The Beatles Bible

The Beatles Bible
The Beatles Bible
  • Share this page:
  • Share
  • Home
  • History
  • Songs
  • Albums
  • Discography
  • People
  • Features
  • Books
  • Map
  • Gallery
  • Fab forum
  • Store
  • Subscribe:
  • RSS icon RSS
  • Email envelope icon Email
  • Twitter icon Twitter
  • Facebook icon Facebook
iTunes & App Store
Home > The Beatles' songs > All You Need Is Love

All You Need Is Love

  • Page 1 of 2
  • « Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • Next »

All You Need Is Love single Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 14, 19, 23-25 June 1967
Producer: George Martin
Engineers: Eddie Kramer, Geoff Emerick

Released: 7 July 1967 (UK), 17 July 1967 (US)

John Lennon: vocals, harpsichord, banjo
Paul McCartney: vocals, bass, double bass
George Harrison: vocals, guitar, violin
Ringo Starr: drums
George Martin: piano
Sidney Sax, Patrick Halling, Eric Bowie, John Ronayne: violin
Lionel Ross, Jack Holmes: cello
Rex Morris, Don Honeywill: tenor saxophone
Stanley Woods, David Mason: trumpet
Evan Watkins, Harry Spain: trombone
Jack Emblow: accordion
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull, Jane Asher, Mike McCartney, Pattie Harrison, Eric Clapton, Graham Nash, Keith Moon, Hunter Davies, Gary Leeds and more: chorus
Mike Vickers: conductor

All You Need Is Love - Magical Mystery TourAvailable on:
Magical Mystery Tour
1
Yellow Submarine
Yellow Submarine Songtrack
Love

All You Need Is Love was written by John Lennon especially for Our World, the world's first televised satellite link-up between 25 countries worldwide. Its message perfectly encapsulated the optimistic mood of the Summer of Love, with a simplicity perfectly judged for their global audience.




We were big enough to command an audience of that size, and it was for love. It was for love and bloody peace. It was a fabulous time. I even get excited now when I realise that's what it was for: peace and love, people putting flowers in guns.
Ringo Starr
Anthology

The BBC had suggested the idea of using new satellite relays to connect the national television networks of countries across the world, to make a live link-up on a scale previously unknown. The Beatles were the natural choice to represent Britain, and they decided to compose a new song especially for the broadcast.

I don't know if they had prepared any ideas but they left it very late to write the song. John said, 'Oh God, is it that close? I suppose we'd better write something.'
Geoff Emerick
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn

Our World took place on 25 June 1967; The Beatles began recording the backing track just 11 days before the transmission date. Coming just two weeks after the release of Sgt Pepper, The Beatles were clearly full of confidence, and took a the prospect of a potential audience of 400 million people in their stride.

All You Need Is Love was John's song. I threw in a few ideas, as did the other members of the group, but it was largely ad libs like singing She Loves You or Greensleeves or silly things at the end and we made those up on the spot.

The chorus, 'All you need is love', is simple, but the verse is quite complex; in fact I never really understood it, the message is rather complex. It was a good song that we had handy that had an anthemic chorus.

Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

A remix of All You Need Is Love was the closing track on the Love album. The song's ending featured vocals from Baby You're A Rich Man, Rain and Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, as well as the guitar riff from Ticket To Ride. The song segues into a brief orchestral snippet from Good Night, accompanied by a snippet of dialogue from The Beatles' 1965 Christmas fan club recording.

The time got nearer and nearer and they still hadn't written anything. Then, about three weeks before the programme, they sat down to write. The record was completed in 10 days.

This is an inspired song, because they wrote it for a worldwide programme and they really wanted to give the world a message. It could hardly have been a better message. It is a wonderful, beautiful, spine-chilling record.

Brian Epstein
Anthology

In the studio

The Beatles began recording All You Need Is Love on 14 June 1967, at Olympic Sound Studios in Barnes, London. The group taped some vocals and played unconventional instruments: Lennon on harpsichord, McCartney on double bass, and Harrison playing a violin. Ringo Starr was the only member to stick to his usual instrument.

We just put a track down. Because I knew the chords I played it on whatever it was, harpsichord. George played a violin because we felt like doing it like that and Paul played a double bass. And they can't play them, so we got some nice little noises coming out. It sounded like an orchestra, but it's just them two playing the violin and that. So then we thought, 'Ah, well, we'll have some more orchestra around this little freaky orchestra that we've got.' But there was no perception of how it sounded at the end until they did it that day, until the rehearsal. It still sounded a bit strange then.
John Lennon, 1980
Anthology

Five days later, back at Abbey Road, they overdubbed more drums, plus lead and backing vocals, piano played by George Martin and banjo by Lennon.

