We Can Work It Out (1965)

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By: The Beatles.

The Beatles are perhaps the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful popular music bands in history. Their highly influential music and style revolutionized the music industry in the 1960s, and they continue to be held in high regard for their artistic achievements and role in the history of popular music.

"We Can Work It Out" was recorded on October 20 and 29, 1965, with Paul McCartney (born James Paul McCartney June 18, 1942) on vocal and bass, John Lennon (born John Winston Lennon October 9, 1940, died December 8, 1980) on vocal, rhythm guitar and harmonium, George Harrison (born February 24, 1943, died November 29, 2001) on backing vocals and tambourine and Ringo Starr (born Richard Starkey July 7, 1940) on drums.

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.

Chart position: #1 (US), three weeks, #1 (UK), five weeks.

It was their fastest-selling single, breaking the record held by "Can't Buy Me Love". It ranked #6 on Billboard's Top 100 songs of the year for 1966.

It was the last of six #1 US singles in a row, a record at the time. It was preceded by "I Feel Fine", "Eight Days a Week", "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", and "Yesterday".

It was preceded at #1 in the US by "The Sounds Of Silence" (Simon And Garfunkel) and succeeded by "My Love" (Petula Clark).

The Top Ten Songs: January 8, 1966 (US Billboard Hot 100).

1. "We Can Work It Out" (Beatles)
2. "The Sounds of Silence" (Simon and Garfunkel)
3. "She's Just My Style" (Gary Lewis and the Playboys)
4. "Flowers on the Wall" (Statler Brothers)
5. "Ebb Tide" (Righteous Brothers)
6. "Over and Over" (Dave Clark Five)
7. "I Got You (I Feel Good)" (James Brown)
8. "Five O'Clock World" (Vogues)
9. "Turn! Turn! Turn!" (Byrds)
10. "Day Tripper" (Beatles)

Written by: John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Lennon and McCartney are two of the most popular composers and singers of popular music. Paul McCartney is listed in the Guinness World Records as the most successful composer in popular music history, with a record twenty-nine US number one singles (twenty of them with The Beatles, the rest with his group Wings and as a solo artist). McCartney has written/co-written credit on over 50 top ten hits, more than any other songwriter.

"We Can Work It Out" is one of the rare Lennon/McCartney collaborations that happened after they wrote their first hit singles in 1963.

In the 1998 biography Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, McCartney said, "I wrote it as a more uptempo thing, country and western. I had the idea, the title, had a couple of verses and the basic idea for it, then 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 waltz time, like a German waltz. That came on the session, it was one of the cases of the arrangement being done on the session."

Also by: Stevie Wonder, whose version reached #13 (US) in 1971. It also earned Wonder a second Grammy Award nomination in 1972 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.


Download MP3s from Amazon.com:

• Paul McCartney - We Can Work It Out (MP3)

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