The Beatles had quite a few of their hit songs banned by the BBC back in the day. From “I Am The Walrus” to “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”, the British Broadcasting Corporation wasn’t entirely thrilled by the Fab Four’s more incognito uses of explicit subject matter.
That being said, the BBC also banned a few of The Beatles’ more tame works. One interesting (and confusing) example would be the time when the BBC banned the song “Come Together”.
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It really doesn’t make much sense at face value. The 1969 track “Come Together” from Abbey Road is about as optimistic and positive as it gets. Sure, it’s a little surreal in terms of lyricism. But how could anyone deem this song too offensive for the general public to hear?
Why Did the BBC Ban “Come Together” by The Beatles?
“Come Together” was originally a political song written by John Lennon for psychologist and pro-LSD activist Timothy Leary when Leary was running for governor of California. He ended up getting arrested for cannabis possession and didn’t get a chance to use the song. From there, Lennon added the song to Abbey Road’s tracklist, apparently to Leary’s dismay.
“Although the new version was certainly a musical and lyrical improvement on my campaign song, I was a bit miffed that Lennon had passed me over this way,” Leary said of the incident in A Hard Day’s Write by Steve Turner. “When I sent a mild protest to John, he replied with typical Lennon charm and wit that he was a tailor and I was a customer who had ordered a suit and never returned. So he sold it to someone else.”
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However, the pro-drugs political origin of “Come Together” was not what got it banned by the BBC. In fact, the song was not banned due to any offensive or controversial content.
The BBC has historically had very strict rules against songs that mention specific products or brands. “Come Together” mentions the brand Coca-Cola in the lyric “He got monkey finger / He shoot Coca-Cola.” Unfortunately, that made the song off-limits for radio play.
It’s a shame, because “Come Together” is one of The Beatles’ very best songs. Though, John Lennon did say that he thought it was “gobbledygook” years later.
“I tried and tried, but I couldn’t come up with [a campaign song],” said Lennon of “Come Together”. “But I came up with this, ‘Come Together’, which would’ve been no good to [Leary]. You couldn’t have a campaign song like that, right?”
Photo via Cover of ‘Abbey Road’ (1969)
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