"All You Need is Love" - Various

EP

U2 Related Content:

Full Track Listing:

  • All you Need is Love – Playing for Change
  • I Believe in Father Christmas – U2
  • You & Me (Acoustic) – Dave Matthews Band
  • (Red)Emption Song – John Legend

Background Information

In November 2009, Starbucks teamed up with Product (RED) to publish an EP of songs. Starting on November 17, 2009, and continuing until December 1, 2009 (or while supplies in store lasted) a customer purchasing over $15 at Starbucks in the United States and Canada would receive a free copy of the EP. As well for each copy given away, a $1 US donation was given to the Global Fund on behalf of the customer. Proceeds as mentioned went to Product (RED), which is part of the Global Fund, and was initially founded in 2006 by Bono together with Bobby Shriver.

U2 contribute the track “I Believe in Father Christmas” to the Starbucks EP. The song is a cover of Greg Lake’s Christmas classic. It was recorded on November 26th, 2008. Ned O’Hanlon who produced the video for the song described the recording of the song: “About an hour and a half ago, we got the band upstairs into the studio, from a standing start, ah, the four guys never played, never heard it, didn’t know the lyric, and we have a video in the bag, which is ah, quite extraordinary”. Initially the song was released with the second issue of the RED magazine that had launched in 2008. The magazine was a digital magazine which would feature exclusive music and video each week with some proceeds going to the (RED) campaign. The U2 track was featured on December 8, 2008 and was also released with a video. The Starbucks “All You Need is Love” compilation was the first time the song was released in a non-compressed format.

The CD was released in a cardboard sleeve, with a big “LOVE” written in white on a red backing leading to many calling this the “Love” CD, the remainder of the title, the “All Your Need is” can be found in the center of the “O” in love. The CD was pressed in limited quantities, but enough that most stores had a good stock of the CD through the month of November. The CD has not been repressed.

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