The Beatles 40 best songs: at 40 “All You Need Is Love”

“All You Need Is Love” was a number one single in mid-1967, becoming the unofficial hippie anthem for the Summer of Love, that brief time that ranks among the most optimistic periods in popular music and culture. It is to the Beatles’ credit that the song endures as a pop classic today, removed from its original context.
~Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)

We kick off our countdown of The Beatles 40 best songs with “All You Need Is Love”.

Wikipedia:

Single by The Beatles
B-side	“Baby, You’re a Rich Man”
Released	7 July 1967
Format	7″
Recorded	14 and 19–26 June 1967, Olympic and EMI studios, London, respectively
Genre	Rock, baroque pop, pop
Length	3:57
Label	Parlophone
Writer(s)	Lennon–McCartney
Producer	George Martin
Certification	Gold (RIAA)

“All You Need Is Love” is a song written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was first performed by the Beatles on Our World, the first live global television link. Watched by over 150 million in 26 countries, the program was broadcast via satellite on 25 June 1967. The BBC had commissioned the Beatles to write a song for the United Kingdom’s contribution.

“I don’t think it was written specially for it. But it was one of the songs 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 songs that was coming there. We went down to Olympic Studios in Barnes and recorded it and then it became the song they said, ‘Ah. This is the one we should use.’ I don’t actually think it was written for it.”
~Paul McCartney

Probably written ~100% by John Lennon.

Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love

There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done
Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It’s easy

Nothing you can make that can’t be made
No one you can save that can’t be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It’s easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

Nothing you can know that isn’t known
Nothing you can see that isn’t shown
Nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be
It’s easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

All you need is love (All together, now!)
All you need is love (Everybody!)
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Yee-hai! (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)

Yesterday (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Oh yeah! (Love is all you need)
She loves you, yeah yeah yeah (Love is all you need)
She loves you, yeah yeah yeah (Love is all you need)

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During the materialistic Eighties, this song’s tide was the butt of cynics, there being, obviously, any number of additional things needed to sustain life on earth. It should, perhaps, be pointed out that this record was not conceived as a blueprint for a successful career. ‘All you need is love’ is a transcendental statement, as true on its level as the principle of investment on the level of the stock exchange. In the Idealistic perspective of 1967 – the polar opposite of 1987 – its tide
makes perfect sense.
~Ian MacDonald (Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties)

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