The Beatles
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The Beatles
“Eleanor Rigby” is a song about loneliness and depression representing a departure from their early pop love songs.
This is an early example of the Beatles taking risks and dabbling in other genres; in this particular example it’s baroque pop, as made evident by the string arrangements. During the...
[Intro: Paul McCartney, John Lennon & George Harrison]
Ah, look at all the lonely people!
Ah, look at all the lonely people!
[Verse 1: Paul McCartney]
Eleanor Rigby
Picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window
Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?
[Chorus: Paul McCartney]
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
[Verse 2: Paul McCartney]
Father McKenzie
Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working
Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?
[Chorus: Paul McCartney]
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
[Bridge: Paul McCartney, John Lennon & George Harrison]
Ah, look at all the lonely people!
Ah, look at all the lonely people!
[Verse 3: Paul McCartney]
Eleanor Rigby
Died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie
Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved
[Outro: Paul McCartney]
All the lonely people (Ah, look at all the lonely people!)
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people (Ah, look at all the lonely people!)
Where do they all belong?
Eleanor Rigby was written by Paul McCartney & John Lennon.
Eleanor Rigby was produced by George Martin.
The Beatles released Eleanor Rigby on Fri Aug 05 1966.
At first, McCartney improvised the name “Ola Na Tungee”, which morphed into “Miss Daisy Hawkins”. He considered that “inauthentic”, so took Eleanor from Eleanor Bron, the female lead in Help!, and “Rigby” from Rigby & Evens Ltd, Wine & Spirit Shippers, a shop in Bristol.
Although McCartney made up the name himself, coincidentally, there is an Eleanor Rigby buried in Woolton Cemetery, Liverpool, next to the church where Paul met John. She died in 1939, aged 44, having been married to a Thomas Woods.
Paul originally called the priest “Father McCartney” because it fit the song’s rhythm, but didn’t want people to think it meant his literal father.
John wanted to stay McCartney, but I said, ‘No, it’s my dad! Father McCartney.’ He said, ‘It’s good, it works fine.’ I agreed it worked, but I didn’t w...
Paul McCartney said about the song:
I wrote “Eleanor Rigby” when I was living in London and had a piano in the basement. I used to disappear there, and while I was fiddling on a chord some words came out: “Dazzie-de-da-zu picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been…” This idea of someo...
Paul McCartney explained in a November 2020 piece for Rolling Stone:
‘Eleanor Rigby’ was based on old ladies I knew as a kid. For some reason or other, I got great relationships with a couple of local old ladies. I was thinking the other day, I don’t know how I met them, it wasn’t like they were fa...
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