We Can Work It Out

For other uses of "We Can Work It Out", see We Can Work It Out (disambiguation).
"We Can Work It Out"

US picture sleeve
Single by The Beatles
A-side "Day Tripper"
Released 3 December 1965 (UK)
6 December 1965 (US)
Format 7"
Recorded 20 & 29 October 1965
EMI Studios, London
Genre Folk rock[1]
Length 2:15
Label Parlophone (UK)
Capitol (US)
Writer(s) Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s) George Martin
Certification Gold (RIAA)
The Beatles UK singles chronology
"Help!"
(1965)		 "We Can Work It Out"/
"Day Tripper"
(1965)		 "Paperback Writer"
(1966)
The Beatles US singles chronology
"Yesterday"
(1965)		 "We Can Work It Out"/
"Day Tripper"
(1965)		 "Nowhere Man"
(1966)
Music sample
"We Can Work It Out"

"We Can Work It Out" is a song by the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It was released as a "double A-sided" single with "Day Tripper", the first time both sides of a single were so designated in an initial release. Both songs were recorded during the Rubber Soul sessions.[2]

The song is an example of Lennon–McCartney collaboration,[3] at a depth that happened only rarely after they wrote the hit singles of 1963. This song, "A Day in the Life", "Baby, You're a Rich Man", and "I've Got a Feeling", are among the notable exceptions.[2]

Composition

McCartney wrote the words and music to the verses and the chorus, with lyrics that "might have been personal", probably a reference to his relationship with Jane Asher.[4] McCartney then took the song to Lennon:

I took it to John to finish it off, and we wrote the middle together. Which is nice: 'Life is very short. There's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend.' Then it was George Harrison's idea to put the middle into 3/4 time, like a German waltz. That came on the session, it was one of the cases of the arrangement being done on the session.[4]

With its intimations of mortality, Lennon's contribution to the twelve-bar bridge contrasts typically with what Lennon saw as McCartney's cajoling optimism,[2] a contrast also seen in other collaborations by the pair, such as "Getting Better" and "I've Got a Feeling". As Lennon told Playboy in 1980:

In We Can Work It Out, Paul did the first half, I did the middle eight. But 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.'[5]

Based on those comments, some critics overemphasised McCartney's optimism, neglecting the toughness in passages written by McCartney,[2] 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 the waltz-time section suggested by George Harrison that leads back to the verse,[4] possibly meant to suggest tiresome struggle.[2]

Music critic 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.[2]

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.[6] They spent nearly 11 hours on the song, by far the longest expenditure of studio time up to that point.[2]

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.[4] 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.[2] It has sold 1.39 million copies in the UK.[7]

"We Can Work It Out" was the last of six number one singles in a row on the American charts, a record at the time.[8] It was preceded by "I Feel Fine", "Eight Days a Week", "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", and "Yesterday".[9] The song became the band's 11th number one, accomplished in just under two years time.

Both sides of the single entered the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart the week ending December 18, 1965. Just three weeks later (January 8, 1966), "We Can Work It Out" hit number 1 on the chart, while "Day Tripper" entered the Top 10 at number 10. Ultimately, "We Can Work It Out" spent three non-consecutive weeks at number 1, while "Day Tripper" peaked at number 5.

The Beatles made 10 black-and-white promo films for television broadcasters on 23 November 1965, at Twickenham Film Studios in London, as they were often unable to make personal appearances by that time. Three of the films were mimed performances of "We Can Work It Out", in all of which Lennon was seated at a harmonium. The most frequently-broadcast of the three versions was a straightforward performance piece with the group wearing black suits. Another had the group wearing the stage suits from their Shea Stadium performance on 15 August; the third opens with a shot of Lennon with a sunflower in front of his eye.[10]

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).

