History of Song

The video below is a cartoon of the Beatles and how they first discovered their inspirations for the song, "Eleanor Rigby." It is somewhat a gimmick, stereotyping the piece, but I believe it helps one to further understand their inspiration in a more graphical and visualizing idea of the concept of this song. Plus it is just plain cute and fun to watch, while still learning! :)

Eleanor Rigby is a song written by the Lennon/McCartney publications in 1966 for the album, Revolver. The music is thanks to an arrangement by George Martin, who created this wonderful piece with a double string quartet. It is a song about loneliness, through the sharing of a story of a lady named 'Eleanor Rigby.' The creation of this song, is best described and quoted by Paul, "I was sitting at the piano when I thought of it. The first few bars just came to me, and I got this name in my head... 'Daisy Hawkins picks up the rice in the church'. I don't know why. I couldn't think of much more so I put it away for a day. Then the name Father McCartney came to me, and all the lonely people. But I thought that people would think it was supposed to be about my Dad sitting knitting his socks. Dad's a happy lad. So I went through the telephone book and I got the name McKenzie." It was later quoted about changing the name from Daisy Hawkins to Eleanor Rigby, by Paul McCartney, who said, "I just liked the name. I was looking for a name that sounded natural. Eleanor Rigby sounded natural." Why Paul put forth a lot of contributions to the song, Lennon arguably said that he contributed to the song lyrics greatly, as well. It was also said that, "The Beatles finished the song in the music room of John Lennon's home at Kenwood. John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and their friend Pete Shotton all listened to McCartney play his song through and contributed ideas. Starr contributed the line "writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear " and suggested making "Father McCartney" darn his socks, which McCartney liked. Shotton then suggested that McCartney change the name of the priest, in case listeners mistook the fictional character in the song for McCartney's own father. Shotton also suggested how to end the song, because Lennon and McCartney could not decide on a mutual ending. His suggestion for the two lonely people to come together, too late, is what prevailed. In the song, Father McKenzie and Eleanor Rigby come together during Eleanor Rogby's funeral.

In 2004, this song was ranked number 137 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 500 greatest songs of all time. 


The recording process was as follows:

Recorded: April 28, 1966 at Abbey Road, London, England with vocals overdubbed April 29, 1966 and another McCartney vocal added June 6, 1966
John Lennon - harmony vocal
Paul McCartney - double-tracked lead vocal
George Harrison - harmony vocal
Session musicians - four violins, two violas, two cellos arranged by George Martin.

This version of the song available on:

UK albums:

Revolver (1966)

A Collection of the Beatles Oldies (But Goldies) (1966)

The Beatles 1962-1966 (1973)

20 Greatest Hits (1982)

Yellow Submarine (Songtrack) (1999)

Beatles 1 (2000)

US albums:

Revolver (1966)

The Beatles 1962-1966 (1973)

Yellow Submarine (Songtrack) (1999)

Beatles  (2000)

Singles:

Yellow Submarine / Eleanor Rigby (1966)

Credits to the information found on this page:

See 'Works Cited' Tab, furthest on the right.