Remember When: The Beatles Culled Together Some Leftovers for the 'Yellow Submarine
You would think The Beatles, as successful as they were, would have enjoyed some sort of autonomy about what they did or didn’t want to do when they were at the height of their popularity. That wasn’t always the case. For example, they were forced to come up with new material for the soundtrack to Yellow Submarine, a 1968 animated movie based on their music.
The fact that they had zero to do with making the movie didn’t excuse them from having to contribute songs to the project. They obliged with some leftovers and throwaways. But, this being The Beatles, even those songs turned out to be pretty special. Here’s how it all went down.
The Beatles lucked out in that Yellow Submarine, a film over which they little control (not that they wanted to deal with it anyway) turned out as well as it did. Even though the actors hired to do the voices of the Fab Four didn’t always sound like them, the whimsical tale (beware those villainous Blue Meanies) and psychedelic animation charmed audiences.
Those audiences probably didn’t realize the group only agreed to the film because they were contractually obligated to do one more picture. While the animated film was being made in 1967, they were too busy with making their own music and a television movie of their own devising (Magical Mystery Tour) to give any input to the film’s producers.
To satisfy those producers, the group agreed to provide four songs for the soundtrack. In addition, there would be several cuts from their catalog used in the film. George Martin, the group’s producer, also came up with orchestral music for the film’s score.
Source: Jim Beviglia /americansongwriter.com
