Songfacts®:

• Written by all four Chambers Brothers (George, Joe, Lester and Willie), this song is their offering:
  
  We're gonna give to you now
  All our love, peace, and happiness
  And you can share yours too
  
  "That was our main purpose, was to spread love, peace and happiness, joy and fellowship among people," Willie said in a Songfacts interview. "It's impossible, I guess, for everybody to be happy all the time, but if there's some encouragement it does help."
• After moving from Mississippi to Los Angeles in the early '60s, The Chambers Brothers embraced the hippie movement that took hold later in that decade, which is reflected in this song. Willie explained: "The hippie thing, that was one of the greatest times we will ever experience. I don't think any of us living today will experience anything like that again. There was the Roaring '20s that we all heard about, but then came the '60s, the hippies. The hippies consisted of young, wealthy, white kids who walked away from their assurances because they couldn't understand what their parents were trying to teach them, and they didn't want to know.
  
  The parents were teaching one thing but when they grew up and got out in the world, they saw quite different than what they were taught, and they started to retaliate and not accept that kind of upbringing. Thousands and thousands of young kids told me they walked away from their parents. They just said, 'We don't want it. We just want love, peace and happiness.' And that's one reason that song was written: because we experienced love, peace and happiness."
• This was released late in 1969, months after the moon landing of July 20. When Neil Armstrong set foot on the surface, he said, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." The Chambers Brothers paraphrased those famous words in this song:
  
  It's a small step for man
  But it's a giant leap for all mankind
• On the album, this runs 16:16, with long instrumental passages. The single was cut down to 4:10. This followed the formula from the group's first hit, "Time Has Come Today," which goes 11:06 on the album and 4:45 on the single.