On 23 and 24 June they made last minute rehearsals and additional recording, including an orchestral overdub. There was also a press call on the morning of 24 June, which saw more than 100 journalists and photographers enter Abbey Road.

  • Share this page:
  • Share
  • Page 1 of 2
  • « Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • Next »
Related articles:

  • Mixing: All You Need Is Love
  • The Beatles on Our World: All You Need Is Love
  • Recording: All You Need Is Love
  • Recording: All You Need Is Love
  • Recording, mixing: All You Need Is Love

30 responses to “All You Need Is Love”

  1. Daniel Celano says:
    Thursday 4 June 2009 at 9.16pm

    I'm afraid the mono mix of All You Need is Love didn't appear on Yellow Submarine Mono LP because it's a fold-down mix.

    Reply to this comment
  2. richard calvert says:
    Wednesday 29 July 2009 at 10.13am

    The finest of songs to a world so in need of a totally committed, unconditional and heart felt sincere statement of 'LOVE'. When I first heard this song I was so impressed by the ( professional ease), as it we're, of The Beatles! Absolutely one of the greatest songs of ' love on love' ever! Going far beyond the same type of song; 'The Word', Johns' ability to literally syncopate poetry and preaching in a manner so effortlessly fluid, it surprises us it's how truly hard this is to do sucessfully without being demeaning or demanding of our sensibilities. The Beatles truely came full circle 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah; reinventing even the pop beginnings of their own careers. The B-side 'Baby Your A Rich Man' even overflows with so much swagger and confidence we are literally cheering our 'Pop-Heroes' on! The sound produced by these songs is extremely inspiring, driving us all to believe we too can achieve our hearts desires when we believe and trust in the power of' LOVE!'

    Reply to this comment
  3. Mike Carlino says:
    Friday 7 August 2009 at 2.15am

    I think McCartney ad-libed from She Loves You.

    Reply to this comment
  4. Joseph Brush says:
    Sunday 16 August 2009 at 5.55pm

    Clearly on audio and during the visual broadcast one can tell that it is John Lennon ad-libing She Loves You.

    Reply to this comment
  5. Matt says:
    Monday 24 August 2009 at 6.43am

    There's actually a huge amount of debate over who ad-libs She Loves You during the broadcast, as most if not all of the Beatles are singing at that point; the real question is whose voice ended up on the recording.

    Reply to this comment
  6. Garrett Hawk says:
    Saturday 5 September 2009 at 8.45pm

    On the visual broadcast, it's difficult to decipher who is singing what. But audio? Every hardcore Beatle fan knows the distinctive timbres of the voices of John and Paul; it's Paul singing the "She Loves You" bit.

    Not only does it sound exactly like Paul, but John couldn't sing that high. Indeed, John actually has said in interviews that there are songs HE wrote, where he had Paul sing, simply because he couldn't hit the notes (the middle 8 of "A Hard Day's Night, the lead of "Day Tripper," the high melody of "If I Fell.") And Paul has been quoted (indeed, earlier in this very article) that his contribution to the song was the She Loves You bit. FWIW, I think it's a rare Paul misstep, and actually kind of detracts from the message of the song.

    Reply to this comment
    • NIck says:
      Sunday 4 October 2009 at 10.56pm

      Umm Minus John they're lip-syncing right? i don't understand how people don't see that. Pretty clear when paul "sings" All together now. And his bass track is NOT the same as on ideo. hence the need for Ringo's headphones... there are definatley tracks being played that they aren't playing live. hence the need for Ringo's headphones.. ignore my horrible grammar please. 1 hour of sleep :(

      Reply to this comment
    • Joseph Brush says:
      Saturday 10 October 2009 at 1.02am

      I see.
      Comments and debate are one thing, but you insinuate that anyone who believes the opposite of your opinion here is not only incorrect, but also, in your humble opinion, that person is not a "hardcore Beatle fan".
      What tommyrot!

      Reply to this comment
    • Jake Piccioni says:
      Thursday 28 July 2011 at 12.38am

      I have always thought it was Paul, as when it first starts it sounds like him. However, as it goes on, it begins to sound more like John. To me it literally sounds like the voice morphed Paul to John, which obviously didn't happen, but it is confusing. If I had to choose, I'd say John. Listen to the first "Yeah" the second time he says "She loves you YEAH yeah yeah"..It has a roughness to it much like John's voice.

      Reply to this comment
      • paulsbass says:
        Thursday 28 July 2011 at 10.31am

        Hi Jake!
        Check out the site Joe suggests and you'll find you're totally correct:
        Paul starts alone, John joins in.

        Reply to this comment
        • Cameron McIntosh says:
          Monday 19 December 2011 at 5.49pm

          I agree 100% with Joe. Paul starts and John joins in right away no question.

