Eleanor Rigby

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox song "Eleanor Rigby" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album Revolver. It was also issued on a double A-side single, paired with "Yellow Submarine". Credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership, the song is one of only a few in which John Lennon and Paul McCartney later disputed primary authorship.<ref>Template:Harvnb: "One of the rare songs in which Template:Em authorship is disputed is 'Eleanor Rigby'Template:Nbsp..."</ref> Testimony from several independent sources, including George Martin and Pete Shotton, supports McCartney's claim to authorship.<ref>Template:Harvnb: "...Template:Nbsp[T]here is eyewitness testimony from at least four separate and independent sources, [including Martin, William Burroughs, Donovan and Shotton,] all of whom support McCartney's claim to authorship."</ref>

"Eleanor Rigby" continued the transformation of the Beatles from a mainly rock and roll and pop-orientated act to a more experimental, studio-based band. With a double string quartet arrangement by George Martin and lyrics providing a narrative on loneliness, it broke sharply with popular music conventions, musically and lyrically.Template:Sfn The song topped singles charts in Australia, Belgium, Canada, and New Zealand.

Background and inspirationEdit

Paul McCartney came up with the melody for "Eleanor Rigby" as he experimented on his piano.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Donovan recalled hearing McCartney play an early version of the song on guitar, where the character was named Ola Na Tungee. At this point, the song reflected an Indian musical influence and its lyrics alluded to drug use, with references to "blowing his mind in the dark" and "a pipe full of clay".Template:Sfn

The name of the protagonist that McCartney initially chose was not Eleanor Rigby, but Miss Daisy Hawkins.Template:Sfn In 1966, McCartney told Sunday Times journalist Hunter Davies how he got the idea for his song:

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 where a wedding has been." 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 people would think it was supposed to be my dad, sitting knitting his socks. Dad's a happy lad. So I went through the telephone book and I got the name McKenzie.Template:Sfn{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries
}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

McCartney said that the idea to call his character "Eleanor" was possibly because of Eleanor Bron,Template:Sfn the actress who starred with the Beatles in their 1965 film Help!.<ref name="BeatlesInterviews">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Sfn "Rigby" came from the name of a store in Bristol, Rigby & Evens Ltd.Template:Sfn McCartney noticed the store while visiting his girlfriend of the time, the actress Jane Asher, during her run in the Bristol Old Vic's production of The Happiest Days of Your Life in January 1966.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He recalled in 1984, "I just liked the name. I was looking for a name that sounded natural. 'Eleanor Rigby' sounded natural."<ref name="BeatlesInterviews" /><ref name="Mullen/BBCNews">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Refn

In an October 2021 article in The New Yorker, McCartney wrote that his inspiration for "Eleanor Rigby" was an old lady who lived alone and whom he got to know very well. He would go shopping for her and sit in her kitchen listening to stories and her crystal radio set. McCartney said, "just hearing her stories enriched my soul and influenced the songs I would later write."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Writing collaborationEdit

McCartney wrote the melody and first verse alone, after which he presented the song to the Beatles when they were gathered in the music room of John Lennon's home at Kenwood.Template:Sfn Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Lennon's childhood friend Pete Shotton all listened to McCartney play his song through and contributed ideas.Template:Sfn Harrison came up with the "Ah, look at all the lonely people" hook. 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.Template:Sfn It was then that Shotton suggested that McCartney change the name of the priest, in case listeners mistook the fictional character for McCartney's own father.Template:Sfn

McCartney could not decide how to end the song, and Shotton suggested that the two lonely people come together too late as Father McKenzie conducts Eleanor Rigby's funeral. At the time, Lennon rejected the idea out of hand, but McCartney said nothing and used the idea, later acknowledging Shotton's help.Template:Sfn In Lennon's recollection, the final touches were applied to the lyrics in the recording studio, at which point McCartney sought input from Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans, the Beatles' longstanding road managers.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

