Albumet ’Yellow Submarine’ släpps i USA
Albumet Yellow Submarine med låtar från filmen med samma namn, släpptes denna måndag i USA och innehöll sex låtar med The Beatles och sju orkesterlåtar sammanställda av George Martin. Till skillnad från i UK släpptes inte någon monoversion av skivan i USA. Skivan fick katalognumret Apple SW-153. Skivan släpptes först den 17 januari 1969 i UK.
Skivkonvolutets framsida på den amerikanska utgåvan
De fyra nya låtarna (Only A Northern Song, All Together Now, Hey Bulldog och It’s All Too Much) med The Beatles var från början tänkt att ges ut i form av en EP. Men detta ansågs inte passa den amerikanska marknaden, så därför fick det bli ett fullängdsalbum. Albumet nådde ända upp till den amerikanska skivlistans andraplats. Den kunde inte ta sig upp till förstaplatsen, eftersom där blockerade The Beatles själva med dubbelalbumet The Beatles (The White Album),, vilken hade släppts två månader tidigare. Yellow Submarine-albumet sålde emellertid mindre än vad som var vanligt och gruppen fick kritik för att den inte gav tillräckligt värde för pengarna.
Skivkonvolutet i UK innehöll orden Nothing is real i grönt under albumets titel. Denna text var inte med på USA-utgåvan. Se ovan.
Låtförteckningen på den amerikanska LP:n bestod av sex spår på sid 2: Sea Of Time och Sea Of Holes hade satts ihop till ett medleyspår: Sea of Time & Sea of Holes.
Skivkonvolutets baksida i UK innehöll en recension av The White Album skriven av nyhetsjournalisten Tony Palmer på tidningen The Observer tillsammans med en introduktion skriven av Derek Taylor.
Skivkonvolutets baksida på UK-utgåvan.
Skivkonvolutets baksida på den amerikanska utgåvan.
Den amerikanska utgåvan innehöll en påhittad historia om Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band skapad av Dan Davis.
Somewhere during the hours between the years 700 and 750 (Domini), a brother from the Northumbrian monastery wrote a youthful thane of King Hygelac (King of the Geats) named Beowulf… a hero. A super-hero who arrived from far by sea to rescue Heorot… a feasting hall built by a benevolent old king called Hrothgar… a feasting hall that exuded the pleasures of food and music and perpetual celebration and all that was raison d’être… a feasting hall which for years had been ravaged by the villainy of an evil spirit named Grendel. Having already proven his metal as a good-guy combatant par excellence (by the conquering of a picturesque sea monster and a victory over Breca in a swimming match), Beowulf goes forth to rid the once beautiful Northumbrian landscape of destructive Grendel… a demon who indeed perishes when his arm is delicately dislodged from its socket by Mr. Wulf. The kingdom is saved (albeit after disposing of Grendel’s mother who took unkindly to the action) and Heorot restored with the pleasures of food and music and perpetual celebration and colorful beauty… a restoration which permits bigger and better glorias to be raised to the local gods addressed as Wryds.
Some 465 years later (1215), an English king named King John signed a Magna Carta at a roost called Runnymede… an act of prodded royalty which liberated barons and bumpkins to roust with a greater degree of carefreedom.