          Reply to this comment
  7. Jeff says:
    Tuesday 8 December 2009 at 10.17pm

    I think it was John.

    Reply to this comment
  8. TheOneBeatle (from Youtube) says:
    Friday 26 February 2010 at 1.45pm

    The ad-libs are from John, because that tune that is reached in the record ''saying Yesterday and She Loves You Yeah yeah, she loves you yeah yeah yeah''.
    And in the complete full 7 minute version John is rehearshing saying fast ''She loves you yeah yeah, she loves you yeah yeah''.

    Reply to this comment
  9. GnikNus says:
    Saturday 15 May 2010 at 3.23am

    Can anyone actually hear the banjo that John is supposedly playing?

    Reply to this comment
    • paulsbass says:
      Thursday 28 July 2011 at 10.12am

      Since I was "looking" for it I think I found it at around 2.09 doing the bass line after the "it's easy".

      Reply to this comment
  10. JP says:
    Wednesday 29 December 2010 at 4.40am

    Here in Canada,'All You Need is Love' was the theme song for a show in the seventies. It was on the weekends (I can't remember exactly when). The show featured kids that were available for adoption. Does anyone know the name of that show? It was on either 'Global TV', CBC or TVO. I've been racking my brains for a long time trying to figure this out.

    Reply to this comment
    • Robyn says:
      Friday 4 February 2011 at 2.56am

      I remember that show being here in Australia as well and cannot for the life of me remember the name of it. I do remember the island and a bouncing ball on the ocean. It was rather a strange show but we were addicted to it.
      I seem to remember some plot about mind games or something. it is all a bit vague now.

      Reply to this comment
      • David G says:
        Friday 11 November 2011 at 2.07am

        The show with the giant ball was "The Prisoner," a celebrated series from the 60s; AYNIL featured in the final episode. As for Canadian adoption programs, that's beyond my ken.

        Reply to this comment
  11. Terry says:
    Friday 7 January 2011 at 10.16pm

    JP: I've been trying to think of the name of this show for years! I remember the show. What a strange idea for a tv show lol.

    Reply to this comment
  12. robert says:
    Sunday 9 January 2011 at 12.50pm

    I think it's Paul singing the "she loves you" part and here's why. In the second or third "she loves you" there's a vocal trill that sounds like a technique that only Paul does. It's on the "loves you" part - takes you and makes it two sylabbles long.

    Also, I wonder if this is one of those moments John was referring to when he said that while Paul's songs kept to a tight script - on his songs a whole air of experimentation seemed to open up and that John believed Paul would sabotage John's songs in this way.

    Could be. Or not.

    Reply to this comment
    • Joe says:
      Sunday 9 January 2011 at 8.02pm

      I think this has been debated widely elsewhere on the web, so I'm slightly wary of having another discussion about it here (though the forum is always open). Have you seen this page? It suggests that it's both John and Paul.

      Reply to this comment
      • paulsbass says:
        Thursday 28 July 2011 at 10.25am

        Cool!
        That guy explains very eloquently my excact thoughts:
        Paul started it, John joined in.
        Please correct it.

        Reply to this comment
  13. robert says:
    Sunday 9 January 2011 at 11.05pm

    having listened to the audio clip separated out -it is both - without doubt it's both - Paul starts it and John joins right in.

    Reply to this comment
  14. KKS says:
    Saturday 29 January 2011 at 5.10am

    Martin's arrangement on this has been a profound influence on my entire approach to songwriting and production.

    He is a master of this kind of pastiche, and I wish it was used more in popular music today.

    Reply to this comment
  15. Johan says:
    Sunday 24 April 2011 at 10.16pm

    Have never seen this written anywhere but I think it's very interesting that they used La Marseillaise at the beginning. Given each country had a segment on the broadcast that was supposed to showcase their own country (e.g. Australia and trams in Melbourne I think), to start with the definitive French song I think must have been their sense of humor at work. You can imagine the broadcast saying, "And now from the United Kingdom..." and the first thing being the opening bars to the French national anthem.

    Reply to this comment
    • Liz says:
      Monday 1 August 2011 at 2.46pm

      THANK YOU for mentioning "La Marseillaise!" this song was the first time I had ever heard it, and ever since I found out what it was, I've wondered why they used it in this song. The explanation of John's sense of humor makes good sense to mw.

      Reply to this comment
  16. paulsbass says:
    Thursday 28 July 2011 at 10.10am

    First let me express how I love the arrangement. Everything, starting with John's harpsichord to the orchestra and the song snippets and the wonderful backing vocals is just mindblowingly beautiful and rich.

    I never thought they really took the live recording for the single.
    But in fact you can actually hear Lennon's chewing throughout the song, most prominently at around 0.43!

