The Beatles Unveil Previously Unreleased Demo Of “Yellow Submarine” With Vocals By John Lennon Not Ringo Starr

The Beatles have unveiled previously unknown demo of “Yellow Submarine” sung by John Lennon ahead of their expanded reissue of Revolver, set to be released Friday, October 28.

This long-lost minute-long take is entirely different from the original, an ageless children’s song with lead vocals by Ringo Starr. Lennon sings “Yellow Submarine” as a melancholy piece about the town in which he was born, where “no one cared, no one cared.”

This special edition of Revolver also includes another version of “Yellow Submarine” with Lennon and [Paul] McCartney singing 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 producer Giles Martin said at an earlier listening event. “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.” The results changed the Beatles, and all of rock music, forever. “The whole album is them saying, ‘Hey, let’s make it all completely different,’” Martin tells Rolling Stone. “This was the nitroglycerine that blew everything up.” (Ultimate Classic Rock)

Stream Yellow Submarine” sung by John Lennon here.