One of the November 1965 promo films was included in the Beatles' 2015 video compilation 1, and two were included in the three-disc versions of the compilation, titled 1+.[11]

Personnel

Personnel per MacDonald[2]

MacDonald was not sure whether or not Harrison sang a harmony vocal part.[2] MacDonald praised the tambourine playing and noted that some sources attribute it to Harrison, not Starr. However, MacDonald considers it more likely that Starr played the instrument on the recording.[2]

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (1965–66) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[12] 1
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[13] 3
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[14] 1
Germany (Official German Charts)[15] 2
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[16] 1
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[17] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[18] 1
US Cash Box Top 100[19] 1

Year-end charts

Chart (1966) Rank
US Billboard [20] 16
US Cash Box [21] 11

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/Sales
United States (RIAA)[22] Gold 1,000,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Deep Purple version

"Exposition/We Can Work It Out"
Song by Deep Purple from the album The Book of Taliesyn
Released December 1968
Recorded August 1968
Genre Progressive rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock
Length 7:06
Label Harvest Records (UK)
Tetragrammaton (US)
Writer(s) Beethoven, Ritchie Blackmore, Nick Simper, Jon Lord, Ian Paice
Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s) Derek Lawrence
The Book of Taliesyn track listing

"Kentucky Woman"
(3)		 "Exposition/We Can Work It Out"
(4)		 "Shield"
(5)

Deep Purple covered it on their second album The Book of Taliesyn, from 1968. The band drastically reworked it, as they always did with covers. The first three minutes of the song is a fast, progressive instrumental jam incorporating themes from classical music (notably Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet) called "Exposition," which seamlessly drifts over into the actual Beatles song.

Such overblown arrangements and attempts at making a rather simple song sound epic, was normal for Deep Purple in this period, and they had already followed the same structure on their covers on the debut album (such as The Leaves' "Hey Joe"). Reportedly, the band recorded their version of the song because Paul McCartney himself had stated that he was really fond of their previous Beatles cover, "Help!", which was featured on Shades of Deep Purple. It was never performed live again after 1969.

Stevie Wonder version

"We Can Work It Out"
Single by Stevie Wonder
from the album Signed, Sealed & Delivered
B-side "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer"
Released March 1971
Genre R&B
Length 3:19
Label Tamla
Writer(s) Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s) Stevie Wonder
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)

In 1970, Stevie Wonder covered the song on his album Signed, Sealed & Delivered, and released it as a single in 1971. That single reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Stevie Wonder's cover version earned his second Grammy Award nomination in 1972, for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

Wonder performed his version of the song for McCartney after the latter was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990.

In 2010, after McCartney was awarded the Gershwin Prize by the Library of Congress, Wonder (who had himself received the Gershwin Prize the year before) again performed his arrangement of the song at a White House ceremony held in McCartney's honor. Wonder performed it a third time in January 2014 at the 50th anniversary tribute of The Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Other cover versions

In popular culture

Notes

  1. ↑ "We Can Work It Out review".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 MacDonald 2005, pp. 171–172.
  3. ↑ Hertsgaard 1995, p. 150.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Miles 1997, p. 210.
  5. ↑ Sheff 2000, p. 177–178.
  6. ↑ Lewisohn 1988, pp. 64, 66.
  7. ↑ Sedghi, Ami (4 November 2012). "UK's million-selling singles: the full list". Guardian. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  8. ↑ Fred Bronson's Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, 5th Edition.
  9. ↑ Wallgren 1982, pp. 38–45.
  10. ↑ The Beatles Bible 2008.
  11. ↑ Rowe, Matt (18 September 2015). "The Beatles 1 To Be Reissued With New Audio Remixes... And Videos". The Morton Report. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  12. ↑ Kent, David (2005). Australian Chart Book (1940–1969). Turramurra: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-44439-5.
  13. ↑ "Ultratop.be – The Beatles – We Can Work It Out" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  14. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 5686." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  15. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – The Beatles – We Can Work It Out". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  16. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – The Beatles – We Can Work It Out" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  17. ↑ "Archive Chart: 1965-12-22" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  18. ↑ "The Beatles – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for The Beatles. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  19. ↑ Hoffmann, Frank (1983). The Cash Box Singles Charts, 1950-1981. Metuchen, NJ & London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. pp. 32–34.
  20. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1966/Top 100 Songs of 1966". musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  21. ↑ "The Cash Box Year-End Charts: 1966". Cashbox Archives. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  22. ↑ "American single certifications – The Beatles – We Can Work It Out". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 14 May 2016. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH

References

External links

Preceded by
"The Carnival Is Over" by The Seekers		 UK number one single (The Beatles version)
16 December 1965 (5 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"Keep On Running" by Spencer Davis Group
Preceded by
"The Sounds of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel		 Billboard Hot 100 number one single (The Beatles version)
8–21 January 1966 (2 weeks)
29 January – 4 February 1966 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
"My Love" by Petula Clark
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