George Harrison Thought This Beatles Song Had a 'Hidden Religious Undertone'

The Beatlesfamously embraced a deeper sense of spiritualism towards the end of their career, thanks to experimenting with mind-expanding substances and visits to India. George Harrisonwas particularly changed after visiting with Hindu spiritual leaders, and his compositions—specifically, his post-Beatles solo work—reflected that.

However, there is one Beatles song that Harrison believed to have hidden religious undertones. And it came about thanks to the 1967 broadcast, Our World.

Airing on June 25, 2967, Our World was the first live multinational television broadcast, featuring live feeds from 14 different countries. An estimated 400 million people in 24 countries watched the two-hour event, which featured segments from around the world. The program peaked with The Beatles’ debut performance of “All You Need Is Love.”

The Beatles’ involvement came about thanks to their manager, Brian Epstein. Epstein booked the band on Our World, telling them that the show would spread the group’s music to countries that didn’t know of The Beatles. The show’s producers also wanted a positive song that everyone could easily understand. Thus, the simplistic message of the chorus: “All You Need Is Love.”

The famous segment featured members of The Rolling Stones, Graham Nash, Keith Moon, and Marianne Faithfull joining in.

“I remember the recording, because we decided to get some people in who looked like the ‘love generation,’” Harrison would say in the liner notes for The Beatles Anthology (h/t Far Out Magazine). “If you look closely at the floor, I know thatMick Jagger is there. But there’s also an Eric Clapton, I believe, in full psychedelic regalia and permed hair, sitting right there.”

“It seemed to be a great idea to perform that song while everybody else was showing knitting in Canada or Irish clog dances in Venezuela,” added Harrison. “We thought, ‘Well, we’ll sing ‘All You Need Is Love’ because it’s a subtle bit of PR for God.’”

Written by John Lennon (and credited to Lennon-McCartney), The Beatles released “All You Need Is Love” as a single (with “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” as the B-side) a month later, on July 7, 1967. It topped the charts in numerous countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. The Beatles included the song in the animated feature, Yellow Submarine, and later released it as part of the US version of Magical Mystery Tour.

Earlier in 2025, one of George Harrison’s spiritually infused songs enjoyed a resurgence. The horror movieWeapons opened up with “Beware of Darkness,” a haunting song that Harrison wrote for his 1970 album, All Things Must Pass.

Related: A Beatle’s Haunting Song Sets the Mood at Start of New Horror Movie ‘Weapons’