There’s No Time For Fussing and Fighting, My Friend
Here’s my disclaimer. I really like “We Can Work It Out.” In fact, it was one of my first favorite songs by The Beatles back when I first began to discover our boys when I was around ten years old in 1974. Musically, there is nothing that I don’t love about it. The melody, the harmonium (oh, how I love the sound of the harmonium), the harmony on the bridge sections, the little waltz bits during the bridges and at the end, it’s all incredible. Lyrically, well let’s look at what John said about it in a 1980 interview:
“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.’”1
Interestingly, that word, “impatient,” has been changed to “pessimistic” by several authors. Not the quote itself, but how the authors interpret what John said. For example, this one by Howard Elson: “McCartney wrote the optimistic verse, while John contributed the pessimistic middle…”2 Even the wonderful Beatles Bible website states: “Paul McCartney wrote the upbeat verses and chorus…while John Lennon had the idea for the pessimistic ‘Life is very short’ counterpoint.”3
The Meanings of Words
To start, I can’t wrap my head around how saying that life is too short for fighting is pessimistic. Speaking as somewhat of an expert on pessimism (not really much of a joke), I don’t see how that line connotates a belief that the worst will inevitably happen. Far from it. There is at least some hope. As for impatient, I’m not so sure I think John had that quite right, either. Now if it were said in obvious anger, maybe, since impatience does carry with it a level of annoyance. But I will put into italics here a very important part: “my friend.”
Okay, so how about that optimism in the verses? No doubt, the view by the “speaker” that it is absolutely possible to work things out is optimistic. Spot on. I think John was right on the money with that one. So now let’s take a look at how that conclusion is reached.
The Verses, Kind Of
I’m going to keep on saying this until you agree! If you don’t listen to me we’re breaking up! Your agreement will be considered working it out. You think you’re right but you’re wrong! Come to my side, which would constitute working it out, or I’m going to bed! Okay, maybe I could be wrong in the end, but if you don’t agree with me now we’re breaking up soon!
Well, I guess it’s optimistic for the person who thinks they’re about to be agreed with, so there’s that. But I have long found it funny that people actually think of “We Can Work It Out” as a nice, happy song about people coming to an agreement.
Some Words From Mr. McCartney
Here’s where I want to be a little more serious, because the fact is that when Paul wrote those verses he and Jane Asher were having a tough time in their relationship. Paul said, “Most of the time we got on really well, but there would be odd moments when one or the other of us would get hurt.”4 In terms of the message of “We Can Work It Out,” he said, “If you wanted to say it in one line, it would be, ‘let’s not argue’ [kind of what John was saying in the bridge section]. If you wanted to say it in two lines: ‘Let’s not argue / Listen to me.’ Obviously, that’s quite selfish. But so is the song.”4
That is correct. Paul himself characterized “We Can Work It Out” as an obviously selfish song. So there you have it. As we should have guessed, Paul did know exactly what he was doing and what he was saying. I guess we shouldn’t doubt him. But maybe we should listen to him as well!
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Next up: The Jets Go to Hamburg. Looking forward to that! One week from today will see Part One of a three part series called Then and Now, written by Billy J. Kramer. Very exciting!
- Adamson
Photo: Bröder Anderssen harmonium of Finnish harmonium player Kaisu Försti, by Lukas Korpelainen, 3rd of April, 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harmonium_(Br%C3%B6der_Anderssen).jpg
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Quotes:
1) Last Interview, by David Sheff (Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 2000), p. 177-178.
2) McCartney: Songwriter, by Howard Elson (W.H. Allen, London, 1986), p. 90.
3) https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/we-can-work-it-out/
4) both - The Lyrics, by Paul McCartney (Allen Lane, London, 2021), p. 783.
It's always been a favorite song too but I've also always known about the selfish bit and in my less charitable moments about Paul (as rare as they are 😂) bring up what a jackass he is on this one. It's exactly as you (and he!) says. And you know how I feel about people who always think they're right...
When I was a kid, I also used to think he was singing "there's a chance that we might Paul McCartney before too long" instead of "we might fall apart before too long".
Iirc George was the one who suggested the waltz bits/change of tempo in the middle eight even though he doesn't often get credited for it.