March Of The Meanies: Introduction
“March Of The Meanies” is an instrumental track from their Yellow Submarine Soundtrack album. Indeed, this is a George Martin composition from start to finish. Martin used a 41-piece orchestra to record this track, like the rest on Side 2 of the album.
In Detail
- Release Date: January 17, 1969 (UK), January 13, 1969 (US)
- Recorded: October 22nd–23rd, 1968
- Studio: Abbey Road
- Genre: Classical, orchestral
- Track Duration: 2:22
- Record Label: Apple
- Composer: George Martin
- Producer: George Martin
- Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Performers And Instruments
- George Martin: He conducts a 41-piece orchestra
Obviously, none of the Beatles took part in the recording of this instrumental track. However, the track is important to the Yellow Submarine project.
Where To Find “March Of The Meanies”
You can still buy this track, but only on the following album:
March Of The Meanies: Background
Due to the release of The Beatles’ film “Yellow Submarine,” a soundtrack album was necessary. However, we had to wait a further six months for that release. The film itself is an animated, musical fantasy comedy featuring songs from The Beatles and incidental music from George Martin.
The soundtrack album features six Beatles’ songs on side one, while on side two we get seven instrumental pieces from George Martin’s film score. “March Of The Meanies” is one of those featured instrumentals which sits as track 5 on the album between “Sea Of Monsters” and “Pepperland Laid Waste.”
The piece starts off with plenty of atmospheric suspense, guided by a percussion instrument called a marimba. Then it flows seamlessly into the main Blue Meanies march with help from the strings and brass section.
The instrumental track is a little over two minutes in length. Instrumental pieces like this prove that George Martin was an overall wizard when it comes to music. Not only was he the main man behind The Fab Four, but he also had a taste for classical music. Had The Beatles not come into his life, Martin would have been famous regardless because of his talent.
Recording Studio
On October 22, 1968, George Martin hired, arranged, and conducted a 41-piece orchestra, and they attended sessions at the Abbey Road Studios over a period of two days.
Although the film came out in July 1968, George Martin wanted to re-record the score. So the music from the album is not necessarily what is in the film, but the sentiment is there.
The soundtrack album originally came out in January 1969, complete with George Martin’s instrumental pieces. However, 30 years later, in September 1999, they released the Yellow Submarine Songtrack album, which has none of George Martin’s instrumentals.
Take A Listen
Finally, listen to this George Martin composition and leave your thoughts below.