And in 1968 – some 1,218 years anno Beo (A.B); 753 years anno Magna (A.M.); 192 years anno Declaration (A.D.) – bad people (Blue Meanies) still force their wills on good people (Pepperlanders) and demolish the human and physical landscape of beautiful pleasure domes (Pepperland). And Agnes – the inquisitive baby sitter next door in California, United States of America – will be pleased to know that there are still heros around of the calibres of Messrs. Wulf, John and Jefferson… there’s John, Paulm George and Ringo and their attending Lonely Hearts Club Band who sail from one place (Liverpool) at the invitation of a benevolent but old leader of another place (the Lord Mayor of Pepperland) to rescue the pleasures of food and music and perpetual celebration and colorful beauty from the villainous hands of less-than-beautiful people (Blue Meanies) who act under the supreme guidance of the most evil spirit (Chief Blue Meanie). The Beatles come by sea (through the Seas of Monsters, Time, Music, Science, Consumer Products, Nowhere, Green Phrenology and Holes – each puddle supporting a lively cast of characters) in a YELLOW SUBMARINE captained by Old Fred (also leader of Sgt. PLHCB) where they prove their heroic metal by outwitting a sea monster (Vacuum Man) and out-swimming competition (School of Whales) even before they reach the shores of the besieged undersea kingdom of Pepperland. Once arrived at target P., they triumph over the Chief Blue Meanie’s primary evil-tempered henchmen (par exemple: the lanky Apple Bonker who assaults his prey with Baldwin apples; the corpulent Hidden Persuader with a penchant for underhanded inscrupulence; the abdominal Snapping Turtle Turk who chomps at the slightest bit; the belligerent Butterfly Stompers who perform tasks that any evil butterfly stompers worth their soul would perform with supreme acuity). The good guys win… the hero-Beatles triumph once again and restore the pleasures of color and music and all that’s beautiful… a restoration which permits bigger and better glorias to be sung to the reigning god of Pepperland addressed as Love.
Get Back/Let It Be-sessioner: Dag 8
Det som var väntat var att George Harrison inte dök upp. Samtidigt var John Lennon frånvarade under större delen av dagen. Ringo Starr var den förste som anlände och fick snart därefter sällskap av Paul McCartney och Linda McCartney. Lennon anlände sent och till en början var han väldigt svår att nå på telefon. Slutligen fick Mal Evans igenom ett samtal så att Paul kunde prata med John.
Filmfotografen Tony Richmond, Ringo Starr, Linda och Paul McCartney och Michael Lindsay-Hogg med ryggen mot kameran.
John Lennon, Yoko Ono och Paul McCartney, Stående från vänster Mal Evans och Ringo Starr. Foto: Ethan Russell.
Paul McCartney:
It’s going to be such an incredible sort of comical thing, like in 50 years’ time. ‘They broke up ’cause Yoko sat on an amp.’ Just something like that. What? ‘You see, John kept bringing this girl along.’ What? It’s not as though there’s any sort of earth-splitting rows or anything.
Paul McCartney, Mal Evans, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono och John Lennon – Twickenham Film Studios.
Större delen av dagens inspelningar innehöll mer konversationer än musik och avslöjar mycket om de rådande tankarna inom gruppen vid den här tiden. En konversation mellan Lennon och McCartney under lunchen, visade sig vara värdefull för att förstå relationerna inom bandet. Konversationen filmades inte, men regissören Michel Lindsay-Hogg hade gömt en mikrofon i en blomkruka som stod mitt på lunchbordet. Allt ljud fångades således in och som förbereddes på bästa möjliga sätt, vilket vi kunde ta del av i Peter Jacksons dokumentärfilm Get Back 2021
Så här kunde det låta:
Lennon:
It’s like George said, he didn’t get enough satisfaction anymore, because of the compromise he had to make to be together. It’s a festering wound that we’ve allowed to… and yesterday we allowed it to go even deeper, and we didn’t give him any bandages. And when he is that far in, we have egos.
McCartney:
The thing is, that’s what I was trying to say to George, you know. Whereas previously I would have said, ‘Take it there with diddle-der-diddle-der’. But I was trying last week to say, ‘Now take it there. Anything you like. Put whatever you…’
Lennon:
You see, the point is now, we both do that to George this time, and because of the build-up to it.
McCartney:
Yeah, we treat him a bit like that. See, ’cause he knows what we’re on about. But I do think that he’s right. That’s why I think we’ve got the problem now, you know, the four of us. You go one way, George one way, and me another. But I know it’ll apply to all of us, if one day you can all be singing like you sing. George can be really playing, I mean, like he plays, not like I keep try8ing to make him play.
Lennon:
Yeah, OK, because you’re afraid that how he’ll play won’t be like you want him to play, and that’s what we do, and that’s what you do to me. And I’m not gonna tell you what to play.
McCartney:
See, that… that seems to be the trouble, is that if you’d have been able to say that on the occasion, just even to say, ‘Look, I’m not gonna say anything about the song because it’s very difficult, I’m gonna really try and now…’
Lennon:
You know, I’ve always done the numbers like that. Now, the only regret about the past numbers is when, because I’ve been so frightened, I’ve allowed you to take it somewhere where I didn’t want. And then, that my only chance was to let George take over, or interest George in it. If you give me your suggestions, let me reject them and pinch the ones I like… is where my writing side is. Same goes for the arranging. I don’t want it to… I don’t know.
