Fun Facts

Fun facts about the song, "Eleanor Rigby" by the Beatles, as credited this from website (click "this" to go to link).

• There is a gravestone for an Eleanor Rigby in St. Peter's Churchyard in Woolton, England. Woolton is a suburb of Liverpool and Lennon first met McCartney at a fete at St Peter's Church. The gravestone bearing the name Eleanor Rigby shows that she died in October 1939, aged 44. However Eleanor was not like the lonely people in McCartney's song, as she was married. Another of the gravestones there has the word "McKenzie" written on it. McCartney has denied that that is the source of the names, though he has agreed that they may have registered subconsciously.

• Paul McCartney (from Observer Music Monthly November 2008): "When I was a kid I was very lucky to have a real cool dad, a working-class gent, who always encouraged us to give up our seat on the bus for old people. This led me into going round to pensioners' houses. It sounds a bit goody-goody, so I don't normally tell too many people. There were a couple of old ladies and I used to go round and say, 'Do you need any shopping done?' These lonely old ladies were something I knew about growing up, and that was what 'Eleanor Rigby' was about - the fact that she died and nobody really noticed. I knew this went on."

• McCartney wasn't sure what this song was going to be about until he came up with the line, "Picks up the rice in a church where a wedding has been." That's when he came up with the story an old, lonely woman.

• The Beatles didn't play any of the instruments on this. All the music came from the string players, who were hired as session musicians. A string section scored by Beatles producer George Martin consisting of 4 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos were used in recording. Paul may have been inspired by the classic composer Vivaldi.

• "Father McKenzie" was originally "Father McCartney." Paul decided he didn't want to freak out his dad and [instead he] picked a name out of the phone book instead.