Musical Mondays Week 83 Yellow Submarine

[Cameron H. 23786]

We all know that The Beatles were amazing musicians, but did you also know they were a bunch of dorks?

We watched:

[Cam Bert 8145]

I would have never guessed that of all the Beatles Ringo would have gotten the most screen time. Probably because he had the most puns.

[Cameron H. 23786]

Just now, Cam Bert said:

I would have never guessed that of all the Beatles Ringo would have gotten the most screen time. Probably because he had the most puns.

Honestly, Ringo was, for a long time, the most popular Beatle. He would get the most fan letters and the most screen time in ALL of the Beatles movies.* He gets a huge solo scene in A Hard Days Night, the plot of Help (such as it is) revolves around one of his rings, and even though it doesn't really have a story at all, Magical Mystery Tour is about him taking his Aunt on a bus tour. The only movie I'm not too sure about is Let it Be, but that's more of a documentary.

[Cameron H. 23786]

I just want to everyone to remember the OTHER Beatles cartoon. One that had, if possible, even more puns per line.

 

[Cam Bert 8145]

10 minutes ago, Cameron H. said:

Honestly, Ringo was, for a long time, the most popular Beatle. He would get the most fan letters and the most screen time in ALL of the Beatles movies.* He gets a huge solo scene in A Hard Days Night, the plot of Help (such as it is) revolves around one of his rings, and even though it doesn't really have a story at all, Magical Mystery Tour is about him taking his Aunt on a bus tour. The only movie I'm not too sure about is Let it Be, but that's more of a documentary.

As the Beatles guy why do you think that is? I mean he's not the most conventionally handsome of the bunch. My theory would be that he does seem to be the most outgoing of them all though.

[Cameron H. 23786]

9 minutes ago, Cam Bert said:

As the Beatles guy why do you think that is? I mean he's not the most conventionally handsome of the bunch. My theory would be that he does seem to be the most outgoing of them all though.

I think he has a very unique face which is often better than traditionally handsome features (see: Adam Driver). I also think there's something about him, his height, his face, and his sense of humor, that just made him seem more approachable. Although, from what I understand, he was one of the grouchier of the four when it came to fans. He's also the only Beatle that ever really showed any aptitude and desire to be an actor. The rest are okay, but he is a bit more natural at it. 

[Cam Bert 8145]

I did find it very funny that Ringo at the start of the movie was bemoaning how nothing exciting or interesting happens to him and then he goes to his house. In the house he's driving a car, giant things going from room to room, King Kong, etc. No wonder the streets of Liverpool are boring and nothing seems to happen if that's your house.

[Cameron H. 23786]

1 minute ago, Cam Bert said:

I did find it very funny that Ringo at the start of the movie was bemoaning how nothing exciting or interesting happens to him and then he goes to his house. In the house he's driving a car, giant things going from room to room, King Kong, etc. No wonder the streets of Liverpool are boring and nothing seems to happen if that's your house.

I love how in the movies, the Beatles always live together. 

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

1 hour ago, Cameron H. said:

I think he has a very unique face which is often better than traditionally handsome features (see: Adam Driver). I also think there's something about him, his height, his face, and his sense of humor, that just made him seem more approachable. Although, from what I understand, he was one of the grouchier of the four when it came to fans. He's also the only Beatle that ever really showed any aptitude and desire to be an actor. The rest are okay, but he is a bit more natural at it. 

Ringo?  Do you mean Bongo?  Here John tries to joke along.

 

[grudlian. 4725]

This is probably my least favorite Beatle movie. I only saw it once at probably the height of my Beatle fandom and it didn't do much for me. It's probably their weakest set of songs and I'm not super into the animation style.

[Cam Bert 8145]

1 minute ago, grudlian. said:

This is probably my least favorite Beatle movie. I only saw it once at probably the height of my Beatle fandom and it didn't do much for me. It's probably their weakest set of songs and I'm not super into the animation style.

This is something you and Cameron can speak to more but it felt like four hits and four b-sides to me. Not that the ones I was unfamiliar with were bad but it seemed like a majority of them were like "Oh, curious never heard this one before" or "This sounds oddly familiar..."

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I'm gonna start with how this movie was actually my introduction to the Beatles as a child.

