- US release date:
- Aug 05, 1966
- Publisher:
- Capitol
- Reference:
- 5715
Timeline
More from year 1966
Related sessions
This album has been recorded during the following studio sessions
Apr 28, 1966
Recording "Eleanor Rigby", "I'm Only Sleeping"
Apr 29, 1966
May 26, 1966
Jun 01, 1966
Jun 22, 1966
Related albums
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Track list
Side 1
1.
2:39 • Studio version • A • Mono
- Paul McCartney :
- Backing vocals, Bass
- Ringo Starr :
- Drums, Vocals
- John Lennon :
- Acoustic guitar, Backing vocals
- George Harrison :
- Backing vocals, Tambourine
- George Martin :
- Backing vocals, Producer
- Geoff Emerick :
- Backing vocals, Recording engineer, Tape loop (marching band)
- Mal Evans :
- Backing vocals, Bass drum
- Neil Aspinall :
- Backing vocals
- Pattie Boyd / Harrison :
- Backing vocals, Laughter
- Brian Jones :
- Backing vocals, Ocarina, Sound effects (clinking glasses)
- Marianne Faithfull :
- Backing vocals
- Alf Bicknell :
- Backing vocals, Sound effects (rattling chains)
- Unknown musician(s) :
- Brass band
- John Skinner :
- Sound effects (chains in bathtub)
- Terry Condon :
- Sound effects (chains in bathtub)
- Session Recording:
- May 26, 1966
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
- Session Overdubs:
- Jun 01, 1966
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
- Session Mixing:
- Jun 03, 1966
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Side 2
1.
2:07 • Studio version • A • Mono
- Paul McCartney :
- Vocals
- John Lennon :
- Harmony vocals
- George Harrison :
- Harmony vocals
- George Martin :
- Producer
- Geoff Emerick :
- Recording engineer
- Tony Gilbert :
- Violin
- Sidney Sax :
- Violin
- John Sharpe :
- Violin
- Jürgen Hess :
- Violin
- Stephen Shingles :
- Viola
- John Underwood :
- Viola
- Derek Simpson :
- Cello
- Norman Jones :
- Cello
- Session Recording:
- Apr 28, 1966
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
- Session Overdubs:
- Apr 29, 1966
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
- Session Overdubs:
- Jun 06, 1966
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
- Session Mixing:
- Jun 22, 1966
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
About
From Wikipedia:
The Beatles chose to break with their previous policy by allowing album tracks to be issued on a UK single. The “Yellow Submarine” single was the Beatles’ thirteenth single release in the United Kingdom and the first to feature Starr as lead vocalist. It was issued there on 5 August 1966 as a double A-side with “Eleanor Rigby“, and in the United States on 8 August. In both countries, Revolver was released on the same day as the single. The pairing of a novelty song and a ballad devoid of any instrumentation played by a Beatle marked a considerable departure from the content of the band’s previous singles. Unusually for their post-1965 singles also, there were no promotional films made for either of the A-sides.
According to a report in Melody Maker on 30 July, the reason for the Beatles breaking with precedent and releasing a single from Revolver was to thwart sales of cover recordings of “Eleanor Rigby”. When Harrison was asked for the reason, he replied that the group had decided to “put it out” rather than watch as “dozens” of other artists scored hits with the songs. In his NME interview in August, Martin said:
“I was keen that the track be released in some way apart from the album, but you have to realise that the Beatles aren’t usually very happy about issuing material twice in this way. They feel that they might be cheating the public … However, we got to thinking about it, and we realised that the fans aren’t really being cheated at all. Most albums have only 12 tracks; the Beatles always do 14!”
Commercial performance
The single topped sales charts around the world. The double A-side was number 1 on Record Retailer‘s chart (later adopted as the UK Singles Chart) for four weeks during a chart run of 13 weeks. On Melody Maker‘s singles chart, it was number 1 for three weeks and then spent two weeks at number 2. It was the band’s twelfth consecutive chart-topping single in the UK. Despite the double A-side status there, “Yellow Submarine” was the song recognised with the Ivor Novello Award for highest certified sales of any A-side in 1966.
In the US, the single’s release coincided with the Beatles’ final tour and, further to the controversy over the “butcher cover” originally used for the Capitol Records LP Yesterday and Today, public furore over Lennon’s “More popular than Jesus” remarks, originally published in the UK in his “How a Beatle Lives” interview with Cleave. The “Jesus” controversy overshadowed the release of the single and the album there; public bonfires were held to burn their records and memorabilia, and many radio stations refused to play the Beatles’ music. The group were also vocal in their opposition to the Vietnam War, a stand that further redefined their public image in the US. Capitol were wary of the religious references in “Eleanor Rigby”, given the ongoing controversy, and instead promoted “Yellow Submarine” as the lead side. The song peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (behind “You Can’t Hurry Love” by the Supremes) and number 1 on the charts compiled by Cash Box and Record World.
In Gould’s description, it was “the first ‘designated’ Beatles single since 1963” not to top the Billboard Hot 100, a result he attributes to Capitol’s caution in initially overlooking “Eleanor Rigby”. During the US tour, Beatles press officer Tony Barrow asked Leroy Aarons of The Washington Post to remove mention of the band’s “latest” single slipping on the charts when Aarons presented his article for their approval. In author Robert Rodriguez’s view, the radio bans were responsible for the song’s failure to top the chart. The single sold 1,200,000 copies in four weeks and, on 12 September, earned the Beatles their twenty-first US Gold Record award, a total they had achieved in just over two-and-a-half years. […]

Last updated on October 8, 2023
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