Looking back on the rivalry between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones feels more cute than anything else. They may have had their times where they would gripe at each other in the press, but the main goal behind each of them was to bring the British invasion to the forefront of culture, with the Fab Four eventually gifting The Stones their first hit with ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’. Mick Jagger had standards as a songwriter, and he thought that some of his friends’ attempts at whimsy sounded a bit too trite on ‘Yellow Submarine’.
Granted, The Rolling Stones were always a band with a severe lack of whimsy. Even when they tried their hand at making baroque music on albums like Between the Buttons, they were still the kind of band that felt like the tough guy attempting to dress up nice for a date instead of genuinely sincere.
The Fab Four could be just as wild as The Stones behind the scenes, but Lennon and McCartney could pull off that kind of whimsy whenever they wanted to. Even though McCartney would often take it too far when working on songs like ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’, efforts like ‘Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite’ and ‘Hello Goodbye’ are still brilliant pieces of friendlier rock.
Even as the band entered their psychedelic raga rock phase on Revolver, they still had time for softer material on ‘Yellow Submarine’. Despite the psychedelic sound effects, giving the song to Ringo Starr to sing was perfect, taking his (comparatively) weaker voice and letting him sing the kind of song that wouldn’t feel out of place on a kid’s show.
Although some of the Stones ended up visiting the sessions while the band were working on the tune, Marianne Faithfull recalled that Jagger wasn’t that enamoured with this kind of tune, writing in her memoir Memories, Dreams and Reflections, “He’d never put their music down. Well, of ‘Yellow Submarine’ or those whimsical Beatle songs, he might say, ‘Now that is a bit silly.’ I never thought so; I loved it, still do. Also, something like ‘With a Little Help from My Friends,’ but these are obviously not the sort of things the Stones would be into.”
While the first half of The Stones’ albums involved them basically taking everything The Beatles did and making a more dangerous version, the second half of their classic period involved them going in a much different direction. The Beatles could still make great songs like ‘The Long and Winding Road’ with a bit of schmaltz, but Jagger was too busy writing tracks like ‘Bitch’ and ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ instead.
When they did decide to break out of the softer material, Jagger was looking to get back to the world of the country and write tunes that could break people’s hearts. The Beatles had their fair share of great ballads, but Jagger connected more to the sour side of love on songs like ‘Wild Horses’ than he ever would have when looking at the lighthearted side of The Beatles.
Because The Stones were never about being lighthearted. It was always about making music that felt tough, and considering their reputation, they weren’t going to be caught dead writing something that sounded like it could be sung by kids and grandparents alike.
