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Hear John Lennon (?!) Sing ‘Yellow Submarine’ From Revolver Reissue

Also out today is an alternate take of 'Got To Get You Into My Life'
Photo: Apple Corps Ltd.

More than 50 years after their breakup, the Beatles are still full of surprises. Today (Oct. 21), the group unveiled two of the 31 previously unreleased tracks from the upcoming reissue of its classic 1966 album Revolver, one of which is a 64-second fragment of John Lennon singing what would become the first verse of “Yellow Submarine.” The track was famously sung by drummer Ringo Starr on Revolver, and the existence of a Lennon-sung version had been unknown even to Beatles devotees.

Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, Lennon recasts the jolly, kid-friendly Revolver version of “Yellow Submarine” into something much more melancholy, singing alternate lyrics such as “In the place where I was born / No one cared, no one cared / And the name that I was born / No one cared, no one cared.” Much in the same way that so much of the Beatles’ most beloved work came to life, McCartney wrote the song’s chorus and tacked it onto Lennon’s framework for the verses.

Also out today is what’s dubbed as the “Second Version” of “Get To Get You Into My Life,” which is seven seconds longer than the final take from Revolver. This version is missing the horn parts later played by trumpeters Eddie Thornton, Ian Hamer, and Les Condon, and saxophonists Alan Branscombe and Peter Coe, with George Harrison playing that melody on guitar instead. It also has a different fadeout vocal from McCartney.

As previously reported, Revolver will be available in six different editions on Oct. 28, all of which feature a new mix by Giles Martin and Sam Okell. According to a post from the band’s Twitter account, “the new stereo mix, sourced directly from the original four-track master tapes, is brought forth in stunning clarity with the help of cutting edge de-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson’s WingNut Films Productions Ltd.” Jackson utilized this technology to great effect on his Emmy-winning 2021 documentary Get Back.