“Now that’s a wacky idea - let’s try it”: How a critical moment on a 1965 single signposted the Beatles’ growing musical ambitions

We Can Work It Out.

If you could point to the precise moment when the Beatles’ pivoted from chart-angled pop into their expansive second phase, it’s highly likely to have taken place in 1965. It was the year of Rubber Soul - the record which John Lennon retrospectively cited as the turning point in the band’s songwriting. That album’s broadening musical and lyrical reach was encapsulated by a single which revealed the growing strengths of both Lennon and McCartney. And one magical decision in particular exemplified that like no other.

The Song: The Beatles - We Can Work It Out
The Magic Moment: 0:36 - John Lennon’s profound lyrics, the drop into a minor key and the shift to 3/4 waltz time during the bridge