"Eleanor Rigby" serves as a rare example of Lennon subsequently claiming a more substantial role in the creation of a McCartney composition than is supported by others' recollections.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In the early 1970s, Lennon told music journalist Alan Smith that he wrote "about 70 per cent" of the lyrics, and in a letter to Melody Maker complaining about Beatles producer George Martin's comments in a recent interview, he said that "Around 50 per cent of the lyrics were written by me at the studios and at Paul's place."Template:Sfn<ref name="HitParader/Songalong">Template:Cite magazine</ref>Template:Sfn In 1980, he recalled writing almost everything but the first verse.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Shotton remembered Lennon's contribution as being "virtually nil", while McCartney said that "John helped me on a few words but I'd put it down 80–20 to me, something like that."Template:Sfn Template:Sfn According to McCartney, "In My Life" and "Eleanor Rigby" are the only Lennon–McCartney songs where he and Lennon disagreed over their authorship.Template:Sfn

In musicologist Walter Everett's view, the lyric writing "likely was a group effort".Template:Sfn Historiographer Erin Torkelson Weber says that, from all the available accounts, McCartney was the principal author of the song and only Lennon's post-1970 recollections contradict this.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Refn In the same 1980 interview, Lennon expressed his resentment at the way McCartney had sought their bandmates' and friends' creative input, rather than collaborate with Lennon directly. Lennon added, "That's the kind of insensitivity he would have, which upset me in later years."Template:Sfn In addition to citing this emotional hurt, Weber suggests that the song's critical acclaim may have motivated Lennon's assertions, as he sought to portray himself as a greater musical genius than McCartney in the years following the Beatles' break-up.Template:Sfn Template:Refn

CompositionEdit

MusicEdit

The song is a prominent example of mode mixture, specifically between the Aeolian mode, also known as natural minor, and the Dorian mode. Set in E minor, the song is based on the chord progression Em–C, typical of the Aeolian mode and using notes Template:Music 3, Template:Music 6, and Template:Music7 in this scale. The verse melody is written in Dorian mode, a minor scale with the natural sixth degree.Template:Sfn "Eleanor Rigby" opens with a C-major vocal harmony ("Aah, look at all ..."), before shifting to E-minor (on "lonely people"). The Aeolian C-natural note returns later in the verse on the word "dre-eam" (C–B) as the C chord resolves to the tonic Em, giving an urgency to the melody's mood.

The Dorian mode appears with the CTemplate:Music note (6 in the Em scale) at the beginning of the phrase "in the church". The chorus beginning "All the lonely people" involves the viola in a chromatic descent to the 5th; from 7 (D natural on "All the lonely peo-") to 6 (CTemplate:Music on "-ple") to Template:Music6 (C on "they") to 5 (B on "from"). According to musicologist Dominic Pedler, this adds an "air of inevitability to the flow of the music (and perhaps to the plight of the characters in the song)".Template:Sfn

LyricsEdit

Template:Quote box The lyrics represent a departure from McCartney's previous songs, in their avoidance of first- and second-person pronouns and by diverging from the themes of a standard love song.Template:Sfn The narrator takes the form of a detached onlooker, akin to a novelist or screenwriter. Beatles biographer Steve Turner says that this new approach reflects the likely influence of Ray Davies of the Kinks, specifically the latter's singles "A Well Respected Man" and "Dedicated Follower of Fashion".Template:Sfn

Author Howard Sounes compares the song's narrative to "the isolated broken figures" typical of a Samuel Beckett play, as Rigby dies alone, no mourners attend her funeral, and the priest "seems to have lost his congregation and faith".Template:Sfn In Everett's view, McCartney's description of Rigby and McKenzie elevates individuals' loneliness and wasted lives to a universal level in the manner of Lennon's autobiographical "Nowhere Man". Everett adds that McCartney's imagery is "vivid and yet common enough to elicit enormous compassion for these lost souls".Template:Sfn

RecordingEdit

{{#invoke:Listen|main}} "Eleanor Rigby" does not have a standard pop backing. None of the Beatles played instruments on it, although Lennon and Harrison did contribute harmony vocals.Template:Sfn Like the earlier song "Yesterday", "Eleanor Rigby" employs a classical string ensemble – in this case, an octet of studio musicians, comprising four violins, two violas and two cellos, all performing a score composed by George Martin.Template:Sfn When writing the string arrangement, Martin drew inspiration from Bernard Herrmann's work,Template:Sfn particularly the latter's score for the 1960 film Psycho.Template:Sfn Template:Refn