So my aunt and uncle were babysitting me, my aunt being legitimately like 9 months pregnant (may not seem relevant but it is later). I do not remember how the conversation started but I believe they made a reference that I didn't get (I was only 9 years old at the time) and when they asked me if I had heard of the Beatles I shrugged and said no. Of course they were livid with my mom and sat me down on the couch and said that the first thing to do was watch Yellow Submarine. I was petty much hooked and delighted of course by the colors and the music, but the blue meanies genuinely did scare the shit out of me. Because my aunt was so pregnant my uncle continuously called her a blue meanie because one of them looked like this.

After that they played the music in their house and I was properly introduced to the wonderful catalog of The Beatles, and I never looked back.

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

I always loved the animation but when I watched it last year or so for the first time as an adult, I was basically appalled at the voice actors who sounded so bored and uncharming, which is like the opposite of what Beatles should be

[Cam Bert 8145]

1 minute ago, AlmostAGhost said:

I always loved the animation but when I watched it last year or so for the first time as an adult, I was basically appalled at the voice actors who sounded so bored and uncharming, which is like the opposite of what Beatles should be

This! I love the visuals of the film but the Beatles themselves just mostly felt dull and I think it was because there was no real emotion or anything to their delivery. Then you have the real Beatles at the end and in that short clip bring so much life to it all I was like "Where was this earlier?"

[grudlian. 4725]

14 minutes ago, Cam Bert said:

This is something you and Cameron can speak to more but it felt like four hits and four b-sides to me. Not that the ones I was unfamiliar with were bad but it seemed like a majority of them were like "Oh, curious never heard this one before" or "This sounds oddly familiar..."

Most of the soundtrack was either previously released hits, orchestra music by George Martin and a handful of songs that were recorded but unreleased. I want to say All Together Now or Hey Bulldog might have been recorded for the movie but maybe they weren't (not positive either way).

The Beatles were not interested in doing the movie since they didn't like the Beatles cartoon show. So, they didn't do much of anything for this until they happened to watch the movie and liked it. That's the only reason the All Together Now sequence even exists.

[Cameron H. 23786]

24 minutes ago, Cam Bert said:

This is something you and Cameron can speak to more but it felt like four hits and four b-sides to me. Not that the ones I was unfamiliar with were bad but it seemed like a majority of them were like "Oh, curious never heard this one before" or "This sounds oddly familiar..."

I wouldn't call them B-Sides (as I like them all, especially "It's All Too Much"), but, yeah, the newer songs were basically, for The Beatles anyway, throwaways. What happened was the Beatles were under contract with United Artists to do three movies, but The Beatles didn't like Help! (Their second film) So in order to fulfill their obligation they were like, "Okay, do an animated movie, and we will give you a couple of songs," and to satisfy the stipulation that the  actually "appeared" in the movie, they filmed the little coda at the end.

I like all of the music in Yellow Submarine, but I think of it more as a musical security blanket than an actual film. The plot is pretty generic and the voice acting isn't fantastic. It's more about the images and the music washing over you. However, if you're not really into the Beatles, I can see it being kind of "meh."   

[Cameron H. 23786]

What always amazes me about The Beatles, as someone who wasn't alive when this was all happening, is just how much they changed in such a short period of time. I always tend to think of them in terms of Pre and Post Sgt Pepper, as if these are two separate epochs, when it all kind of happened all at once. Like, the oldest song in this movie is "Nowhere Man" which seems almost like baby Beatles with their matching haircuts, but it was only about three years old by the time Yellow Submarine came out.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

How much should Yellow Submarine be tied into the Sgt. Pepper album?  I remember Nowhere Man from the Sgt. Pepper movie and the Blue Meanies (referenced as the Blue People) in Across the Universe.  I juggled three movies in my head as I watched it.  I really enjoyed the first part (up to the Beatles getting into the submarine) and the last (the fight for Pepperland).  The rest, floating around somewhere, lost me.

[Cameron H. 23786]

15 minutes ago, Cinco DeNio said:

How much should Yellow Submarine be tied into the Sgt. Pepper album?  I remember Nowhere Man from the Sgt. Pepper movie and the Blue Meanies (referenced as the Blue People) in Across the Universe.  I juggled three movies in my head as I watched it.  I really enjoyed the first part (up to the Beatles getting into the submarine) and the last (the fight for Pepperland).  The rest, floating around somewhere, lost me.

