful on its own.

“Yellow Submarine”, which was issued as a single, contributed significantly to that success and can be considered one of The Beatles’ all-around greatest hits.