Whereas "Yesterday" is played legato, "Eleanor Rigby" is played mainly in staccato chords with melodic embellishments. McCartney, reluctant to repeat what he had done on "Yesterday", explicitly expressed that he did not want the strings to sound too cloying. For the most part, the instruments "double up" – that is, they serve as a single string quartet but with two instruments playing each of the four parts. Microphones were placed close to the instruments to produce a more biting and raw sound. Engineer Geoff Emerick was admonished by the string players saying "You're not supposed to do that." Fearing such close proximity to their instruments would expose the slightest deficiencies in their technique, the players kept moving their chairs away from the microphonesTemplate:Sfn until Martin got on the talk-back system and scolded: "Stop moving the chairs!" Martin recorded two versions, one with vibrato and one without, the latter of which was used. Lennon recalled in 1980 that "Eleanor Rigby" was "Paul's baby, and I helped with the education of the child ... The violin backing was Paul's idea. Jane Asher had turned him on to Vivaldi, and it was very good."Template:Sfn

The octet was recorded on 28 April 1966, in Studio 2 at EMI Studios. The track was completed in Studio 3 on 29 April and on 6 June. Take 15 was selected as the master.Template:Sfn The final overdub, on 6 June, was McCartney's addition of the "Ah, look at all the lonely people" refrain over the song's final chorus. This was requested by Martin,Template:Sfn who said he came up with the idea of the line working contrapuntally to the chorus melody.<ref name="Fontenot/About">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The original stereo mix had the lead vocal alone in the right channel during the verses, with the strings mixed to one channel, while the mono single and mono LP featured a more balanced mix. For the track's inclusion on Yellow Submarine Songtrack in 1999, a new stereo mix was created that centres McCartney's voice and spreads the string octet across the stereo image.Template:Sfn

ReleaseEdit

On 5 August 1966, "Eleanor Rigby" was simultaneously released on a double A-side single, paired with "Yellow Submarine",Template:Sfn and on the album Revolver.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In the LP sequencing, it appeared as the second track, between Harrison's "Taxman" and Lennon's "I'm Only Sleeping".Template:Sfn The Beatles thereby broke with their policy of ensuring that album tracks were not issued on their UK singles.Template:Sfn According to a report in Melody Maker, the reason for this was to thwart sales of cover recordings of "Eleanor Rigby".Template:Sfn Harrison confirmed that they expected "dozens" of artists to have a hit with the song;Template:Sfn however, he also said the track would "probably only appeal to Ray Davies types".Template:Sfn Writing in the 1970s, music critics Roy Carr and Tony Tyler described the motivation behind the single as a "growing dodge in the ever-innovative music industry", building on UK record companies' policy of reissuing an album's most popular tracks, particularly those that had been culled for release as a single in the US, on a spin-off extended play.Template:Sfn

The pairing of a ballad devoid of any instrumentation played by a Beatle and a novelty song marked a significant departure from the content of the band's previous singles.<ref name="Unterberger/AM">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Sfn Template:Refn Writing in his 1977 book The Beatles Forever, Nicholas Schaffner recalled that not only did the two sides have little in common with one another, but "'Yellow Submarine' was the most flippant and outrageous piece the Beatles would ever produce, [and] 'Eleanor Rigby' remains the most relentlessly tragic song the group attempted."Template:Sfn Unusually for their post-1965 singles also, the Beatles did not make a promotional film for either of the songs.Template:Sfn Music historian David Simonelli groups "Eleanor Rigby" with "Taxman" and the band's May 1966 single tracks "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" as examples of the Beatles' "pointed social commentary" that consolidated their "dominance of London's social scene".Template:Sfn Template:Refn

In the United States, the record's release coincided with the group's final tour Template:Sfn and a public furore over the publication of Lennon's remarks that the Beatles had become "more popular than Jesus Christ";Template:Sfn Template:Sfn he also predicted the downfall of ChristianityTemplate:Sfn and described Christ's disciples as "thick and ordinary".Template:Sfn In the US South, particularly, some radio stations refused to play the band's music and organised public bonfires to burn Beatles records and memorabilia.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Capitol Records were therefore wary of the religious references in "Eleanor Rigby" and promoted "Yellow Submarine" as the lead side.Template:Sfn During the band's first tour press conference, on 11 August, one reporter suggested that Father McKenzie's sermons going unheard referred to the decline of religion in society. McCartney replied that the song was about lonely individuals, one of whom happened to be a priest.Template:Sfn Template:Refn

