Entry count: 6169
The Beatles release double A-sided single from Rubber Soul sessions

The Beatles

We Can Work It Out

Released: December 5th, 1965

Tracks The Beatles

The events we write about at Gaslight Records happened in some form or another 50 years ago to the day. Roll along with us and imagine you are back in 1974.

Support Gaslight Records

"We Can Work It Out" was one of those half dozen songs, first heard in a car, that stunned me with its depth and beauty. In those days, songs were best heard first in a car, freezing the moment forever in TIME and context. It was, in many ways, the high water mark of the Beatles first period, the body of work I came to think of as Pronoun Songs: "I'll get You"; "She loves You"; "From Me to You"; "Love Me Do"; "Please Please Me"; "And I love Her". There are more, but you get the idea.

"We Can Work It Out" was something else. I couldn't quite solve it or shake it for years.

"We Can Work Out" came out of the car radio differently, a solid block of sophisticated art, a progression from single, isolated pronouns to the simple, problem solving, we! There was something unique about the instrumentation; at first, one couldn't name it, any more than one could even tell if the song was uptempo or not. Was it a ballad? Not really. Whatever it was, it was actually beautiful and one knew it on first hearing alone. I was in a car, being driven by a kid who would die within a decade in a grotesque automobile accident. We were stopped at a red light and "We Can Work it Out" was carving out a mythic square in my memory.

The Beatles release double A-sided single from Rubber Soul sessions

There was something about all Beatles' material, prior to Revolver, that made one think of winter, to trick the memory into thinking the songs first arrived in cold weather. When, of course, they couldn't all have come out in winter. And yet, "We Can Work Out" did come out in December, welded to "Day Tripper", one half of a double A-sided 45.

The song deepens, standing the pitiless test of time, and then Lennon's voice cuts through.

So I didn't know what to make of it that first day in the car. The narrator is of course asking that unnamed things be seen from his point of view, but he isn't demanding or even pleading. "Try to see it my way," he asks. (Heard now, the break-up of the "Get Back"/"Let It Be" sessions hovers around McCartney's vocal like psychic undertow, as if predicting the disintegration of the most important band in the world.) "Day Tripper" was obvious, sexy, suggestive, but "We Can Work It Out" was something else. I couldn't quite solve it or shake it for years. We were ending the great Period of Pronouns and didn't realize it. Pronouns would soon become characters -- from the forlorn Ms. Rigby to the mean-spirited Mr. Mustard -- concepts, cartoons and conceits would soon replace the everyday pain of love gone bad.

But listen to "We Can Work it out" again: there is something faithful, trusting, in the song's structure and delivery. Even a suggestion of a waltz. It's an under the radar Beatles track, like "Yes It Is" or "Baby's In Black", but is it as good as I first thought all those years ago? The song deepens, standing the pitiless test of time, and then Lennon's voice cuts through: "Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend"; and now, chilled, fifty years after first hearing it in someone else's car, I understand the pull of its mystery. And embrace it.

More recent news

John Prine returns with second album

News

August 26th, 1972: John Prine returns with second album

 
Joni Mitchell recording 5th studio album

News

August 24th, 1972: Joni Mitchell recording 5th studio album

28-year-old Joni Mitchell has begun recording her 5th studio album in Hollywood, California. For The Roses is Mitchell's follow up to her 1971 album Blue.

 
Bruce Springsteen has begun recording debut album in New York

News

August 23rd, 1972: Bruce Springsteen has begun recording debut album in New York

John Hammond signed Springsteen to Columbia Records earlier this year.

 
Black Sabbath share debut single 'Evil Woman': Listen

News

February 7th, 1970: Black Sabbath share debut single "Evil Woman": Listen

The English rock band's debut album is due out this week.

 
Norman Greenbaum releases 'Spirit In The Sky' from his debut album: Listen

News

December 30th, 1969: Norman Greenbaum releases "Spirit In The Sky" from his debut album: Listen

Greenbaum's sings the gospel on his new single

 
Watch The Jackson 5 perform single from their debut album on Ed Sullivan

News

December 23rd, 1969: Watch The Jackson 5 perform single from their debut album on Ed Sullivan

Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 is the latest release from Motown

 
The Clancy Brothers have released a new album of Christmas songs: Listen

News

December 20th, 1969: The Clancy Brothers have released a new album of Christmas songs: Listen

Irish folk group, The Clancy Brothers have recorded 11 songs to bring a little joy to your Christmas

 
See photos from The Doors album cover shoot in Los Angeles today

News

December 18th, 1969: See photos from The Doors album cover shoot in Los Angeles today

The new Doors album is due for release early next year.

 
Four people died over the weekend at The Altamont Speedway Free Festival

Article

December 10th, 1969: Four people died over the weekend at The Altamont Speedway Free Festival

Here's the story of Altamont in quotes from many of the people involved.

 
The Rolling Stones have released a new studio album ahead of their free concert tomorrow at Altamont

News

December 5th, 1969: The Rolling Stones have released a new studio album ahead of their free concert tomorrow at Altamont

As The Stones finish their run of U.S. concert dates they have released their eighth album, Let It Bleed.

 
Emmylou Harris covers Bob Dylan on debut album

News

December 3rd, 1969: Emmylou Harris covers Bob Dylan on debut album

Listen to Harris's cover of Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" from her album Gliding Bird

 
Peter Stone Brown covers Bob Dylan's 'She Belongs To Me'

Live At The Gaslight

Peter Stone Brown covers Bob Dylan's "She Belongs To Me"

Recorded in Atlantic City at Dylan Fest in 2015

 
Loading more