The Beatles Album Covers – Yellow Submarine

In 1966, seven months prior to the release of this album, Yellow Submarine, the film debuted. The album was based more or less on the film. The title track Yellow Submarine had been a single on the Revolver album, and the submarine appears in the story of Sgt.Pepper’s LonelyHearts Club Band.  

The cover artwork is very typical of the psychedelic era, a collage-like display of abstract images and colours with plenty of soft edges and swirls. The four band members are decked out in their finery poised atop a surreal surface above the submarine. The submarine is their mode of transportation while adventuring under the sea to save Pepperland and defeat the “Blue Meanies” (symbolic of the police, or bad politicians). Surrounding them are other images from the Sgt. Pepper’s story.   

There has been a great deal of interpretation of the artwork used for this cover. Some believe the submarine is like a capsule, a pill to oblivion and invites listeners to partake, others say is more a symbol of an arc, where we can gather our friends and come aboard.   

The U.S. release of the album depicts a fading blue background with the nose of the submarine approaching. There are no other references to the story, and the same stylized font is used. Also, removed from the original U.K. version, is the very small script “Nothing is Real” that appears in soft green lettering below the title in the sea with the submarine. There has always been speculation as to why.  

On the back cover of the British release, there is a review of the White Album, while the US release describes a fictitious biography of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.   

The story compares the band’s battles with the Blue Meanies to other epic struggles; namely, the Writing of the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Magna Carta. There is also reference to the odyssey of Ulysses, fighting demons in his adventurers across the seas, and the ancient English tale of Beowulf fighting evil. Symbolism between these historic struggles and the Sgt. Pepper story feed plenty of interpretations.   

Album Cover Designer:   

Many animators worked on the film, and it is their contributions that made up the cover. Some believe it is reminiscent of an acid trip because of the bright, stark colours and the lettering done in a style that gives an impression of being inflated and floating. Like the pop band themselves, a lot of freedom was allowed for conceptualizing this album.   

Heinz Edelmann   

You can download The Beatles album, Yellow Submarine from iTunes here, or get the album on CD or Vinyl from Amazon here.