The double A-side topped the Record Retailer chart (subsequently adopted as the UK Singles Chart) for four weeks,Template:Sfn becoming their eleventh number-one single on the chart,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Melody MakerTemplate:'s chart for three weeks.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn It was also number 1 in Australia.Template:Sfn The single topped charts in many other countries around the world,Template:Sfn although "Yellow Submarine" was usually the listed side.Template:Sfn In the US, disc jockeys began flipping the single midway through the tour as the radio boycotts were lifted.Template:Sfn With each song eligible to chart separately there, "Eleanor Rigby" entered the Billboard Hot 100 in late AugustTemplate:Sfn and peaked at number 11 for two weeks,Template:Sfn and "Yellow Submarine" reached number 2.Template:Sfn Template:Refn

Critical receptionEdit

Template:Quote box In Melody MakerTemplate:'s appraisal of Revolver, the writer described "Eleanor Rigby" as a "charming song" and one of the album's best tracks.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Derek Johnson, reviewing the single for the NME, said it lacked the immediate appeal of "Yellow Submarine" but "possess[ed] lasting value" and was "beautifully handled by Paul, with baroque-type strings".Template:Sfn Although he praised the string arrangement, Peter Jones of Record Mirror found the song "Pleasant enough but rather disjointed", saying, "it's commercial, but I like more meat from the Beatles."<ref>Template:Cite magazine Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).</ref> Ray Davies offered an unfavourable viewTemplate:Sfn when invited to give a song-by-song rundown of Revolver in Disc and Music Echo.Template:Sfn He dismissed "Eleanor Rigby" as a song designed "to please music teachers in primary schools",Template:Sfn adding: "I can imagine John saying, 'I'm going to write this for my old schoolmistress.' Still it's very commercial."<ref name="Davies/Disc">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Reporting from London for The Village Voice, Richard Goldstein stated that Revolver was ubiquitous around the city, as if Londoners were uniting behind the Beatles in response to the antagonism shown towards the band in the US. He wrote: "As a commentary on the state of modern religion, this song will hardly be appreciated by those who see John Lennon as an anti-Christ. But 'Eleanor Rigby' is really about the unloved and un-cared-for."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Commenting on the lyrics, Edward Greenfield of The Guardian wrote, "There you have a quality rare in pop music, compassion, born of an artist's ability to project himself into other situations." He found this "Specific understanding of emotion" evident also in McCartney's new love songs and described him as "the Beatle with the strongest musical staying power".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> While bemoaning that Americans' attention was overly focused on the band's image and non-musical activities, KRLA BeatTemplate:'s album reviewer predicted that "Eleanor Rigby" would "become a contemporary classic", adding that, aside from the quality of the string arrangement, "the haunting melody is one of the most beautiful to be found in our current pop music" and the lyrics "[are] both accurate and unforgettable".<ref>Template:Cite news Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).</ref> Cash Box found the single's pairing "unique" and described "Eleanor Rigby" as "a powerfully arranged, haunting story of sorrow and frustration".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The NME chose "Eleanor Rigby" as its "Single of the Year" for 1966.Template:Sfn Melody Maker included the song among the year's five "singles to remember", and Maureen Cleave of The Evening Standard recognised the single and Revolver as the year's best records in her round-up of 1966.Template:Sfn At the 9th Annual Grammy Awards in March 1967, "Eleanor Rigby" was nominated in three categories,Template:Sfn winning the award for Best Contemporary (R&R) Vocal Performance, Male or Female for McCartney.Template:Sfn Template:Refn

