What does “in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make” actually mean?
There’s an old adage that says, “The star that burns twice as bright burns half as long”, and while it’s absolutely true in an astrophysical sense, there’s an element of reality to the statement when referring to the careers of famous musical acts. Given the insane level of fame and success that The Beatles had virtually from the start of their career, they always held the potential to implode just as quickly as they rose to stardom, and the idiom would not bode well for the band’s hopes of lasting in the long run.
That being said, over a period of just seven years, they had the most remarkable career, which saw them release 12 studio albums and reach number one in the US and UK charts, a combined total of 32 times. Very few complaints could be had by the band for their achievements in such a short space of time, and while they all managed to keep their legacies intact by embarking on illustrious solo careers after the band split in 1970, the Beatles are still regarded as being one of the greatest musical phenomena to have ever walked the earth.
Fans of the band, whether they were around to witness their rise in the ‘60s or if they learnt about them in the years following, can hardly complain about the incredible volume of work that the Beatles left behind either. While the group may have all been at odds with one another by the end of their existence and feeling disenchanted by the pressure associated with being the biggest group in the world, they would still acknowledge their own importance and the significance they held to their fans.
Despite not being the last album they released as a band, with Let It Be being their swan song in 1970, 1969’s Abbey Road was the final album the foursome recorded together, and its sprawling mixture of songs in varying styles felt like a far more appropriate send-off for the band to have had given how it merged the disparate directions each member was going in.
The second half of the album is especially indicative of the ambition that went into writing and recording Abbey Road, featuring an eight-song medley that begins with ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’ and appropriately finishes with ‘The End’. It’s a special culmination of everything that makes not only the Beatles great but makes this record that captures their final sessions together a masterpiece, and it perfectly demonstrates how each member ensured that they were putting their all into the music they were making together one last time.
Recording an album such as Abbey Road to mark the end of a short but fruitful career together warranted some sort of closure for the band, and the fans that had so loyally followed them throughout. With the song ‘The End’, the band wished to make one final address to the masses, putting aside complex lyricism for the majority of the song and simply exclaiming “love you” a total of 24 times. This is a direct message for fans, who were not made aware of the band’s private decision to call it a day until Paul McCartney officially announced his departure from the band in April 1970.
However, this is not the only simple message to their fans on the track, and the closing line holds even more significance and finality. “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make” are the final words that McCartney utters on the track, and with these words, he is reminding the listeners that their constant support throughout the existence of the band is reflected in the time and effort that each member put into making the Beatles such a remarkable success. Their love for being a band is mirrored by the love that fans professed for their music and that the two working together were what made the Beatles such a remarkable cultural staple.
It would have made for a great final line to have in their career as a group, but since fans didn’t know about the breakup at the time, it might have caused much greater speculation and uproar about their future had they opted not to pin ‘Her Majesty’ on the end of the album as a hidden track, or decided to tweak the recordings of Let It Be and put that as their final release.
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