Early in 1967 the Beatles were asked to write a song for the BBC that decided to broadcast a program to millions of people throughout the world for the first time ever.
Paul, in an interview with Kenny Everett in 1967, explained that for the BBC he wrote ‘Hello Goodbye’ while John wrote ‘All you need is love’ and when they arrived in the studio they decided to do John’s first, and then realised that his song was perfect for the program.
Geoff Emerick remembers that it was John who agreed to write a song when Brian explained the Our World project to the Beatles:
“Paul didn’t seem all that interested…with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, John finally said, ‘Oh, okay. I’ll do something for that.’ Then Paul reminded him two or three weeks before the program that he needed to come up with something.” - Geoff Emerick - Here There and Everywhere.
For Neil Espinall and Mal Evans it was a co-written song and described how the song was requested and then said: “That’s the basis John and Paul worked on when they settled down to write the new song.” - Barry Miles - Many Years from now.
Several times Paul has described it a song fully written by John, both in 1967 and in the Anthology interview, while John, in 1971, described it as one of his very first propaganda songs. In fact, in 1967 the Vietnam war was at its most intense, and the ‘love generation’ showed its opposition with peaceful protests, that’s why this song became the anthem of the summer of love.
“It was an inspired song and they really wanted to give the world a message. The nice thing about it is that it cannot be misinterpreted. It is a clear message saying that love is everything.” - Brian Epstein
A party atmosphere was created in Abbey Road’s Studio One, and among the many celebrities that joined the session there was Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon and Marianne Faithfull.
“We had been told that we’d be seen recording it by the whole world at the same time, so we had one message for the world: love. We need more love in the world.” - Paul McCartney, July 22, 1967.
