Context

This line is from the song "Come Together" by the Beatles, written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney, from the album Abbey Road (1969).

"Come Together" is a blues rock song with a bunch of pretty random lyrics like "he got ju-ju eyeballs" and "he got walrus gumboot." So would you believe it started out as a political campaign song?

Yup, John Lennon started to write it for his friend Timothy Leary who was trying to run against Ronald Reagan for governor of California. Of course, his campaign didn't last long because Leary, a psychologist who believed in the therapeutic power of psychedelic drugs, ended up going to jail for drug possession. Who'da thought.

But, his campaign slogan, "Come Together," turned out to be a pretty good starting point for a song. The words to the rest of the song are pretty nonsensical, but that one repeated line means what it says. Let's all come together as one… and try some LSD and kick some Republicans out of office? Okay, that second part is just a wild guess.

Where you've heard it

"Come together" didn't start with Timothy Leary or the Beatles. It's a catch phrase that's been around for a lot longer than that because everyone likes the idea of joining hands and coming together to achieve a goal. Yay, teamwork!

Bobby McFerrin and Robin Williams also did a version of this way back in 1998 just for laughs and giggles.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

People coming together isn't pretentious. It's downright awesome. You're okay to use this as a campaign slogan or just a general rallying cry any time you need to.