Not really at all. They’re their own separate things. Yellow Submarine is a lot of meta jokes and Easter Eggs, but that’s as far as it connects to anything.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I think some of the songs are maybe "b-sides" which I would just as a catchall term for "lesser known" but I wouldn't say that about Eleanor Rigby or All You Need is Love. Maybe I'm just naive since I think those songs are hits but if you think about it terms of their actual hits then yeah maybe they aren't the ones people expected to be thrown in a movie.

Also is it just me or is Eleanor Rigby a really depressing way to start an animated movie?

[Cameron H. 23786]

14 minutes ago, taylor anne photo said:

I think some of the songs are maybe "b-sides" which I would just as a catchall term for "lesser known" but I wouldn't say that about Eleanor Rigby or All You Need is Love. Maybe I'm just naive since I think those songs are hits but if you think about it terms of their actual hits then yeah maybe they aren't the ones people expected to be thrown in a movie.

Also is it just me or is Eleanor Rigby a really depressing way to start an animated movie?

I thought it was interesting in the sense that it was played over scenes of London being very drab and uniform, a direct contrast to Pepperland and The Beatles house of whackiness. Almost like, if we let the Blue Meanies win, Pepperlan will become just as stuffy as London.

[JammerLea 2070]

I rewatched this last night and my roommate had a hard time getting through it, but I still love it lol Yeah, the stories is pretty mediocre, but the animation and bizarre creativity that went into it is really fun to me, maybe because I'm an artist lol.

I'd say this definitely introduced me to a few of the lesser known songs too.

Again there were originally two versions of this movie, as the US version had the "Hey, Bulldog" sequence cut. I originally saw it on VHS from a movie rental so I missed out on that. I finally got to see it when it was finally rereleased in full in 1999 and I think it's probably my favorite part now (and one of my favorite songs). The four-headed dog is pretty cute somehow.

 

This also inspired me to reupload my old Yellow Submarine website, so here's that in mostly unedited embarrassment. Please don't share, it is not good. XD;

[Cameron H. 23786]

4 hours ago, JammerLea said:

I rewatched this last night and my roommate had a hard time getting through it, but I still love it lol Yeah, the stories is pretty mediocre, but the animation and bizarre creativity that went into it is really fun to me, maybe because I'm an artist lol.

I'd say this definitely introduced me to a few of the lesser known songs too.

Again there were originally two versions of this movie, as the US version had the "Hey, Bulldog" sequence cut. I originally saw it on VHS from a movie rental so I missed out on that. I finally got to see it when it was finally rereleased in full in 1999 and I think it's probably my favorite part now (and one of my favorite songs). The four-headed dog is pretty cute somehow.

 

This also inspired me to reupload my old Yellow Submarine website, so here's that in mostly unedited embarrassment. Please don't share, it is not good. XD;

Yeah, I can’t imagine people without a predisposition toward either The Beatles or the artwork would appreciate Yellow Submarine very much. Again, I’m not really watching it for a plot or story. I like the music and the images and the weird faux-Beatle mutterings are like ASMR for me.

[JammerLea 2070]

26 minutes ago, Cameron H. said:

Yeah, I can’t imagine people without a predisposition toward either The Beatles or the artwork would appreciate Yellow Submarine very much. Again, I’m not really watching it for a plot or story. I like the music and the images and the weird faux-Beatle mutterings are like ASMR for me.

Yeah, I agree with that. The Peter Max-like artstyle isn't exactly the easiest on the eyes, though I find it fun. The characters, including The Beatles, aren't particularly cute in it. It does lend itself to the surreal settings at least. While watching last night I joked that the artists were asked to draw their nightmares lol

The imagination does impress me though. I'd love to know more about the painting process for "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". 

I think for me the Sea of Science's "Only a Northern Song" is the least interesting,  visually and just... in general. Doesn't seem like there's much science to it lol

[Cameron H. 23786]

39 minutes ago, JammerLea said:

Yeah, I agree with that. The Peter Max-like artstyle isn't exactly the easiest on the eyes, though I find it fun. The characters, including The Beatles, aren't particularly cute in it. It does lend itself to the surreal settings at least. While watching last night I joked that the artists were asked to draw their nightmares lol

The imagination does impress me though. I'd love to know more about the painting process for "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". 

I think for me the Sea of Science's "Only a Northern Song" is the least interesting,  visually and just... in general. Doesn't seem like there's much science to it lol

Yeah, that was a pretty basic sequence, although maybe for the time it was cool? It also doesn’t help the “Only a Northern Song” (which I like, btw) was a George Harrison “Fuck you” to people making more money off his music than he was.