Donovan's Interpretation Of "Yellow Submarine"

Paul's 1966 song, "Yellow Submarine" was always seen a lightweight, nonsense song.  And because The Beatles invited Marianne Faithfull, Brian Jones, and George's wife, Pattie Boyd in the studio to sing background for the song--something that went against The Beatles' very settled routine of never allowing anyone other than themselves to sing on their tracks, people thought this might be a festive, party song.  And for Beatle researchers, since the song was on our Paul and our John's last album as Beatles and there was--we thought--the suggestion that the band beginning to play on the track might be hinting about new band members on what would be the Sgt. Pepper album--we never thought about a grim undertone for the song.  But Donovan the singer, who knew The Beatles, and--no doubt--knew some of the dire strains going on behind the scenes for the band--believes the song describes a collective life for The Beatles that was much more isolated and miserable.

Donovan gave that assessment of "Yellow Submarine" in an interview he had in 2014 with Howard Stern and he reiterated it in 2016 when he toured the US and Canada.

In the interview with Stern--on Youtube at:  https://wwww.youtube.com/watch?v=hrQhMx_pxS0 , Donovan says at 1:05:53-1:06:49:

"But it's not really a submarine, you know what it . . . the song's about? . . . It's really about the life that they've been now forced in, inside their own lives in the white tower called Beatle frame and not really having any contact with reality out there anymore . . . We're actually insulated and now against the outer world.  It wasn't a very pleasant thing to be . . ."

I found in the UseNet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations version 2, compiled by Joseph Brennan a variant he found in the June 3, 1966 mono version of "Yellow Submarine" where Ringo (?) in the last line of Verse 3 instead of singing "In our yellow SUBmarine" sings, "In our yellow CLUBmarine." 

It was an extremely exclusive club that Paul could not exit alive.

John Black

As the Year of Our Lord 2017 draws to a close, I thought I'd emphasize the research I've found on the real name of our Paul by reiterating two examples of where our Paul was called JOHN [that  I first posted on November 6, 2014] and listing another example I found.

1.)  When I was among the young Beatles fans in Detroit, we heard from our Detroit deejays that Paul's first name was JOHN and that he was called by his middle name because of the confusion it would cause to have two band members named John.

2.)  The first name of real Paul--the true Paul McCartney--was JAMES.  If you look at Hunter Davies' authorized biography of The Beatles--both the first edition published in 1968 and the second edition published in 1978--you will read at the beginning of the chapter on Paul that Davies identifies Paul's first name as JOHN.

3.)  Alistair Taylor was Brian Epstein's personal assistance.  Taylor wrote several books about The Beatles.  His last book was called With The Beatles  and was published September 1, 2003.  In the book, Taylor relates a story of how FAUL (our Paul's replacement) went with Taylor and Faul's dog, Martha at dawn to a hill that overlooked London.  They were alone on this hill when they turned around to suddenly find a stranger behind them:

"He said, 'Good morning,' politely.  'My name is JOHN.'"
Paul said 'Good morning.  Mine's Paul.  This is Alistair and that's Martha the dog,' as our four-legged friend returned swiftly.
JOHN said, 'It's lovely to meet you.  Isn't this wonderful?' and he walked away."

Taylor said Faul and he looked at each other and when they turned to see where the man went, he had vanished--completely disappeared.  Taylor said he and Faul were totally baffled by this experience.
Alistair Taylor believed this incidence was Faul's inspiration for the song, "Fool On The Hill."  As I've said in my post of April 29, 2016, I think "Fool On The Hill" was written about our Paul.


The main contribution I believe I've made to date in this mystery of our Paul is that our Paul's real name was JOHN BLACK.

So as we enter the New Year, let's resolve to push for the truth to be told of the young man who won our hearts.

 

JOHN BLACK (Paul McCartney)

Forever Young

 

 

                                                           

                                                          - - - paulumbo

Faul As A Young Man --Another Photo

As I said in my January 22, 2016 post I think Faul (the last--and current--Paul) wants to bring HIS life out of the shadows, so to speak, and establish his own identity before the public.  So slowly early photos of Faul are being published.  I found this one on Pinterest, taken sometime no doubt in the mid-1950's.  Definitely Faul (with the longer face and distinctive lips.)  If the photo was taken in, say, 1955, Faul would have been ~20 years old.

