Icon #58 All You Need is Love

All You Need is Love

Hardest ever icon to pick.  Fact.  It's one of those where there's quite a distinct difference between someone's favourite Beatles' song and the one that's the most iconic.

Of course everyone went with their favourite and although some suggested not doing All You Need is Love on grounds of it 'being cheesy' there are other reasons why it's the most iconic.

Firstly it's recording was broadcast to an estimated audience of 400 million in the first ever satellite broadcast to 26 different countries in 1967.  The BBC had commissioned the band to come up with a song to be the UK's contribution to the event.  They played in front of an audience of friends and celebs including Jagger and Clapton, well, I say played, most of it was pre-recorded.  The song is one of Lennon's least celebrated protest songs, not subtle in anyway, with a pretty obvious message and it's been played to death, over used at weddings etc.  But in the right environment, with the right people, there are few better sing alongs.  It's also quite unusual in terms of the time signatures used (apparently) but I know chuff all about that so you'll have to take my word for it.

Imagine playing to that kind of an audience though.  Go on, think about it, just for a second or two.  400 MILLION!  Mental.  No one had done anything like it before, it must have been an amazing moment for those four blokes from Liverpool.  I think that now it's hard to understand that one band could be so huge, be such a defining sound for a whole generation.  Ok there have been other bands since that have been as influential, but as popular at the same time?  I don't think so.  I can imagine people all over the world, all sitting down in their living rooms at the same time, watching and hearing a new Beatles song for the first time huddled around black and white TVs.  That must have been such a buzz.  It's almost a shame we don't appreciate stuff like that any more in our tech centric world where we have access to everything at the flick of a mouse.

 

For the record, my favourite Beatles song is A Day In The Life but I have one great All You Need is Love moment.  My best friend, The Giant, used it at his wedding and what could have been cheese was utter class, as he and his new wife walked back down the aisle at the end of the ceremony kicking their feet out in time with the music as we all sang along.  Great stuff.

"Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be, it's easy." John Lennon

Tonight's post is dedicated to (from twitter) @WH1SKS, (and from twitter via facebook) @moviegrrl, @MrsR1ck, @CHESTYMORGAN and @maverick99sback.