143: Yellow Submarine at 50

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8 responses to “143: Yellow Submarine at 50”

1. August 11, 2018

   Tony aka Pismotality

   Enjoyed this very much from start to finish – time really whizzed by. Such gracious interviewees engaged in a worthwhile task and so many details I didn’t know: a tale, or intertwined tales, of kindness and selfishness.

   The talk towards the end about comic book versions reminds me that in Britain we had The Yellow Submarine Gift Book, the same size and feel as the many British children’s comic annuals of the time. I read it with enormous pleasure on Christmas Morning 1968 – can such absolute immersion (no pun intended) ever be experienced again? That said, I still recall being struck by the ironic tone (not that my ten year old self would have identified it as such) of the line “They were the fabulous Beatles who we know and love!”, which makes me wonder whether Roger McGough (not credited in the book either) had sole, or main, responsibility for that particular version of the tale. The artwork quality varied from page to page so presumably its creators were up against the clock like the makers of the cartoon but the standard generally was pretty good; I’ve read online that Heinz Edelmann was responsible for at least one of the pages. Still haven’t read the American paperback or any of the other versions.

   BTW, I thought the Revolver artwork anecdote was going to end with Joe Walsh graciously returning it to Klaus Voorman – though I suppose the “colorising” joke could be seen either as cruel or, if we’re being charitable, merely Walsh’s quirky way of affirming the importance of the original …

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2. August 15, 2018

   Syd Vliet

   The BBC always showed the European print with “Hey Bulldog” still intact in the 1970s and 1980s, but I think the American print – which we got here on VHS in 1987 – did have a brief section towards the end (after you hear the snatch of “Baby You’re a Rich Man”) that wasn’t included on the 1999 DVD, Ringo blows a trumpet, Paul says “Beatles to Battle!” and then you see the Meanies’ cannons and guns failing, firing flowers and positive words instead of ammunition. Was this on the Blu-Ray?. I can’t remember now if that little bit was in the original European print, probably not.

   I first saw it as a 12 year old on BBC2 at a time when the likes of Haircut 100, Duran Duran, UB40 and Bananarama were popular, I was completely and utterly gobsmacked. It literally changed my life. I’d had a vague idea of The Beatles existence as a kid in the 1970s but was under the impression that “Oldies But Goldies” had been the final statement. The closest I’d got to experiencing the love and peace era was Roger (Deep Purple) Glover’s video for “Butterfly Ball” which I’d seen several times in the mid-1970s and it made a very big impression on me, but YS was the real deal.

   Anyway, thanks for this episode. One of the absolute best.

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   1. August 22, 2018

      Tony aka Pismotality

      I taped the audio of a BBC broadcast of Yellow Submarine, probably 1976, and I do recall the “Beatles to battle!” line.

      Reply
3. August 25, 2018

   Bogan

   I’d be surprised if the oscilloscope in the ‘Only A Northern Song’ sequence did not in any way find its way into the ‘scope effect’ visualisation feature on Windows Media Player.

   An example : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfJX562m0AU

   It sounds like a long shot in today’s world of powerful PC’s but back when WMP was first invented, before the days of being able to watch ‘proper’ videos on your computer, it’s a simple yet visually compelling thing – ‘..And The Beatles did it and it was kinda trippy, so let’s do it, too.’

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4. September 1, 2018

   Anthony

   Keeping the good stuff that matters alive! Always in glorious detail.
   However, one tiny omission on this one if I may: when talking about the JS Bach sequence in Yellow Submarine, I don’t think you mentioned the Hamlet cigar reference. This was probably lost on american audiences. An extremely minor point compared with the wealth of information you are generously sharing with us! Thank you for this wonderful podcast and to your excellent guests for their work on Yellow Submarine.

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5. September 1, 2018

   Michael Evangeline

   What a brilliant podcast! Love your thesis guys.

   Reply
6. September 7, 2018

   Tom Yanowitz

   So does the upcoming contains everything that was in the first one or do we need both ?

   By the way, has anyone else noticed the similarities in speech and character traits between the Boob and the Maharishi ?
   I know it probably wasn’t inspired by him given the dates but till, same way of talking, same guru-like know-it-allism.

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   1. September 10, 2018

      Us

      Total sequel – no overlap. Stuff that didn’t make it into the first volume, plus all kinds of new material.

      Kinda like my Fab Four FAQ 2.0 and Solo in the 70s books – companion volumes, but also freestanding.

      TOTALLY agree with the Boob/MMY comparisons. Synchronicity!

      Reply