In the town where I was born
Lived a man who sailed to sea
And he told us of his life
In the land of submarines
So we sailed on to the sun
'Til we found a sea of green
And we lived beneath the waves
In our yellow submarine

We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

And our friends are all aboard
Many more of them live next door
And the band begins to play

We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

Full steam ahead, Mister Boatswain, full steam ahead
Full steam ahead it is, Sergeant
(Cut the cable, drop the cable)
Aye-aye, sir, aye-aye
Captain, captain

As we live a life of ease (a life of ease)
Every one of us (every one of us)
Has all we need (has all we need)
Sky of blue (sky of blue)
And sea of green (sea of green)
In our yellow (in our yellow)
Submarine (submarine, aha)

We all live in a yellow submarine
A yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
A yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine


Lyrics submitted by Ice

Yellow Submarine Lyrics as written by Paul Mccartney John Lennon

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Yellow Submarine song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

255 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +4
    General Comment

    I love the Beatles!!

    redcabooseon May 27, 2009   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    OK kids. This is a song simply about living on a tour bus. We in the biz refer to long bus rides as a "submarine ride." The first tour busses were the old school busses. The phrase "many more of them live next door."is a referal to the crew bus. Taken in this pretext it's simply a song about life on the road. Most songs like this are taken from real life situations and are written from the perspective of everyday occurances. Most musicians live in the moment and are not as introspective as one would assume. Look for the simplistic and you will find most of the meanings to songs are just that, simple.

    Ruralfreedon November 30, 2006   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I hate how everyone says its so simple, childish, and a bad song. it seems that way but it does have meanings,but no im not talking abnout how its about LCD and that its in the lyrics. that is totally wrong, (probably, you never know with the beatles.) because they did that in Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. so why would they do that in thius song too? that would be pretty wierd. but thats just my opinion.

    musiclover413on February 06, 2010   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Okay, I apparently understand a very different meaning for this song than everyone else, so I'm going to point it out:

    In the town where I was born Lived a man who sailed to sea And he told us of his life In the land of submarines So we sailed up to the sun Till we found a sea of green And we lived beneath the waves In our yellow submarine -"Where I lived there was a man who sold drugs and he told us about it, so we tried them until we were really high."

    We all live in a yellow submarine Yellow submarine, yellow submarine We all live in a yellow submarine Yellow submarine, yellow submarine -"We are all really high."

    And our friends are all aboard Many more of them live next door And the band begins to play -"So, because we liked it we told our friends and they joined us and now we are all happy and addicted."

    As we live a life of ease Every one of us has all we need Sky of blue and sea of green In our yellow submarine -"And we are high, and everyone else is high too on the drug."

    brais11392on June 21, 2016   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    A lot of people are saying this song doesn't have a meaning... Well I think it does, actually. Its just you need some background information to understand it. But hey, I might be wrong.

    I heard somewhere that the military used to use yellow submarines for target practice, they painted it yellow because it was easier to see against the blue or green water. So the yellow submarines were just target practice that ended up getting hit and ruined all the time.

    If they DID base the song off that bit of information, then the song makes a lot more sense, to me... Its kinda a sad song, if its true... But it doesn't sound sad, so maybe the yellow submarine thing is just a coincidence.

    DreamGeniuson June 23, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    ''We all are really really high we are all really really high''

    Alec2234on June 13, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    thespacemanliveson October 21, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    this song is as hard as it is easy to understand.

    it is simply about life. were all riding it, and theres nothng more to do than to live it and enjoy it:)

    few people can mwrite a song so simple, but in the same time genious!

    GroveGon January 13, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    holy shit. what has become of the people that once favored true artistic brilliance. which by all practical means is applying the simplest of notions and disguising them as absurdities. Look deep into this song, only a fool would aloof from this interpetation ;)

    In the town where I was born

    Lived a man who sailed the sea/ the chances we take that offer risk and fulfillment, yet the reprecussions are still unknown to that moment

    And he told us of his life/ the glits, the glam, all those luxuries you once promised yourself would still be attainable after straying from the ranch

    In the land of submarines/ land of the unknown, all you know is the "submarine" your in

    So we sailed on to the sun/ taking the high road, which ever fancies your utopian primrose path

    Until we found the sea of green/ the promised land? the moment where it all makes sense And we lived beneath the waves/ accepting that reality and enjoying it In our yellow submarine

    ...idk what do you guys think

    sensiblyadjacenton October 16, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I cant believe almost you all think this is a childish song you ignorant douches. this song has so many meanings, besides the acid trip theory. when the beatles wrote this the social revolution was starting and all their songs had to do with capitalism and freedom. "sea of green" means money, "beneath the waves" means that they were sheltered from the rest of the world. the yellow submarine is a metaphor for the subarban life style many people were trying to get away from or trying to change. "As we live a life of ease Everyone of us has all we need Sky of blue and sea of green In our yellow submarine"

    the first line just says that everyone was content living that sheltered life where "everyone of us has all we need" , between the clean clear blue skies and lots of money, we life in our yellow submarines. Even teh line "and all our friends are all aboard, many more of them live next door." is explaining the same ideas of peaople that are just trapped in their lives... no beatles song was just to have fun.. because the only way they had fun was buy writting these fucking masterpeieces

    raprapon January 20, 2011   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
Magical
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Album art
Blue
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Album art
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.