(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please refer down below)
The Beatles - "We Can Work It Out"
Hit Number 1: January 8, 1966
Stay at Number 1: 3 Weeks
This was the first time I've seen the Beatles in their first big disagreement. They were looking for their next single for release, but had two options to pick from. The first was the blazing fireball of a banger "Day Tripper", and the other being the much more relaxed and laid back "We Can Work It Out", with "Day Tripper", in my opinion, the better song. (It peaked at #5, and it's a 9) John Lennon had been the principle writer on "Day Tripper" and had been pushing hard for it to be released as the group's next A-Side. However, EMI (the group's label) announced that it would be Paul McCartney's "We Can Work It Out" as the A-Side instead. Lennon contradicted this publicly only a couple days later, and as a result it was ultimately decided that both would share an A-Side, which was the first time that had ever happened.
Even though Lennon strongly thought of "Day Tripper" as the song with higher potential, he was proven wrong when it stalled out at #5, and "We Can Work It Out" soared to the top of the charts for 3 weeks. Even though the song, like all Beatles songs, was credited as being written by the Lennon-McCartney team, it's mainly a McCartney production. He said that the song's lyrics "might have been personal", leading to many thinking it was about his relationship with then girlfriend Jane Asher. That's still up for debate today. The song is about how life is too short for arguing, and it's best to work out any difficult situation to make both sides happy. A quick glance at the lyrics makes the song look like something you would have sung in an elementary school choir concert. But the Beatles, like they always do, find ways to make the songs with the simplest lyrics more sophisticated, while still keeping it catchy and memorable. There's a great hook that I find makes the song work, that goes "Life is very short/and there's no tiiiiiiiiime/for fussing and fighting my friend!". Not only is that the most memorable part of the song, but it's the moment where "We Can Work It Out" wakes up a little bit, and keeps the song from being too worn out, or dried up.
Again, "Day Tripper" is the better of the two songs on the A-Side, but "We Can Work It Out" is nothing to scoff at. It's a solidly built song with plenty of those old Beatles hooks that made them great in the first place. Sure, the Beatles might have had better songs in your opinion, but we need to give a little bit of love to "We Can Work It Out". It's a really good song.
GRADE: 8/10
JUST MISSED:
The Beach Boys' lively and fun "Barbara Ann" peaked at #2; kept off #1 by "We Can Work It Out". It's an 8.
SONG REFERENCED:
The Beatles - "Day Tripper"
MY INSPIRATION / MORE INFORMATION:
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