John Lennon (in 1980) - "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, you know. And me, impatient, 'Life is very short and there's no time/ for fussing and fighting, my friend.'"
Paul McCartney (in 1994) - "I wrote it as more of an up-tempo thing, country and western. I had the basic idea, the title, had a couple of verses... then I took it to John to finish it off and we wrote the middle together, which is nice-- 'Life is very short/ And 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... The lyrics might have been personal. It is often a good way to talk to someone or to work your thoughts out. It saves you going to a psychiatrist, you allow yourself to say what you might not say in person."
