|
Eleanor Rigby
(John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
Paul McCartney:
Vocals
John Lennon: Vocals
George Harrison: Vocals
Tony Gilbert: 1st violin
Sidney Sax: Violin
John Sharpe: Violin
Jurgen Hess: Violin
Stephen Shingles: Viola
John Underwood: Viola
Derek Simpson: Cello
Norman Jones: Cello
Recorded
April 28, 29 and June 3 1966.
Available
on:
Revolver
Yellow
Submarine
Anthology 2 (Instrumental version)
The Beatles 1962-1966 (Red Album)
The Beatles 1
A Collection of Beatles Oldies
So who
is Eleanor Rigby?
It is
true that there is gravestone in Liverpool with the name
Eleanor Rigby on it. It is located in the graveyard of St
Peter's Parish Church in Woolton, Liverpool, within yards
of the spot where John and Paul met for the first time in
1957.
However,
this is not where the song title Eleanor Rigby is taken
from, at least not according to Paul McCartney himself.
Paul has
said he got the name Rigby from a shop in Bristol called
Rigby & Evens Ltd, Wine & Spirit Shippers in 22
King Street. His girlfriend at the time, Jane Asher, was
an actress who starred in a play called The Happiest Day
Of Our Life, at the Theatre Royal in 35 King Street. Paul
was waiting for her outside when he spotted the shop.
The name
Eleanor he got from actress Eleanor Bron, who starred in
the Beatles film Help!
Paul initially
got the idea to the song while playing the piano, singing
the line "Daisy Hawkins picks up the rice in the church."
He then thought of Father McCartney, which he later changed
to Father McKenzie after flicking through the telephone
book in search for ideas to names.
Folksinger
Donovan remembers that Paul played him the song while it
was still just a rough draft, and that it then had the odd
title Ola Na Tungee. He said Paul sang him the line "Ola
Na Tungee/ Blowing his mind in the dark/ With a pipe full
of clay."
In the
end, John, George and Ringo, plus their friend Pete Shotton,
contributed with ideas to finish the lyrics to the song
at John's house in Kenwood.
Before
recording Revolver in 1966, Paul McCartney had been listening
a lot to classical music, and this may have inspired the
recording of Eleanor Rigby. In fact the song didn't feature
guitars or drums at all, just strings and vocals. The song
was recorded with an eight-piece string quartet to a score
mostly composed by producer George Martin.
"I
was very much inspired by Bernard Herrman, in particular
a score he did for the Truffaut film Farenheit 451. That
really impressed me, especially the strident string writing,"
George Martin said.
"When
Paul told me he wanted the strings in 'Eleanor Rigby' to
be doing a rhythm it was Herrmann's score which was a particular
influence."
Eleanor
Rigby was released as a single (double A-sided with Yellow
Submarine) in the United Kingdom on August 5 1965, where
it toped the charts for four weeks. In the US it peaked
at number 11.
Eleanor
Rigby
(John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
Ah, look
at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice in the church where a wedding
has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing a face she keeps in a jar by
the door
Who is it for?
All the lonely people, where do they all come from?
All the lonely people, where do they all belong?
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?
All the lonely people, where do they all come from?
All the lonely people, where do they all belong?
Ah, look
at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
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
All the lonely people, where do they all come from?
All the lonely people, where do they all belong?
|