Appearance in Yellow Submarine film and subsequent releasesEdit

"Eleanor Rigby" appears in the Beatles' 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine as the band's submarine drifts over the desolate streets of Liverpool.Template:Sfn Its poignancy ties in quite well with Starr (the first member of the group to encounter the submarine), who is represented as quietly bored and depressed. Starr's character states in his inner thoughts: "Compared with my life, Eleanor Rigby's was a gay, mad whirl."Template:Citation needed Media theorist Stephanie Fremaux groups the song with "Only a Northern Song" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" as a scene that most clearly conveys the Beatles' "aims as musicians". In her description, the segment depicts "moments of color and hope in a land of conformity and loneliness".Template:Sfn With special effects directed by Charlie Jenkins, the animation incorporates photographs of silhouetted people; bankers with bowler hats and umbrellas are seen on rooftops, overlooking the streets.Template:Sfn Template:Refn

The track also appears on several of the band's greatest-hits compilations, including A Collection of Beatles Oldies, The Beatles 1962–1966 and 1.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In 1986, "Yellow Submarine" / "Eleanor Rigby" was reissued in the UK as part of EMI's twentieth anniversary of each of the Beatles' singles and peaked at number 63 on the UK Singles Chart.Template:Sfn The 2015 edition of 1 and the expanded 1+ box set includes a video clip for the song, taken from the Yellow Submarine film.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1996, a stereo remix of Martin's isolated string arrangement was released on the Beatles' Anthology 2 outtakes compilation.Template:Sfn For the song's inclusion on the Love album in 2006, a new mix was created that adds a strings-only portion at the start of the track and closes with a transition featuring part of Lennon's acoustic guitar from the 1968 song "Julia".Template:Sfn

The real-life Eleanor RigbyEdit

File:Rigby.jpg

The gravestone of Eleanor Rigby (1895–1939) in St Peter's Parish Church, Woolton

McCartney's recollection of how he chose the name of his protagonist came under scrutiny in the 1980s, after a headstone engraved with the name "Eleanor Rigby" was discovered in the churchyard of St Peter's Parish Church in Woolton, in Liverpool.Template:Sfn<ref name="Richards/Guardian">Template:Cite news</ref> Part of a well-known local family,Template:Sfn Rigby had died in 1939 at the age of 44.Template:Sfn Close by was a headstone bearing the name McKenzie.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn St Peter's was where Lennon attended Sunday school as a boy,Template:Sfn and he and McCartney first met at the church fête there in July 1957.Template:Sfn McCartney has said that while he often walked through the churchyard, he had no recollection of ever seeing Rigby's grave.Template:Sfn He attributed the coincidence to a product of his subconscious.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn McCartney has also dismissed claims by people who, because of their name and a tenuous association with the Beatles, believed they were the real Father McKenzie.Template:Sfn

In 1990, McCartney responded to a request from Sunbeams Music Trust by donating a historical document that listed the wages paid by Liverpool City Hospital; among the employees listed was Eleanor Rigby, who worked as a scullery maid at the hospital.<ref name="BBCNews2008" /><ref name="Reuters/Meeja">Template:Cite news</ref> Dating from 1911 and signed by the 16-year-old Rigby,<ref name="Richards/Guardian" /> the document attracted interest from collectors because of what it seemingly revealed about the inspiration behind the Beatles song.<ref name="Reuters/Meeja" /> It sold at auction in November 2008 for £115,000. McCartney stated at the time: "Eleanor Rigby is a totally fictitious character that I made up ... If someone wants to spend money buying a document to prove a fictitious character exists, that's fine with me."<ref name="BBCNews2008">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Rigby's grave in Woolton became a landmark for Beatles fans visiting Liverpool.<ref name="Mullen/BBCNews" /><ref name="TheWeek">Template:Cite news</ref> A digitised image of the headstone was added to the 1995 music video for the Beatles' reunion song "Free as a Bird".Template:Sfn Continued interest in a possible connection between the real-life Eleanor Rigby and the 1966 song led to the deeds for the grave being put up for auction in 2017,<ref name="Mullen/BBCNews" /><ref name="TheWeek" /> along with a Bible that once belonged to Rigby and a handwritten score for the track (subsequently withdrawn) and other items of Beatles memorabilia.<ref name="Pidd/Guardian">Template:Cite news</ref>

LegacyEdit

Sociocultural impact and literary appreciationEdit

File:EleanorRigbyStatue.jpg

Eleanor Rigby statue by Tommy Steele on Stanley Street, Liverpool.

