A Day In The Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles by Mark Hertsgaard

Author:Mark Hertsgaard [Hertsgaard, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-04-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Organized Chaos

(Magical Mystery Tour)

In the weeks following the stunning triumph of Sgt Pepper, the Beatles literally had the world at their command. On June 25, 1967, they starred in planet Earth’s first global television show, a two-hour program that was transmitted live to all five inhabited continents and broadcast in twenty-four countries. Two years before, the Beatles had set a live performance record by playing to an audience of 55,000 people in New York’s Shea Stadium. Now, thanks to the wonders of satellite technology, they would be seen by an estimated 350 million people. How they responded to this unprecedented opportunity to reach people says a great deal about their self-image as artists. Having just issued the most earthshaking album in the history of rock ’n’ roll, they now took another leap forward by performing their most political song yet, “All You Need Is Love.” Indeed, much of what later caused John Lennon in particular to be remembered as a humanitarian hero began with this song.

The “All You Need Is Love” broadcast marked the onset of a curious period in the Beatles’ career. During the ten months between completing Sgt Pepper in April 1967 and departing to study meditation in India in February 1968, the Beatles recorded a collection of songs whose quality varied widely. Most of these songs were intended for the two films the band was involved in making at this time: the children’s cartoon Yellow Submarine and the surreal travelogue Magical Mystery Tour. The latter was an apt title for this phase in the Beatles’ career; artistically, they seemed to be on their own magical mystery tour during these ten months. How a group capable of creating “Eleanor Rigby,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and the many other gems of the Revolver-Sgt Pepper period could record some of the dreck found on the Yellow Submarine and Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack albums was indeed a mystery. Yet their magic touch did not completely desert the Beatles during this period: “All You Need Is Love” ranks among their all-time greatest songs, as does “I Am The Walrus,” while “Lady Madonna,” “Hey Bulldog,” and “Hello, Goodbye” are also first-rate.

“All You Need Is Love” was written specifically for the so-called Our World global television broadcast, but not until the very last minute. “Oh, God, is it that close?” asked Lennon when someone at Abbey Road mentioned that the show was only days away. “I suppose we’d better write something.” The idea was to show the Beatles in the studio, recording their next single, and as it happens, both John and Paul composed songs for the occasion. But there was no doubt who won this round of their perpetual competition. The song Paul came up with was apparently “Your Mother Should Know,” a tuneful but slight piece of nostalgia, devoid of larger social significance. The two partners agreed that “All You Need Is Love” was plainly the superior choice.

Unfortunately, nothing more is known about how Lennon composed the song, although he obviously wrote it quickly.

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