McCartney:
I know, I do know. I know what you mean, yeah.
Lennon:
’Cause there was a period where none of us could actually say anything about your arrangements ’cause you would reject it all. I’d have to tell George and I would just say, you know, like you do about me. You know, ‘I’m Paul McCartney’, and a lot of the times you were right, and a lot of the times you were wrong. Same as we always are. But I can’t see the answer to that, because you’ve suddenly got it all, you see.
McCartney:
I really don’t want you…
Lennon:
Well all right. I’m just telling you what I think. I don’t The Beatles revolve around the four people. It might a f*****g job.
McCartney:
You know, but I tell you what. I tell you one thing, what I think. The main thing is this: you have always been boss. Now I’ve been, sort of, secondary boss.
Lennon:
Not always.
McCartney:
No, listen. Listen. No, always! Really, I mean, it is gonna be much better if we can actually just stick together and say, ‘Look George, on ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’ I want you to do it exactly like I play it.’ And he’ll say, ‘I’m not you, and I can’t do it exactly like you do it.’
Lennon:
But this year, what you’ve been doing, and what everybody’s been doing, I’ve not only felt guilty about the way we’re all guilty about our relationship to each other, ’cause we could do more. And look, I’m not putting any blame on you. I’ve suddenly realised this, because that was my game, you know, but goals, they’re still the same. Self-preservation, you know. I know what I like, I’ve let you do what you want and George too, you know.
McCartney:
Yeah, I know.
Lennon:
If we want him, if we do want him, I can go along with that, because the policy has kept us together.
McCartney:
Well, I don’t know, you know. See, I’m just assuming he’s coming back. If he isn’t, then he isn’t, then it’s a new problem. And probably when we’re all very old, we’ll all agree with each other, and we’ll all sing together.
Lennon erkänner att deras musik har blivit formelmässig, och kontrasterar det med spänning i at göra Revolver 1966. Framsynt påpekar han att den enda utmaningen som återstår för dem är att bli solo, även om han är osäker på att ämna The Beatles. McCartney bjuder på uppmuntrande fraser till Lennon och Starr, och säger att de ska sluta att oroa sig för småsaker i låtarna och istället koncentrera sig på att framföra låtarna så bra de bara kan. Han frågar sig också vilket som skulle vara det bästa sättet för att styra in Harrison på ett speciellt sätt att spela.
McCartney:
Jo Jo left his home in Tucson, Arizona.
Lennon:
Is Tucson in Arizona?
McCartney:
Yeah. It is, yeah. It’s where they make [Western television series] High Chaparral.
Trots en del motgångar med inspelningarna kunde Paul McCartney kosta på sig ett leende då och då.
Mal Evans, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono och John Lennon fortsätter med repetitionerna.
Efter att ha avslutat repetitionerna sa Paul: ’Okej, nu går vi hem. Vi kommer tillbaka imorgon och försöker göra något annat.’” De kom överens om att träffas i studion på tisdag klockan 11.00. Vid dagens slut förblev John optimistisk: ”Jag lämnar min favoritgitarr här för lycka till.”
De tre beatlarna km att tillbringa ännu en heldag i Twickenham innan de gav upp och övergick till Apple Studios i London.
Framföranden av delar av You’re My World, Get Back, Build Me Up Buttercup och No Other Love från den här dagen dök upp i del två av dokumentärfilmen Get Back från 2021.
Låtar som de spelade denna dag med huvudsakliga kompositörer och mest kända artister ser ut så här:
- You’re My World (Cilla Black)
- No Other Love (Rodgers-Hammerstein)
- ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ (two versions)
- ‘Otis Sleep On’ (Arthur Conley)
- ‘Baby, Come Back’ (The Equals)
- ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’ (The Foundations; three versions)
- ‘Dig A Pony’ (two versions)
- ‘Get Back’ (15 versions)
- ‘On The Road Again’ (Canned Heat)
