Aug 26, 2021
Liberal Arts Blog — “All You Need is Love” (Beatles), the Historic “Our World” Broadcast, and “the Summer of Love” (1967)
Liberal Arts Blog — Thursday is the Joy of Music Day
Today’s Topic — “All You Need is Love” (Beatles), the Historic “Our World” Broadcast, and “the Summer of Love” (1967)
On June 25, 1967, the largest television audience in history to that point tuned in to the “first live international satellite production.” Organized by the BBC and entitled “Our World,” the program was broadcast to 24 countries and was watched by over 400 million people. Fourteen countries contributed to the production. The show opened with the Vienna Choir Boys singing the program’s theme song in 22 different languages, but the climax for many was the Beatles’ live performance of “All You Need is Love,” a song written by John Lennon for the event. This was the height of the band’s popularity as well as the peak of the hippie movement. This was the “summer of love,” before the world came crashing down in 1968 with the Tet Offensive in January and the assassinations of Martin Luther King (April) and Robert Kennedy (June). Today, a few notes on the song. Plus a recommendation to watch the full “Our World” broadcast — it’s an amazing period piece and cultural stew. Warning: the pace is a bit slow. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE — LYRICS (excerpts)
1. “Love, love, love,” (3 X)
2. There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.
3. Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung. It’s easy.
NB: “All you need is love.”
The Beatles — All You Need Is Love (Official Music Video)
All You Need Is Love (Remastered 2009)
RINGO STARR (2000)
1. “It was for love and bloody peace. It was a fabulous time.”
2. “I even get excited now when I realize that’s what it was for.”
3. “Peace and love, people putting flowers in guns.”
NB: The photo above was taken at the March on the Pentagon on October 21, 1967.
THE MARSEILLAISE, ORCHESTRAL ARRANGEMENT, BACH AND MILLER
1. “All You Need is Love” opens with the Marseillaise and includes an orchestral arrangement by George Martin.
2. “Ends with musical quotations from works such as Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood,” “Greensleeves,” Bach’s invention №8 in F major, and the Beatles’ 1963 hit “She Loves You.”
3. “Adding to the broadcast’s festive atmosphere, the studio was adorned with signs and streamers, and filled with guests dressed in psychedelic attire, including members of the Rolling Stones, the Who, and the Small Faces. The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein described the performance as the band’s “finest” moment.”
NB: “All You Need Is Love” was later included on the US Magical Mystery Tour album and served as the moral for the Beatles’ 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine.” Originally broadcast in black-and-white, the Our World performance was colorized for inclusion in the Beatles’ 1995 Anthology documentary series.”
Our World 1967 Full Broadcast (First Worldwide Television Broadcast) (Super Rare) (BBC1 Version)
Lynden David Hall — All you need is Love (Wedding Scene of “Love Actually”, 2003)
Last three years of posts organized thematically:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
YOUR TURN
Time to share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to music. Or the coolest thing you learned in your life related to music. Say your favorite song or songs. Or your favorite tips for breathing, posture, or relaxation. Or some insight into the history of music….Or just something random about music… like a joke about drummers. jazz, rock….or share an episode or chapter in your musical autobiography.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day. And perhaps to cement in your memory something important you would otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than you otherwise would about something that matters to you.
