poetry in motion.

"Eleanor Rigby" is a song by The Beatles, originally released on the 1966 album Revolver. The song was primarily written by Paul McCartney, although in an interview conducted with Playboy magazine in 1980, John Lennon claimed that "the first verse was his and the rest are basically mine." Pete Shotton, a close friend of Lennon who was present at the time, said "Though John (whose memory could be extremely erratic) was to take credit, in one of his last interviews, for most of the lyrics, my own recollection is that 'Eleanor Rigby' was one 'Lennon-McCartney' classic in which John's contribution was virtually nil." McCartney also says that Lennon helped on about "half a line". It remains one of the Beatles' most recognizable and unique songs, with a double string quartet arrangement by George Martin and its striking lyrics about the loneliness, continuing the transformation of the Beatles started in Rubber Soul from a mainly pop-oriented act to a more serious and experimental studio band.

"Eleanor Rigby" does not have a standard pop backing; none of the Beatles played instruments on it, though John Lennon and George Harrison did contribute harmony and backing vocals. Instead, McCartney used a string octet of studio musicians, composed of four violins, two cellos, and two violas all performing a score composed by producer George Martin. For the most part, the instruments "double up"—that is, they serve as two string quartets with two instruments playing each part in the quartet. Microphones were placed close to the instruments to produce a more vivid and raw sound. George Martin asked the musicians if they could play without vibrato and recorded two versions, one with and one without, the latter of which was used. McCartney's choice of a string backing may have been influenced by his interest in the composer Vivaldi. 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."

Though "Eleanor Rigby" was not the first pop song to deal with death and loneliness, it was certainly among the first to present such a serious attitude. The Shangri-Las' 1964 hit "Leader of the Pack" gave a rendition of star-crossed lovers ending in one of their deaths, but the subject matter was purely in a romantic vein and far from a serious look at loss. In fact, in the mid-1960s, the pop format hardly seemed the right vehicle for such a message, but pop music consistently had a more rosy outlook on life. Nevertheless, "Eleanor Rigby" took a message of depression and desolation, written by a famous pop band, with a sombre, almost funeral-like backing, to the number one spot of the pop charts.

"Eleanor Rigby" marks a midpoint of sorts in the Beatles' evolution from a pop, live-performance band to a more experimental, studio-oriented band though the track contains no obvious studio trickery. Whereas many of the other tracks on Revolver lend themselves to a rock group, "Eleanor Rigby" in a sense is a precursor to the psychedelic tracks of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The subject matter also reflects a band in transition. The bleak lyrics were not The Beatles' first deviation from love songs, but were some of the most explicit. Eleanor Rigby's lonely existence shares more in tone with the sense of detachment of "A Day in the Life" than with "I Want to Hold Your Hand".

It is the second song to appear in the Beatles' 1969 animated film Yellow Submarine, after "Yellow Submarine," the only songs in the film where the Beatles are not seen to be singing. Eleanor Rigby is introduced just before we see the Beatles in the film in their hometown, Liverpool, and its poignancy ties in quite well with Ringo Starr (the first member of the group to encounter the submarine) who is represented as quietly bored and depressed.

In some reference books on classical music, "Eleanor Rigby" is included and considered comparable to art songs (lieder) by the great composers. Howard Goodall said that the Beatles' works are "a stunning roll-call of sublime melodies that perhaps only Mozart can match in European musical history" and that they "almost single-handedly rescued the Western musical system" from the "plague years of the avant-garde". About "Eleanor Rigby", he said it is "an urban version of a tragic ballad in the Dorian mode.

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

In a 1966 press conference, an American reporter asked Paul what the inspiration for "Eleanor Rigby" was, and John jumped in saying "two queers." John was making a mockery of it, because at that time it was rumoured that "Day Tripper" was about a prostitute and "Norwegian Wood" was about a lesbian.



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?

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?

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?