Although "Eleanor Rigby" was far from the first popular song to deal with death and loneliness, according to Ian MacDonald it "came as quite a shock to pop listeners in 1966".Template:Sfn It took a bleak message of depression and desolation, written by a famous pop group, with a sombre, almost funeral-like backing, to the number one spot of the pop charts.Template:Sfn Richie Unterberger of AllMusic cites the song's focus on "the neglected concerns and fates of the elderly" as "just one example of why the Beatles' appeal reached so far beyond the traditional rock audience".<ref name="Unterberger/AM" />

Revolver signalled a shift in the Beatles' discography in its inclusion of compositions that departed from the romantic genre. Commenting on the preponderance of young people who, under the influence of drugs such as marijuana and LSD, increasingly afforded films and rock music exhaustive analysis, Mark Kurlansky writes: "Beatles songs were examined like Tennyson's poems. Who was Eleanor Rigby?"Template:Sfn Template:Refn

The song's lyrics became the subject of study by sociologists, who from 1966 began to view the band as spokesmen for their generation.Template:Sfn In 2018, Colin Campbell, professor of sociology at the University of York, published a book-length analysis of the lyrics, titled The Continuing Story of Eleanor Rigby.Template:Sfn Writing in the 1970s, however, Roy Carr and Tony Tyler dismissed the song's sociological relevance as academics "rear[ing] a mis-shapen skull", adding: "Though much praised at the time (by sociologists), 'Eleanor Rigby' was sentimental, melodramatic and a blind alley."Template:Sfn Template:Refn

According to author and satirist Craig Brown, the lyrics to "Eleanor Rigby" have been "the most extravagantly praised" of all the Beatles' songs, "and by all the right people".Template:Sfn These include poets such as Allen Ginsberg and Thom Gunn, the last of whom likened the song to W.H. Auden's poem "Miss Gee", and literary critic Karl Miller, who included the lyrics in his 1968 anthology Writing in England Today.Template:Sfn Template:Refn

In his 1970 book Revolt in Style, Liverpudlian musician and critic George Melly admired the "imaginative truth of 'Eleanor Rigby'", likening it to author James Joyce's treatment of his own hometown in Dubliners.Template:Sfn Novelist and poet A.S. Byatt recognised the song as having the "minimalist perfection" of a Samuel Beckett story.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In a talk on BBC Radio 3 in 1993, Byatt said that "Wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door" – a line that MacDonald deems "the single most memorable image in The Beatles' output" – conveys a level of despair unacceptable to English middle-class sensibilities and, rather than being a reference to make-up, suggests that Rigby "is faceless, is nothing" once alone in her home.Template:Sfn

In 1982, the Eleanor Rigby statue was unveiled on Stanley Street in Liverpool as a donation from Tommy Steele in tribute to the Beatles. The plaque carries a dedication to "All the Lonely People".Template:Sfn

In 2004, Revolver appeared second in The ObserverTemplate:'s list of "The 100 Greatest British Albums", compiled by a panel of 100 contributors.Template:Sfn In his commentary for the newspaper, John Harris highlighted "Eleanor Rigby" as arguably the album's "single greatest achievement", saying that it "perfectly evokes an England of bomb sites and spinsters, where in the darkest moments it does indeed seem that 'no one was saved'". Harris concluded: "Most pop songwriters have always wrapped up Englishness in camp and irony – here, in a rare moment for British rock, post-war Britain is portrayed in terms of its truly grave aspects."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Musical influence and further recognitionEdit

David Simonelli cites the chamber-orchestrated "Eleanor Rigby" as an example of the Beatles' influence being such that, whatever the style of song, their progressiveness defined the parameters of rock music.Template:Sfn Music academics Michael Campbell and James Brody highlight the track's melodic shape and imaginative backing to illustrate how, paired with similarly synergistic elements in "A Day in the Life", the Beatles' use of music and lyrics made them one of the two acts in 1960s rock, along with Bob Dylan, who were "most responsible for elevating its level of discourse and expanding its horizons".Template:Sfn

