.' We Can Work It Out' is a song by the English rock band, written. It was first issued as a single with ' in December 1965. The release marked the first time in Britain that both tracks on an artist's single were promoted as joint A-sides.
The song was recorded during the sessions for the band's album. The single was number 1 in Britain (where it won the for the top-selling A-side of 1965), America, Australia, Canada and Ireland.' We Can Work It Out' is a comparatively rare example of a collaboration from this period in the Beatles' career, in that it recalls the level of collaboration the two songwriters had shared when writing the group's of 1963. This song, ', ' and ', are among the notable exceptions. Contents.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. McCartney then took the song to Lennon:I took it to John to finish it off, and we wrote the middle together.
Various – We Can Work It Out (Covers & Cookies Of Lennon, McCartney & The Beatles) Year: 2005. Tracklist –Al Green I Want To Hold Your Hand 2:20. Oct 1, 2014 - 2 Stevie Wonder – We Can Work It Out. The Beatles' 1965 original was a classic Lennon-McCartney two hander: McCartney wrote the. In the earliest days of The Beatles, the fact that John Lennon and Paul McCartney began composing their own material as opposed to using songs provided by other songwriters was highly unusual.
Which is nice: 'Life is very short. There's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend.' Then it was '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. As with several of his songs over 1965–66, McCartney drew inspiration for 'We Can Work It Out' from his relationship with actress (pictured performing during the 's 1967 US repertory tour).With its intimations of mortality, Lennon's contribution to the twelve-bar bridge contrasts typically with what Lennon saw as McCartney's cajoling optimism, a contrast also seen in other collaborations by the pair, such as ' and 'I've Got a Feeling'.
As Lennon told 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.' In author 's view, some critics have overemphasised the extent of McCartney's optimism in the song and neglect the toughness in passages written by McCartney, 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-like passage suggested by Harrison that leads back to the verse, possibly meant to suggest tiresome struggle.
Rather than a formal change to 3/4 time, the waltz effect is created through and within the regular 4/4 rhythm.MacDonald comments on the song:Lennon's passages are so suited to his 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. Recording.
A pump organ. Lennon played a Mannborg harmonium on the recording.The Beatles recorded 'We Can Work It Out' at EMI Studios (later ) in London on 20 October 1965, during the sessions for their album.
We Can Work It Out: Covers Cookies Of Lennon Mccartney The Beatles Tour
Along with Lennon's ', the song was earmarked for the non-album single that would accompany the release of the new LP. The band taped a satisfactory basic track in just two takes. With nearly eleven hours dedicated to the song, however, it was by far their longest expenditure of studio time up to that point. A vocal session took place on 29 October.No record exists of the band members' exact contributions to the recording, leading to uncertainty regarding the playing of some of the instruments.
Reduced to a single track in the final mix, where it was placed hard left in the stereo image, the group's initial performance consisted of acoustic guitar, bass, tambourine and drums. While musicologist credits these parts to Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and, respectively, authors Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin suggest that McCartney, as the song's main composer, was the acoustic guitarist and Lennon instead played bass.
Two harmonium parts were overdubbed, using EMI's Mannborg harmonium. Promotional films For the first time for one of their singles, the Beatles filmed promotional clips for 'We Can Work It Out' and 'Day Tripper'. Subsequently, known as the 'Intertel Promos', these clips were intended as a way to save the band having to appear in person on popular British television shows such as and, and also ensured that the Beatles reached their large international audience.Filming took place at in south-west London on 23 November 1965, with as director.
The Beatles made a total of ten black-and-white promos that day, filming clips for the new songs as well as for their previous hit singles ', ' and ' 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 was a straightforward performance piece with the group wearing black suits. In the description of journalist: 'At first, they're playing it all straight in their suits, until John sets out to make Paul crack up on camera.
He makes it impossible for anyone else to keep a straight face – by the end, he's playing the organ with his feet.' Another clip shows the group wearing the stage suits from their performance on 15 August.
The third clip opens with a still photograph of Lennon with a in front of his eye.One of the November 1965 promo films was included in the Beatles' 2015 video compilation, and the third promo clip was included in the three-disc versions of the compilation, titled 1+. Release In a discussion about which of the two songs should be the of the new single, Lennon had argued for ', differing with the majority view that 'We Can Work It Out' was a more commercial song. On 15 November, announced that the A-side would be 'We Can Work It Out', only for Lennon to publicly contradict this two days later. As a result, the single was marketed as the first-ever 'double A-side'. Lennon's championing of 'Day Tripper', for which he was the principal writer, was based on his belief that the Beatles' rock sound should be favoured over the softer style of 'We Can Work It Out'. Airplay and point-of-sale requests soon proved 'We Can Work It Out' to be the more popular of the two sides.The single was released on EMI's label in Britain (as Parlophone R 5389) on 3 December 1965, the same day as Rubber Soul. The two releases coincided with speculation in the UK press that the Beatles' superiority in the pop world since 1963 might be coming to an end, given the customary two or three years that most acts could expect to remain at the peak of their popularity.
