We Can Work It Out
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| "We Can Work It Out" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by The Beatles | ||
| A-side(s) | "Day Tripper" | |
| Released | 1965-12-03 (UK) 1965-12-06 (U.S.) |
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| Format | 7" | |
| Recorded | Abbey Road: 1965-10-20 | |
| Genre | Rock/Pop | |
| Length | 2:15 | |
| Label | Parlophone (UK) Capitol (U.S.) |
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| Writer(s) | Lennon/McCartney | |
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| The Beatles singles chronology | ||
| "Help!" (1965, UK) |
"We Can Work It Out" / "Day Tripper" (1965, UK) |
"Paperback Writer" (1966, UK) |
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| "Yesterday" (1965, U.S.) |
"We Can Work It Out" / "Day Tripper" (1965, U.S.) |
"Nowhere Man" (1966, U.S.) |
| "We Can Work It Out" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Stevie Wonder | ||
| from the album Signed, Sealed, and Delivered | ||
| B-side(s) | "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" | |
| Released | 1971 | |
| Genre | R&B | |
| Length | 3:19 | |
| Label | Tamla | |
| Writer(s) | John Lennon, Paul McCartney | |
| Producer(s) | Stevie Wonder | |
| Chart positions | ||
| Stevie Wonder singles chronology | ||
| "Heaven Help Us All" (1970) |
"We Can Work It Out" / "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" (1971) |
"If You Really Love Me" (1971) |
"We Can Work It Out" is a song written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon and released by The Beatles as a "double A-sided" single with "Day Tripper", the first time both sides of a single were so designated in an initial release.[1] The song is a brilliant example of Lennon-McCartney collaboration,[2] at a depth that happened only rarely after they wrote the hit singles of 1963. This song, and their masterpiece "A Day in the Life", are among the notable exceptions.[1]
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[edit] Composition
McCartney wrote the words and music to the verses and bridges, with lyrics that "might have been personal" and thus a reference to his relationship with Jane Asher.[3] McCartney then took the song to Lennon, and Lennon wrote the words and music to the middle eight.[4]
With its intimations of mortality, Lennon's sixteen-bar bridge contrasts typically with what Lennon saw as McCartney's cajoling optimism.[1] As Lennon told Playboy in 1980, "You've got Paul writing, 'We can work it out / We can work it out'—real optimistic, y'know, and me, impatient: 'Life is very short, and there's no time / For fussing and fighting, my friend.'"[4] Based on those comments, some critics overemphasized McCartney's optimism, neglecting the toughness in passages written by McCartney,[1] such as "Do I have to keep on talking until I can't go on?". Lennon's middle shifts focus from McCartney's concrete reality to a philosophical perspective in B minor, illustrating this with a waltz-time section suggested by George Harrison that leads back to the verse,[3] possibly meant to suggest tiresome struggle.[1] Ian MacDonald said, "[Lennon's] passages are so suited to his Salvation Army harmonium that it's hard to imagine them not being composed on it. The swell-pedal crescendos he adds to the verses are, on the other hand, textural washes added in the studio, the first of their kind on a Beatles record and signposts to the enriched sound-palette of Revolver."[1]
[edit] Recording and release
The Beatles recorded "We Can Work It Out" on 20 October 1965, four days after its accompanying single track, with an overdub session on 29 October.[5] They spent nearly 11 hours on the song, by far the longest expenditure of studio time up to that point.[1]
In a discussion about what song to release as a single, Lennon argued "vociferously" for "Day Tripper", differing with the majority view that "We Can Work It Out" was a more commercial song.[3] As a result, the single was marketed as the first "double A-side," but airplay and point-of-sale requests soon proved "We Can Work It Out" to be more popular, and it reached No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic, The Beatles' fastest-selling single since "Can't Buy Me Love," their previous McCartney-led A-side in the UK.[1]
[edit] Cover versions
- In 1968, Deep Purple recorded a cover version of the song on their album The Book of Taliesyn.
- In 1970, Stevie Wonder covered the song on his album Signed, Sealed, and Delivered, and released it as a single in 1971. That single reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
- "We Can Work It Out" has been covered by both Petula Clark and Valerie Simpson.
- In 1976, The Four Seasons did a cover version of the song for the ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.
- In 1990, Tesla covered the song on their live album Five Man Acoustical Jam.
- In 2002, Heather Nova recorded a version for the I Am Sam soundtrack, which contained many Beatles covers, only some of which were in the I Am Sam film (released in 2001).
- In 1991, McCartney played an acoustic version of the song for his MTV Unplugged performance, memorable for his flubbing the first verse and his good-natured reaction, later released on Unplugged (The Official Bootleg).
[edit] Cultural references
- The song is mentioned in the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, starring Katharine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier and Spencer Tracy.
- In 1988, Bad Religion quoted the line "There is no time for fussing and fighting my friend" from "We Can Work It Out" in the song "You" on their album Suffer.
| Preceded by "The Carnival Is Over" by The Seekers |
UK number one single (The Beatles version) December 16, 1965 (5 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Keep On Running" by Spencer Davis Group |
| Preceded by "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single (The Beatles version) January 8, 1966 |
Succeeded by "My Love" by Petula Clark |
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h Ian MacDonald (1994). Revolution in the Head: the Beatles' Records and the Sixties. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 136-137. ISBN 0-8050-2780-7.
- ^ Mark Hertsgaard (1995). A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles. New York: Delacorte Press, 150. ISBN 0-385-31377-2.
- ^ a b c Barry Miles (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 210. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- ^ a b David Sheff (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press, 178-179. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
- ^ Mark Lewisohn (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books, 64, 66. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
