On this day (August 19) in 1967, The Beatles topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “All You Need Is Love.” The Fab Four gathered a long list of rock legends to sing backing vocals on the track. Mick Jagger, Keith Moon, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Graham Nash, Marianne Faithfull, and others added their voices to the now-classic single.
John Lennon wrote “All You Need Is Love” for a history-making event. Our World was the first live international multi-satellite television broadcast. The European Broadcasting Union organized the two-hour event, which used four communication satellites to broadcast the show simultaneously to 24 countries around the world. Many countries enlisted their most famous entertainers to appear or perform during the historic event. The United Kingdom’s segment featured The Beatles performing “All You Need Is Love” for the first time.
At the time, the Vietnam War was in full swing. As a result, Lennon wanted to create a song with a positive and unifying attitude. More than that, he wanted to bring a festive and collaborative atmosphere to the historic broadcast. As a result, The Beatles brought many of their fellow UK-based artists to perform with them. The Rolling Stones, Clapton, Moon, Nash, and many others joined in for the song.
Our World hit TV screens around the world on June 25, 1967. Some estimates say the broadcast garnered up to 700 million viewers. The band released “All You Need Is Love” as a non-album single a week later, on July 7, 1967.
John Lennon Recalls the Historic Beatles Hit
According to the Beatles Bible, John Lennon didn’t have much time to write a new song that would be heard for the first time by a global audience. The history-making broadcast took place just two weeks after The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
“We were big enough to command an audience of that size, and it was for love,” Lennon said of the song. “It was for love and bloody peace. It was a fabulous time. I even get excited now when I realize that’s what it was for: peace and love, people putting flowers in guns.”
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