GLOBAL BEATLES DAY
↳JUNE 25
“The British Broadcasting Corporation began working on an event of a gargantuan scale in 1966. Capitalizing on the capabilities of satellite technology, the BBC sought to create a global television program that would be beamed out live to the entire world. The Brits would partner with other broadcasters from around the globe, taking turns with live installments. The show, titled Our World, was eventually announced to take place on June 25, 1967. The special broadcast would feature segments spanning five continents and nearly 20 countries – although that number took a hit when Eastern Bloc nations pulled out a week before the event.
Given the Beatles’ rampant popularity all over the globe, it only made sense that they would be spotlighted during the United Kingdom’s segment. “I don’t know if they had prepared any ideas but they left it very late to write the song,” engineer Geoff Emerick recalled in The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. “John [Lennon] said, ‘Oh God, is it that close? I suppose we’d better write something.’” Paul McCartney offered up a couple of his newest songs, “Your Mother Should Know” and “Hello, Goodbye,” for consideration, but the decision was made to go with a Lennon original: “All You Need is Love.” Planning for an appearance before an international, multi-lingual audience, the Beatles likely went for the song that expressed a direct and simple message. It’s hard to misunderstand “All You Need is Love.”
No one could have known that the tune would become an anthem for the “Summer of Love.” “This is an inspired song, because they wrote it for a worldwide program and they really wanted to give the world a message,” Beatles manager Brian Epstein said at the time, according to The Beatles Anthology. “It could hardly have been a better message.”
Then the big day arrived. With a camera crew set up at EMI’s Studio 1, starting at just before 9PM local time, the Beatles would feign a rehearsal of the song before producer Martin – also on camera in the control room – would cue the band to begin its final recording of “All You Need is Love.” A gum-smacking Lennon was incredibly nervous about singing before hundreds of millions of viewers. The song that the Beatles debuted for between 400 and 700 million viewers was released as a single (backed with “Baby, You’re a Rich Man”) on July 7. Not only did “All You Need is Love” shoot to No. 1 in at least 10 countries, it became the slogan for the summer, a mantra for the hippies and a statement for many young people protesting the conflict in Vietnam. It remains one of the Beatles’ most famous songs.
“We were big enough to command an audience of that size, and it was for love,” Starr remembered in Anthology. “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.”