How Mad Men Landed the Beatles: All You Need Is Love (and $250,000)

When I watched the May 6th episode of Mad Men, I was literally floored to see Megan Draper hand Don the Revolver album. She flipped the LP jacket over and said “This one.” The next few seconds as Don placed the record in the player and lowered the needle to the right position probably had my brainwave diagram charting like an earthquake analysis. WHAT SONG WILL IT BE!? Tomorrow Never Knows was not my top guess, but it was the right choice for so many reasons.

Mr. Weiner declined to discuss the licensing costs, but said: “Whatever people think, this is not about money. It never is. They are concerned about their legacy and their artistic impact.”

Matthew Weiner gained so many respect points for this statement. Most people focus only on the monetary aspects of The Beatles “business”, and never even consider that this is about legacy. The Beatles is more than just a brand. Luckily for their legacy, they have used that tenant in their decision process as a constant.

Mr. Weiner said he had been trying “for a few years” to get different Beatles songs onto “Mad Men,” but had been rejected by Apple Corps in the past.

While I have no insight into the past attempts, I’ll venture the guess that the treatment of the song in context to both the story and overall series progression was not implemented as flawlessly as it was in “Lady Lazarus” on May 6th.

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