Today is Christmas Eve and we need to spread all the love we can. That’s makes today’s classic song of the day a perfect one—it’s the Beatles’ “All You Need is Love,” which was a global hit back in 1967.
John Lennon wrote this one (although, like all their tunes, it was credited to both him and Paul McCartney) for the world’s first live television link via satellite, a multi-cultural special called Our World. This special garnered an audience of more than 400 million viewers in 25 different countries around the world on Sunday June 25, 1967, and featured performances by dozens of artists of all types and genres. The Beatles’ contribution was a performance of their latest song, “All You Need is Love,” live in the studio accompanied by a small army of friends and other musicians, including d Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Richards, Keith Moon, and Graham Nash. George Martin produced and Geoff Emerick engineered.
Following the live-via-satellite performance, the Beatles released “All You Need is Love” as a single on July 7, 1967. It went to #1 on the charts in Australia, Austria, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, West Germany, the UK, and, in the United States, on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100.
Lennon’s message was a simple one—as the title states, no matter what else is going on in life, all you need is love to get through it all. Musically, the song’s verses are in 7/4 (or alternating measures of four and three, if you prefer to count it that way) with the choruses in straight 4/4. It feels natural, not at all odd. The arrangement (provided by George Martin) includes snippets of “La Marseillaise” (the French national anthem), “Greensleeves,” Bach’s Invention No. 8 in F Major, “Prince of Denmark’s March,” Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood,” and the Beatles’ own “Yesterday” and “She Loves You.” (Interestingly, the publisher of “In the Mood” sued and won royalties for the use of that little snippet in the recording—even though it’s not really part of the composition.)
For the live-via-satellite performance, the four Beatles performed to a prerecorded backing track (all played by the group themselves) of harpsichord, violin, acoustic bass, piano, banjo, guitar, drums, and the “love, love, love” vocal bits. Live, the Beatles added their normal instruments (Paul on bass, George on guitar, and Ringo on drums) and live vocals, accompanied by a thirteen-piece orchestra and the studio guests. Ever dissatisfied with his own singing, John re-recorded his vocals after-the-fact for the single release.
The result was a massive worldwide hit and a new anthem for the burgeoning youth movement of the late 1960s. It’s a powerful song yet today, because, as we all know, “love is all you need.”
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, the Beatles’ performing “All You Need is Love” on the Our World worldwide television special on June 25, 1967. To that I add, Merry Christmas to all—and to all, a good night.