 

Much More To Come

I have been busy exploring a very interesting aspect of The Beatles' collective life that has been casually discussed but not at all well explored.  As with all of the obscure comings and goings of The Beatles, this is taking odd twists and turns, and I've been tracking down the best information I can get.  So there is much more to come.


                                                               ---paulumbo




                                               

"John" Mentioned Bill's Name in 1966.

As anyone who's interested in the Paul mystery knows there has been speculation as to the name of our Paul's replacement.  If you check YouTube you will find George mentioning the name Bill or Faul (fake Paul) and one other reference of the name Bill in Faul's film, Give My Regards To Broad Street.  I have found a 1966 interview where the  new, new John says the name BILL.  The title of the YouTube video is John Lennon Interview In Almeria, Spain (1966).

I call the last John (the John of ~ September, 1966-on) pinched-nosed John because of the curious "revised" nose that this John had. (See photo, below.)

Well, this John acted in a movie called How I Won The War, filmed in Spain and Germany in 1966.

In an interview with Fred Robbins, an entertainment reporter for a syndicated radio show, this John says the following:
     Fred Robbins:  "Does this mean that all of the boys are going to be trying different things as you go along, John?"  5:27-5:31
     "John":  " Well, I can't speak for BILL, as you know [OR:  BILL S. , you know], but George has just got back from India."  5:31-5:37

So "John" in 1966 was confirming that the new Paul's first name was BILL.
 
.

Other Voices, Part 22: George, Again

Because I think our Paul might have been replaced in early, July, 1966 while The Beatles had a 70-minute stop-over in Hong Kong en route to Manila, I started looking for solo Beatle songs about Hong Kong.  I found one.

George worked on a solo album from March, 1980-February, 1981 called Somewhere In England.  On it, he did a cover of songwriter Hoagy Carmichael's 1944 song, "Hong Kong Blues."

The lyrics of the song talk about a man who was arrested in Hong Kong and spent 20 years in jail for drug use.

There are several things going on in George's singing that song.

One thing is the line in the song that says, "I need someone to love me, need somebody to carry me home to San Francisco and bury my body there."

I read the lyrics to the song and listened carefully to George's subtle changes of them.

I suspected there was a reason for George changing the lyrics, so I listened to the song backwards.  At 1:42-1:44 in the reversed song, George says:  "PAUL, TAKE ME BACK."

If you have knowledge of some of the Paul-Is-Dead clues that The Beatles worked into four years' worth of songs from 1966-1970, you know of the so-called White Album that had a curious snippit of a song called "Can You Take Me Back" that cross-faded into the major Paul-Is-Dead song, "Revolution 9."  Major because--played backwards--it hinted STRONGLY that our Paul died.  George--according to a Wikipedia  article--contributed spoken vocals, tape loops, sound effects and electric guitar work on "Revolution 9."

The lyrics of "Can You Take Me Back"--Faul's intro to "Revolution 9"-- are:
     Can you take me back where I came from?
     Can you take me back?
     Can you take me back where I came from?
     Brother, can you take me back?
     Can you take me back?
     Can you take me back where I came from?
     Can you take me back?

George could have been mocking Faul and Faul's drug arrest in Japan in January, 1980.  In other words, Faul mocked Paul's removal from the group and this was George's come-uppance to Faul.

But it could also have been George's sorrowful remembrance of the "brother" he lost in 1966.






Note:  I originally found the Youtube video for "Hong Kong Blues" at https://youtube.com/watch?v=dEmlQRh8VGs.  This video is no longer available, but I found another Youtube video of the song at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9Rfvc9yqBo .

Junior's Farm

Faul and his group Wings released a song called "Junior's Farm" in October, 1974.  He recorded the song in July, 1974 in Nashville, TN.

The story was that Faul stayed at Curly Putman Jr's farm, (Putman was a Nashville songwriter), during Wings recording of the song and that that was the reason the song got its name.

OR,  it could be Faul was referencing the farm he acquired from our Paul after Paul was replaced in 1966. 

As I said in the "Albert Goldman's Clues of 1968, Part 1" post [July 24, 2017], Faul was, of course, aware that Paul was much younger than him:  from my research and calculations by about nine years.  Our Paul was very much Faul's junior (and also the youngest member ever in The Beatles.)

Faul and his family liked to go and "lay low' at the Scottish farm that our Paul had just before he "left" the group, so I think Faul may have been thinking about Paul when he wrote "Junior's Farm".