Soon after its release, Melly stated that "Pop has come of age" with "Eleanor Rigby", while songwriter Jerry Leiber said, "I don't think there's ever been a better song written."Template:Sfn In a 1967 interview, Pete Townshend of the Who commented on the Beatles: "They are basically my main source of inspiration – and everyone else's for that matter. I think 'Eleanor Rigby' was a very important musical move forward. It certainly inspired me to write and listen to things in that vein."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In his television show Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution, which aired in April 1967, American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein championed the Beatles' talents among contemporary pop acts and highlighted the song's string arrangement as an example of the eclectic qualities that made 1960s pop music worthy of recognition as art.Template:Sfn Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees said that their 1969 song "Melody Fair" was influenced by "Eleanor Rigby".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> America's single "Lonely People" was written by Dan Peek in 1973 as an optimistic response to the Beatles track.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 2000, Mojo ranked "Eleanor Rigby" at number 19 on the magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest Songs of All Time".Template:Sfn In BBC Radio 2's millennium poll, listeners voted it as one of the top 100 songs of the twentieth century.Template:Sfn It was ranked at number 137 on Rolling StoneTemplate:'s list "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and number 243 on the 2021 revised list.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 2006, Pitchfork ranked it at number 47 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> "Eleanor Rigby" was inducted into the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences' Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.Template:Sfn It has been a Desert Island Discs selection by individuals such as Cathy Berberian, Charles Aznavour, Patricia Hayes, Carlos Frank and Geoffrey Howe.Template:Sfn Similarly, Marshall Crenshaw named it to a list of ten songs that represent perfect songwriting.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Other versionsEdit

Template:Further By the mid-2000s, over 200 cover versions of "Eleanor Rigby" had been made.Template:Sfn George Martin included the song on his November 1966 album George Martin Instrumentally Salutes "The Beatle Girls",Template:Sfn one of a series of interpretive works by the band's producer designed to appeal to the easy listening market.Template:Sfn

The song was also popular with soul artists seeking to widen their stylistic range.Template:Sfn Ray Charles recorded a version that was released as a single in 1968Template:Sfn and peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and number 36 in the UK.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lennon highlighted it as a "fantastic" cover.<ref name="HitParader/Songalong" /> Aretha Franklin's version of "Eleanor Rigby" charted at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1969.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Music journalist Chris Ingham recognises the Charles and Franklin recordings as notable progressive soul interpretations of the song.Template:Sfn

McCartney recorded a new version of "Eleanor Rigby", with Martin again scoring the orchestration,Template:Sfn for his 1984 film Give My Regards to Broad Street.Template:Sfn Departing from the premise of the film, the song's sequence features McCartney dressed in Victorian costume.Template:Sfn On the accompanying soundtrack album, the track segues into a symphonic extension titled "Eleanor's Dream".Template:Sfn He has also performed the song frequently in concert, starting with his 1989–90 world tour.Template:Sfn

In 2021, composer Cody Fry arranged recordings submitted by 400 musicians into an orchestral cover of "Eleanor Rigby".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

PersonnelEdit

According to Ian MacDonald:Template:Sfn Template:Div col The Beatles

Paul McCartney – lead and harmony vocalsTemplate:Sfn
John Lennon – harmony vocals
George Harrison – harmony vocals

Additional musicians

Tony Gilbert – violin
Sidney Sax – violin
John Sharpe – violin
Juergen Hess – violin
Stephen Shingles – viola
John Underwood – viola
Derek Simpson – cello
Norman Jones – cello
George Martin – string arrangement, conducting

Template:Div col end

ChartsEdit

Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2

Weekly chartsEdit

Chart (1966–67)	Peak position
Australian Go-Set National Top 40<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1\|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	1
Belgian Walloon Singles<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1\|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	1
Canadian RPM Top Singles<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1\|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	1
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	6
New Zealand Listener Chart<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1\|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	1
UK Record Retailer Chart<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1\|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	1
US Billboard Hot 100<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	11
US Cash Box Top 100<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1\|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	12
Chart (1986)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart Template:Sfn	63

Template:Col-2

Year-end chartsEdit

Chart (1966)	Position
citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	3

Template:Col-end

CertificationsEdit

Template:Certification Table Top Template:Certification Table Entry Template:Certification Table Bottom

NotesEdit

Template:Reflist

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

SourcesEdit

Template:Refbegin

Template:Refend

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project

Template:Revolver Template:The Beatles singles Template:Aretha Franklin

Template:Authority control