Flashback: The Beatles perform live via global satellite
It was 40 years ago today (June 25th, 1967) that the Beatles performed "All You Need Is Love," live via global satellite in front of an estimated 400 million viewers. The Beatles represented England in the Our World TV special, which was the first major televised hookup linking five continents.
The Beatles were currently riding high on the success of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which had been released earlier that month. For the broadcast, the four Beatles were surrounded by such high profile guests as Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithful, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, George Harrison's wife Patti Harrison, Paul McCartney's girlfriend Jane Asher, his brother Mike "McGear" McCartney, Graham Nash, and numerous other assorted friends and family.
The Beatles, who sat on high stools in Abbey Road Studio Number One, were decked out in their finest Swinging London apparel, with John Lennon, who composed the song, sitting center stage without an instrument. Although the Beatles were playing live, over the preceding ten days they had recorded a basic track to play along to, which included Lennon on harpsichord, McCartney on double bass, Harrison's lead guitar solo, and Ringo Starr's drums.
George Harrison recalled the recording of the song in 1995's The Beatles Anthology: "I don't know how many millions of people but it was supposed to be some phenomenal amount of people and it was probably the very earliest technology that enabled that kind of satellite link. We just thought, 'Well, we'll just sing "All You Need Is Love," because it's a kind of subtle bit of PR for God,' (laughs) basically."
Paul McCartney also recalled the recording of the song in 1995's The Beatles Anthology, and said that he wasn't sure whether Lennon had written the tune especially for the satellite event: "It was John's song mainly. I don't think it was written especially for (the Global broadcast) but it was one of the songs that we had. It was certainly tailored to it once we had it. But I've got a feeling it was just one of John's."
According to legend, had Lennon not come up with "All You Need Is Love," the Beatles were planning to perform McCartney's "Your Mother Should Know."
"All You Need Is Love" knocked the Doors' "Light My Fire" out of the Number One spot on August 19th, 1967, becoming the group's 14th Number One song, and topping the charts for one week.
Over the years, the song has gone on to become forever associated with 1967's legendary "Summer Of Love."
"All You Need Is Love", along with the Beatles' other two Number Ones from that year, "Penny Lane" and "Hello Goodbye," was included on the soundtrack album to the group's Magical Mystery Tour album, which was released that December.
A colorized version of the Beatles performance of "All You Need Is Love" was included in 1995's The Beatles Anthology.
The Beatles never performed the song live, having given up touring the previous year. In 2002, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, Cliff Richard, and many others performed "All You Need Is Love" in London at Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee Concert outside of Buckingham Palace.
Submit the above story to:
Del.icio.us
Digg
reddit
StumbleUpon
Facebook
The Beatles were currently riding high on the success of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which had been released earlier that month. For the broadcast, the four Beatles were surrounded by such high profile guests as Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithful, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, George Harrison's wife Patti Harrison, Paul McCartney's girlfriend Jane Asher, his brother Mike "McGear" McCartney, Graham Nash, and numerous other assorted friends and family.
The Beatles, who sat on high stools in Abbey Road Studio Number One, were decked out in their finest Swinging London apparel, with John Lennon, who composed the song, sitting center stage without an instrument. Although the Beatles were playing live, over the preceding ten days they had recorded a basic track to play along to, which included Lennon on harpsichord, McCartney on double bass, Harrison's lead guitar solo, and Ringo Starr's drums.
George Harrison recalled the recording of the song in 1995's The Beatles Anthology: "I don't know how many millions of people but it was supposed to be some phenomenal amount of people and it was probably the very earliest technology that enabled that kind of satellite link. We just thought, 'Well, we'll just sing "All You Need Is Love," because it's a kind of subtle bit of PR for God,' (laughs) basically."
Paul McCartney also recalled the recording of the song in 1995's The Beatles Anthology, and said that he wasn't sure whether Lennon had written the tune especially for the satellite event: "It was John's song mainly. I don't think it was written especially for (the Global broadcast) but it was one of the songs that we had. It was certainly tailored to it once we had it. But I've got a feeling it was just one of John's."
According to legend, had Lennon not come up with "All You Need Is Love," the Beatles were planning to perform McCartney's "Your Mother Should Know."
"All You Need Is Love" knocked the Doors' "Light My Fire" out of the Number One spot on August 19th, 1967, becoming the group's 14th Number One song, and topping the charts for one week.
Over the years, the song has gone on to become forever associated with 1967's legendary "Summer Of Love."
"All You Need Is Love", along with the Beatles' other two Number Ones from that year, "Penny Lane" and "Hello Goodbye," was included on the soundtrack album to the group's Magical Mystery Tour album, which was released that December.
A colorized version of the Beatles performance of "All You Need Is Love" was included in 1995's The Beatles Anthology.
The Beatles never performed the song live, having given up touring the previous year. In 2002, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, Cliff Richard, and many others performed "All You Need Is Love" in London at Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee Concert outside of Buckingham Palace.
Submit the above story to:
Del.icio.us
Digg
reddit
StumbleUpon
Facebook
The Rock Radio online