    And my thoughts on ANOTHER "Paul or John" debate (wich I LOVE!):
    It's clearly not John alone. Right before it there's "Oh yeah" which is clearly Paul. The "She loves you part" sounds exactly like the "Oh yeah", so it's Paul doing it.
    Seeing both of them singing it together there may very well be an addition of John, especially in the second "She loves you".

    Reply to this comment
  17. Alan Duncan says:
    Thursday 13 October 2011 at 7.30pm

    Watch the original broadcast and note the 2:04-2:06 mark and you can see John practicing singing "she loves you." Again at about the 6:05 you can clearly see him singing it and Paul is smiling off mic.

    Reply to this comment
    • Ricardo says:
      Sunday 23 October 2011 at 10.02am

      I totally agree with you. to me it is obvius it was john and not paul, and whoever thinks the first bit of 'she loves you' sounds the same as the 'oh yeh' bit sang by paul does not have a good ear. No offense to anyone but there's no doubt it's john. You can even clearly see it on the video, plus when he sings the she loves you bit you cannot hear his voice at the back singing 'love is all you need' which you can when he's not doing the ad libs. No doubt to me it's john.
      Cheers

      Reply to this comment
  18. Chis says:
    Saturday 22 October 2011 at 6.45am

    Does John play an Elecric baldwin harpsichord or a regular one?

    Reply to this comment

Leave a reply

Please note that there may be a delay before comments can be approved for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and/or content. Comments not in the English language may be discarded, and offensive, irrelevant or spam ones will be ignored. For more information please read the full comments policy.
Click here to cancel reply.


  • Latest posts

    • Abbey Road to offer studio time to wealthy hotel guests
    • US publishing rights for six early Beatles songs are sold
    • Paul McCartney live at Echo Arena, Liverpool
    • Paul McCartney live at Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester
    • Paul McCartney live at Olimpiyskiy Arena, Moscow, Russia
    • Paul McCartney live at Hartwall Areena, Helsinki, Finland
    • Paul McCartney live at Ericsson Globe Arena, Stockholm, Sweden
    • Paul McCartney live at O2 Arena, London
    • Paul McCartney live at Lanxess Arena, Köln, Germany
    • Paul McCartney live at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Paris, France
  • On this day in Beatles history

    • 2009: Beatles silent Scottish film fails to sell
    • 1968: Recording: Across The Universe
    • 1965: Paul McCartney and Jane Asher holiday in Tunisia
    • 1964: Live: Olympia Theatre, Paris
    • 1963: Live: Cavern Club, Liverpool

    Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.

  • Twitter updates

  • Things we said today

    • eddy on Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
    • PaulIsDeadFolks on The 'Paul is dead' myth
    • AdeNihil on She's Leaving Home
    • Drake on Hey Jude
    • vonbontee on Taxman
  • From the forum

    • 60's Beatles Merchandise Craze

      posted in forum Yesterday... and today  by mr. Sun king coming together

    • The "Incredibly Impossible to Derail This Thread" thread

      posted in forum All together now  by mithveaen

    • Best covers

      posted in forum All together now  by The Walrus

    • Best post-Beatles McCartney songs

      posted in forum Paul McCartney  by "Into the Sky with Diamonds"

    • Ringo on Conan's show.

      posted in forum Beatles films, television and radio  by mithveaen

  • In the gallery

    6011_hamburg_11 Eleanor Rigby single sweden_hey_jude mexico_hello_goodbye
  • Translator

  • Beatles for sale

  • Top Ten Club

    • Fab forum
    • The Beatles' songs
    • Days in the life: The Beatles' history
    • The Abbey Road cover photography session
    • Beatles photo gallery
    • The Beatles' albums
    • Abbey Road
    • Kisses On The Bottom
    • The Beatles and drugs
    • John Lennon and Yoko Ono record Two Virgins
  • Can buy me love

    The Beatles Bible is run for the love of anything and everything to do with The Beatles. If you've learned something new about the band and wish to show your appreciation, why not make a small donation via PayPal? It'll help with server costs, Beatles books etc...
  • Thinking of linking

    • thebeatles.com
    • johnlennon.com
    • paulmccartney.com
    • twitter.com/paulmccartney
    • paulmccartneyofficial.tumblr.com
    • georgeharrison.com
    • twitter.com/GeorgeHarrison
    • ringostarr.com
    • applerecords.com
      Beatles Bible logo by Yer Logos/The Beatles In 3D
  • Come together

    This site is in no way associated with or endorsed by The Beatles, Apple Corps Ltd, associated organisations or any members of The Beatles or their representatives. It is intended as a tribute to the greatest group of all time, to try - in a small way - to help introduce their music to new generations of fans.

© 2008-2012 The Beatles Bible. All rights reserved. | Contact us | About this site | Privacy policy | Words of love: 1,102,230

Top of page

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.