In 1967, The Beatles were asked to come up with a song containing a simple message to be understood by all nationalities, to be included as Britain's contribution to what was known as "Our World", the first global TV broadcast via satellite.
John, being fascinated by the power of slogans to unite people and never afraid to create art out of propaganda, came up with the goods.
The interviews on The Beatles Anthology documentary series reveal that Paul and George were unsure whether the song was written for Our World. However, both Ringo and Beatlles Producer George Martin suggest it was.
Here's what Paul said: "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.'
For the actual global broadcast, that happened today the 25th of June 1967, the Beatles were (except for Ringo) seated on stools, accompanied by a small studio orchestra. They were surrounded by friends and acquaintances seated on the floor, who sang with the refrain during the fade-out, including Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon and Graham Nash.
Was John right, is Love All You Need?
Enjoy,
Jeff.