Hear John Lennon sing 'Yellow Submarine', not Ringo Starr

Virgin Radio

24 Oct 2022, 06:16

It's a radical reworking of a classic Beatles tune.

The Beatles have unveiled a previously unheard demo of 'Yellow Submarine', sung by John Lennon, ahead of their expanded reissue of Revolver, set to be released on Friday, October 28th.

But there are differences to this version of the song, the original having been sung by drummer Ringo Starr and straddling the line between novelty pop song and children's nursery rhyme.

In this minute long solo version Lennon turns up the melancholy, singing softly about the town in which he was born, where “no one cared, no one cared.”

Hear it below.

This special edition of Revolver also includes another version of 'Yellow Submarine' with Lennon and [Paul] McCartney singing the song as a duet.

“I [was] given the keys to Abbey Road and the Beatles’ vault and was allowed to go into the tapes – and it’s just amazing,” remix album producer Giles Martin - son of late Beatles producer George Martin - said at an earlier listening event.

The 53 year old said, “It’s such an amazing body of work. There’s such energy that comes out of all of the tapes. My kind of role is like: Everyone should be able to hear that energy.” 

He continued; “The whole album is them saying, ‘Hey, let’s make it all completely different,’” Martin told Rolling Stone. “This was the nitroglycerine that blew everything up.” 

Martin has been remixing re-released Beatles records for years now, and there's still plenty in the vault that we're yet to hear. Let's hope he and they never run out!