In May 1967, as they were reaching their artistic peak, The Beatles were asked to write and perform a song for the one-off television special Our World, to be broadcast to 25 countries worldwide.
The group received instructions that the song should be simple, using English words that would be easy for a foreign audience to understand. John Lennon took up the challenge of composing such a number, drawing on his interest in writing slogans, which was first apparent on the Rubber Soul track ‘The Word’.
He came up with a song that is still regarded as the band’s most enduring message: ‘All You Need is Love’.
Other than this limited writing brief, however, The Beatles were pretty much left to their own devices with the track and its performance. Although the BBC directed the song’s Our World TV segment in July 1967, it was filmed at the group’s usual recording studio at Abbey Road, and they were able to invite their own guests.
These included various musical contemporaries of The Beatles, such as members of The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Small Faces and the The Hollies, and Marianne Faithfull. Paul McCartney’s brother and photographer Mike McGear was also present, as were the Dutch design collective The Fool.
The entire room – with the exception of producer George Martin and a few other suits – was kitted out in hippie regalia, complete with flowers, streamers, balloons, and banners proclaiming slogans of peace and love. The summer of love was in full swing.
For the live performance and recording of the song itself, on top of the messy backing track The Beatles had pre-recorded in June, the song featured a highly unusual list of participant
Lennon performed the lead vocal, with McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr supplying their typical bass, guitar and drum parts. McCartney and Harrison also provided harmonised backing vocals. So far, so Beatles. Yet, in addition to an orchestra and George Martin on piano, the group was joined by an array of stars in singing the chorus.
The greatest choir in pop History
According to The Paul McCartney Project, the exhaustive backing vocal credits for the song list Mick Jagger and Keith Richards from The Rolling Stones, Jagger’s then-girlfriend and singer Marianne Faithfull, The Who drummer Keith Moon, Cream guitarist Eric Clapton, The Walker Brothers’ Gary Leeds, and The Hollies’ Graham Nash, later of Crosby, Stills and Nash fame.
As if that list weren’t enough, a host of non-musicians can be heard joining in with the song as well. McCartney’s partner Jane Asher, Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd, Beatles roadie Mal Evans, the group’s biographer Hunter Davies, Graham Nash’s wife Rose, and photographer McGear are all singing in the background.
Surely, no song in history had included quite so many guest stars until Band Aid came along. And the roster of singing celebs certainly adds to the air of free-love hippie festivity on the recording of ‘All You Need Is Love’.