'Day Tripper' / 'We Can Work It Out' entered the (at the time, the chart) on 15 December, at number 2, before holding the top position for five consecutive weeks. The single also failed to top the national chart published by in its first week – marking the first occasion since December 1963 that a new Beatles single had not immediately entered at number 1. Although the single was an immediate number 1 on the 's chart, the and newspapers both published articles highlighting the apparent decline.
The record was the Beatles' tenth consecutive chart-topping single in the UK and the band's fastest-selling single there since ', their previous McCartney-led A-side. At the following year's, 'We Can Work It Out' was acknowledged as the best-selling single of 1965, ahead of 'Help!' By November 2012, it had sold 1.39 million copies in the UK, making it the group's fifth. As of December 2018, the double A-side was the 54th best-selling single of all time in the UK – one of six Beatles songs included on the top sales rankings published by the.In the United States, where the single was issued by on 6 December (as Capitol 5555), both songs entered the on the week ending 18 December.
On 8 January 1966, 'We Can Work It Out' hit number 1 on the chart, while 'Day Tripper' entered the top ten at number 10. 'We Can Work It Out' spent three non-consecutive weeks at number 1, while 'Day Tripper' peaked at number 5.
The song was the band's eleventh US number 1, accomplished in just under two years since their debut on the Hot 100. It was their sixth consecutive number 1 single on the American charts, a record at the time. The single was certified gold by the, for sales of 1 million or over, on 6 January 1966.The Beatles performed 'We Can Work It Out' on their, which took place on 3–12 December 1965.
In 1991, McCartney played an acoustic version of the song for his performance, later released on.Cover versions Deep Purple 'Exposition/We Can Work It Out'byfrom the albumReleasedDecember 1968Length7: 06,covered it on their second album, 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 's ) called 'Exposition', which drifts over into the 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 McCartney had stated that he was impressed with their previous Beatles cover, 'Help!' , which was featured on. Stevie Wonder 'We Can Work It Out'byfrom the album'ReleasedMarch 1971Length3: 19Stevie Wondersingles chronology'(1970)' We Can Work It Out'(1971)'(1971)In 1970, covered the song on his album, and released it as a single in 1971. The single reached number 13 on the. Wonder's version earned him his fifth nomination in 1972, for.Wonder performed the song for McCartney after the latter was presented with a in 1990. In 2010, after McCartney was awarded the by the, Wonder again performed his arrangement of 'We Can Work It Out' at a ceremony held in McCartney's honour. Wonder performed it a third time in January 2014, at the 50th anniversary tribute of the Beatles' appearance on.Other artists In his discussion of the various cover versions of 'We Can Work It Out', describes 's recording, released on her 1966 album, as 'too perky for its own good'.
He highlights 's version, from their 1975 album, as a 'bold' reading in which the band dispensed with the song's melody to fashion 'a worried blues. More than Fab Four'.In 1976, the song was ' contribution to the soundtrack of, a musical documentary that author described as 'the most bizarre' of several film and television works that capitalised on EMI, now free of its contractual obligations to the Beatles, flooding the market with re-packaged Beatles singles. Schaffner included this heavily orchestrated version, produced by, among the interpretations that 'succeed in making Lennon–McCartney's greatest songs sound, at best, like the Beatles' rendition of 'Good Night'. In 1981, covered 'We Can Work It Out' as part of an eight-song Beatles medley in their single '. This version topped the Billboard Hot 100 in June that year. Other artists who have covered the song include,. In popular culture.
The song is mentioned in the 1967 film, starring, and. character in quotes the lyric 'life is very short, and there's no time for fighting or fussing, my friend' during a war of words with character. quoted the lyric 'there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend' in their song 'You' on the album. The same song references McCartney's solo hit '.Personnel According to Walter Everett, the line-up of musicians on the Beatles' recording was as follows:.
– lead vocal, bass guitar. –, acoustic guitar,.
– tambourine. – drumsIn his personnel list for the song, MacDonald notes that some sources attribute the tambourine part to Harrison, yet he considers it more likely that Starr played the instrument. Everett credits Harrison, citing the tambourine's placement in the stereo image with the three other instruments recorded as part of the basic track. Guesdon and Margotin also credit Harrison. Charts and certifications Beatles version. Unterberger, Richie. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
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