We Can Work It Out

For many of the early hit singles in the songwriting career of Lennon and McCartney, the two usually worked together, "eyeball to eyeball" as John once said, resulting in compositions that sounded as if they came from a single source.  As they progressed, each partner wrote more and more on his own, only inviting input from the other when inspiration failed and a fresh viewpoint was needed to complete the work at hand.  Those who were listening closely could begin to detect which Beatle wrote which section of any given song.  Such was the case with We Can Work It Out from late 1965, which is generally regarded as a superb meeting of the songwriters' minds.

This is one of a number of songs that McCartney wrote around this time in reference to his troubled relationship with fiancee and actress Jane Asher.  Though the title of the composition is hopeful, the singer of the verses is deeply entrenched in his position in the argument, and unwilling to even consider his lover's point of view.  Lennon added the bridge, which is more reflective, though most critics tend to read this section as simply being impatient.  However one may interpret them, the two portions of the song complement one another so well that they seem to come from the same pen.

The Beatles spent an entire day on this number on October 20th, 1965.  A good chunk of the afternoon session must have been devoted to the arrangement before the group nailed the backing track on only the second take.  With Paul on bass and Ringo on drums, John played an acoustic guitar and George concentrated on playing a shifting tambourine pattern.  In the evening, John sat at a harmonium which was in the studio and overdubbed two different parts, sounding very much like an accordion.  Paul double-tracked his lead vocal, with John joining in for the bridges. 

On October 28th, a mono mix was prepared - not for record, but for a television program called The Music of Lennon and McCartney.  When Paul and John heard this mix, they were unhappy with their vocals, prompting them to re-record them on October 29th.  For the TV special, which, sadly, did not air here in the US, John used the harmonium at the Granada TV studio from the program Coronation Street, while George sported an electric guitar instead of John's acoustic as heard on the recording.  Miming to this song and its flip side Day Tripper before an imaginary audience gave the Beatles' brain trust an idea.  

As a result, November 23rd, 1965 was devoted to producing ten black and white videos at Twickenham Film Studios, which could be sent out worldwide in lieu of live appearances.  Three of them were of We Can Work It Out, once again showing George with an electric guitar, and John sitting at an organ in this instance.  Two of these can be viewed on the video collection 1+.  In both, John mugs for the camera, tries to make Paul laugh, and eventually gives up pretending to play the keyboard part correctly. 

Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out was released as a double A-sided single.  Day Tripper fared somewhat better in the British market, but it was We Can Work It Out that went to number one in the US.  In June of 1966, Capitol placed both sides of the single on the compilation album "Yesterday"...and Today.  At the end of '66, both sides appeared on the UK album A Collection of Beatles' Oldies.  The group briefly added We Can Work It Out to their live set for their December 1965 tour of the UK.

The song can be found on several post-career collections including The Red Album, 20 Greatest Hits (both the US and UK versions), Past Masters Volume Two, and 1.