All You Need Is Love

"All You Need Is Love" is a song written by John Lennon and credited to Lennonâ€"McCartney. It was first performed by the Beatles on Our World, the first live global television link. Watched by over 400 million in 25 countries, the programme was broadcast via satellite on 25 June 1967. The BBC had commissioned the Beatles to write a song for the United Kingdom's contribution.

Composition

The Beatles were asked to come up with a song with a message understood by everyone. "It was an inspired song and they really wanted to give the world a message," said Brian Epstein. "The nice thing about it is that it cannot be misinterpreted. It is a clear message saying that love is everything." According to journalist Jade Wright, "Lennon was fascinated by the power of slogans to unite people and never afraid to create art out of propaganda. When asked in 1971 whether songs like "Give Peace a Chance" and "Power to the People" were propaganda songs, he answered: 'Sure. So was All You Need Is Love. I'm a revolutionary artist. My art is dedicated to change.'"

The day before the Our World broadcast, the Beatles decided that the song should be their next single. Released in the UK on 7 July 1967, it went straight to number one and remained there for three weeks. It was similarly successful in the United States after its release on 17 July, reaching number one for a week. It was also included on the American LP version of Magical Mystery Tour in November as well as in the film, and on the LP Yellow Submarine, released in 1969. This song is also featured in the Cirque du Soleil's show Love, based on the songs of The Beatles, which has been performing in Las Vegas since 2006.

The interviews on The Beatles Anthology documentary series reveal that Paul McCartney and George Harrison were unsure whether the song was written for Our World. However, George Martin and Ringo Starr assert it was. When asked, McCartney replied:

"I don't think it was written specially for it. But it was one of the songs we had. ... It was certainly tailored to it once we had it. But I've got a feeling it was just one of John's songs that was coming there. We went down to Olympic Studios in Barnes and recorded it and then it became the song they said, 'Ah. This is the one we should use.' I don't actually think it was written for it."

Musical structure

The song starts with the intro to the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise", and contains elements from Glenn Miller's 1939 hit "In the Mood", as well as elements from Wayne Shanklin's 1958 hit "Chanson D'Amour". The song is notable for its asymmetric time signature and complex changes. The main verse pattern contains a total of 29 beats, split into two 7/4 measures, a single bar of 8/4, followed by a one bar return of 7/4 before repeating the pattern. The chorus, however, maintains a steady 4/4 beat with the exception of the last bar of 6/4 (on the lyric 'love is all you need'). The prominent cello line draws attention to this departure from pop-single normality, although it was not the first time that the Beatles had experimented with varied meter within a single song: "We Can Work It Out" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" are other examples. The song is in the key of G and the verse opens (on "There's nothing you can do") with a G chord and D melody note, the chords shifting in a I-V/7-vi chord progression while the bass simultaneously follows the tonic (G) to the relative minor (Em), but via an F♯. Indeed, throughout this song McCartney's bass implies many additional chords over those played by the other instruments.

After the verse "learn how to play the game, it's easy", the bass alters the prolonged V (D) chord with F#, E, C and B note modulations. The song is notable for a dramatic use of a dominant or V chord (here D) on "It's easy." The "Love, love, love" chant involves chords in a I-V7-vi shift (G-D-Em) and simultaneous descending B, A, G notes with the concluding G note corresponding not to the tonic G chord, but acting as a â™­ 3rd of the Em chord; this also introducing the E note of the Em chord as a 6th of the tonic G scale. Supporting the same melody note with different and unexpected chords has been termed a characteristic Beatles technique.

Producer George Martin recalled that "the boys … wanted to freak out at the end, and just go mad". So during the long fade-out, elements of various other songs can be heard, including "Greensleeves", Invention No. 8 in F major (BWV 779) by J.S. Bach, "In the Mood", and the Beatles' own 1963 hit "She Loves You", the latter of which Paul McCartney sings.

Live broadcast

For the broadcast, the Beatles were (except for Starr) seated on stools, accompanied by a small studio orchestra. They were surrounded by friends and acquaintances seated on the floor, many of whom were among the leading stars of the British pop scene, who sang with the refrain during the fade-out.

The performance was not completely live: the Beatles, the orchestra, and guests were overdubbing onto a prerecorded rhythm track mainly consisting of piano, harpsichord, drums, and backing vocals. The full Our World segment opens with the band and company listening to the raw backing track, as commentator Steve Race explained the process in voiceover.

Lennon, affecting indifference, was said to be nervous about the broadcast, given the potential size of the international TV audience. Dissatisfied with his singing, he rerecorded the solo verses for use on the single. Starr also overdubbed drums before the single was released, fixing the aforementioned timing problems and adding the drum roll.

The programme was broadcast in black-and-white (colour television had yet to commence broadcasting in Britain and most of the world). The Beatles' footage was colourised, based on photographs of the event, for The Beatles Anthology documentary.

U.S. chart run

Billboard Hot 100 (11 weeks): Reached #1 (1 week), becoming the band's 14th #1 there.

Cashbox (9 weeks): 27, 3, 1, 1, 2, 2, 5, 9, 24

Personnel

• John Lennon â€" lead and backing vocals, harpsichord, banjo
• Paul McCartney â€" bass, double bass, backing vocals
• George Harrison â€" lead guitar, violin, backing vocals
• Ringo Starr â€" drums, percussion
• George Martin â€" piano, orchestration and production.
• David Mason â€" piccolo trumpet
• Session musicians played strings (led by Patrick Halling), brass, woodwind and accordion as conducted by Mike Vickers
• Friends and studio people made hand claps and sang background vocals (including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Keith Moon, Graham Nash and many others).

Personnel per Ian MacDonald and The Beatles Bible.

Chart performance

Cover versions

Also notable is the use of the song in a February 1, 2015 Super Bowl commercial for Ecuadorian tourism. The song is sung over images of Ecuador and the commercial ends by saying "All you need is Ecuador, Ecuador is all you need" instead.

Notes

References

External links

• Alan W. Pollack's Notes on "All You Need Is Love"
• CoverTogether: "All You Need is Love" Cover Versions
• Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics