"All You Need Is Love" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in July 1967. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The Beatles performed the song over a pre-recorded backing track as Britain's contribution to 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 song captured the utopian sentiments of the Summer of Love era and topped singles charts in Britain, the United States and many other countries.
"All You Need Is Love" was later included on the US Magical Mystery Tour album. It also appears in a sequence in the Beatles' 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine and on the accompanying soundtrack album.
The Our World broadcast on 25 June cut to Abbey Road studios at 8:54 pm London time, about 40 seconds earlier than expected. Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick were drinking scotch whisky to calm their nerves for the task of mixing the audio for a live worldwide broadcast, and had to scramble the bottle and glasses beneath the mixing desk when they were told they were about to go on air.
For the broadcast, the Beatles (except for Starr) were seated on stools, accompanied by a thirteen-piece orchestra. The band were surrounded by friends and acquaintances seated on the floor, who sang along with the refrain during the fade-out. These guests included Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Richards, Keith Moon, Graham Nash, Mike McGear, Patti Boyd and Jane Asher. The studio setting was designed to reflect the communal aspect of the occasion while also demonstrating the position of influence that the Beatles held among their peers, particularly following the recent release of their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Many of the invitations were extended through Beatles aides Mal Evans and Tony Bramwell, who visited various London nightclubs the night before the broadcast. Also among the studio audience were members of the Small Faces and the design collective the Fool. Balloons, flowers, streamers and "Love" graffiti added to the celebratory atmosphere. The Beatles and their entourage were dressed in psychedelic clothes and scarves; in his report on the performance, Barry Miles likened the setting to a medieval gathering, broken only by the presence of modern studio equipment such as large headphones and microphones. According to Michael Frontani, an associate professor of communications, whereas Sgt. Pepper had showed the Beatles as artists and "serious musicians", the broadcast emphasised their identity as members of the hippie counterculture.
The segment opened with the band simulating a rehearsal for about a minute, before Martin suggested that the orchestral musicians should take their places for the recording as the tape was rewound. The Beatles, the orchestra and the guests then overdubbed onto the pre-recorded rhythm track. In addition to the lead and backing vocals and the orchestra, the live recorded elements were McCartney's bass guitar part, Harrison's guitar solo and Starr's drums.
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 a drum roll at the start of the track, replacing a tambourine part.
The programme was shown in black-and-white since 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 1995 documentary The Beatles Anthology. Over the documentary's end credits, a snippet of studio conversation from the 25 June overdubbing session includes Lennon telling Martin: "I'm ready to sing for the world, George, if you can just give me the backing …" The colour version of the band's Our World appearance also appear...