Mellow Yellow (album) previously illustrated his infatuation with an ability to define the mid-sixties pop music scene. On "Mellow Yellow" this is still evident in "Sunny South Kensington", "Museum" (originally recorded for the "Sunshine Superman album" and rerecorded for "Mellow Yellow") and the title track, but is also tempered with world-weary observations of that scene ("Young Girl Blues"). The contractual problems that prevented the release of Donovan's music in the UK led him to write such songs as the resigned "Writer in the Sun", where he contemplates the possibility of his own forced retirement from the music industry at the age of 20.
Yellow Submarine (song) a story, sort of an ancient mariner, telling the young kids where he'd lived. It was pretty much my song as I recall ... I think John helped out. The lyrics got more and more obscure as it goes on, but the chorus, melody and verses are mine." The song began as being about different coloured submarines, but evolved to include only a yellow one. Produced by George Martin and engineered by Geoff Emerick, "Yellow Submarine" was recorded in five takes on 26 May 1966, in Studio Two at Abbey Road Studios; special effects were added on 1 June. Martin