The Beatles - A level Revolver Analysis Part 1: The Genius of Eleanor Rigby
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- Опубликовано: 11 апр 2022
- This is the 1st of a 3 part series in which The Music Professor will delve into the fascinating world of The Beatles 7th studio album 'Revolver'. In Part 1, the album is discussed in its broader context followed by an in depth analysis of one of the album's most famous songs: Eleanor Rigby.
For information on more songs on the album, watch Part 2 here: • Revolver Part 2: Surre...
Please note that at times, covers have been used for musical examples in order to avoid copyright restrictions.
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Commentary by Matthew King ( www.matthewkingcomposer.com )
Edited by Ian Coulter ( www.iancoultermusic.com )
Produced and directed by Ian Coulter
#Beatles #alevelmusic #musicprofessor
![The Beatles - ‘Revolver' Special Edition [Review + Top 10 Moments]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2Ia-RmzsSm4/mqdefault.jpg)
There's an additional structural feaure of Eleanor Rigby that for me makes the ending quite spine-chilling, and indeed makes it the powerful masterpiece I think it is: it's the way the final reprise of "All the lonely people" is combined in melodic counterpoint with "Ah, look at all the lonely people".
This is terrific. I sort of feel (perhaps temporarily) quite excited about music again, for the first time in a long time
What a kind comment. Thank you! I hope you manage to keep that excitement.
This is the song that made skeptical 60s parents realize that the boy band that churned out She Loves You just two years prior were actually ethereal Gods. What a shocking gut punch that must have been.
That's not what "boy band" means.
@@docsavage8640 And the term didn't exist back then. To be fair, you could describe them as the prototype of boy band, as they were the prototype for many other genres. Get a set of pretty young males to sing in harmony and have session musicians to play on the record. The Bee Gees did that par excellence and far more. But Beatles and Bee Gees were far more than the products of a svengali manager.
Although I was a music teacher whose "baby" was the Beatles, I still learned quite a bit - in retirement. Thank you very much!
“Get Back” has 3 chords in it. A and D but also the G.
I enjoyed this video a lot, the best analysis of Eleanor Rigby on RUclips. I love the way you linked it back to older composers and also the breakdown on modality. What a genius McCartney is
I really like the music you have playing in the background the levels between that and your voice are perfect. I mean this sincerely.
This song is so deceptively simple.. The relationship between the vocal melody and the instrumental tune is something very special. I play and sing along on keyboards and need to stop to take it in. It's a joy.
Lately I've taken to thinking of them as George Martin and the Beatles.
Might as well think of them as Herman Melvill and the Bronte Sisters then.
McCartney's genius really shines in this Rubber Soul through Abbey Road. His melodies are absuktely brilliant. I agree - Lennon and McCartney's competitive ness really drove them forward. Love it! Thank you!
Loved it. Wonderful job and those interlaced clips....lol :-)
What a fine little film; I look forward to the next two. It's refreshing to hear one of the greatest albums in the world discussed in such terms, albeit I'm reminded (yet again) of my own ignorance. I probably have six copies of Revolver in my seventy album plus Beatles section and have thus far confined myself to comparing pressings, styluses, mono v stereo etc. I shall listen with new ears. Thanks.
Thanks so much for watching
Great lesson, Thanks! This has been really helpful for A Level Music
You're very welcome!
ER is an amazing confirmation of The Beatles greatness--and I'm including George Martin in the band on this one. I loved your discussion of this simple, yet richly complex classic.
Brilliant!
Hey, the 60s wasn't all drab and lonely! It was a great time to be young. It's that fact that makes people like Eleanor Rigby's life so tragic because they were overlooked in the exciting 'Swinging Britain' of popular culture.
Thanks, really enjoyable.
After all the equations over the years of 'I Love/She Loves You/She Loves Me/ He Loved Her' to feed the teen fantasy, REVOLVER comes up with 2 songs where the guy doesn't get the girl & the girl doesn't get loved. 'Eleanor Rigby' is gothic: autumn winds in the stark strings & a graveside verse & a chorus lament for isolated souls & a doomed finale worthy of Poe - - & only that heartfelt chorus makes it pop at all.
*:-)* A new WinAmp playlist!
_(Eleanor playing just now)_
#Lateral - Sir, would you do a PlayList on mmmm Jazz through the ages?
McCartney @25yrs and strings composed with George Martin at EMI. wow.
Rlly helped with my A level music :)
Would love to see more A level music studies
Glad it helped! There is lots more A level stuff in the pipelines so keep your eyes peeled.
@@themusicprofessor will do 👀
And Ringo was playing the drums
Except when Paul was.
Paul namedropped Berio and Stockhausen, for sure. I'm very skeptical of any claim suggesting that he either spent anything more than a passing interaction with either of them, or was influenced by them in any way.
I think there was some genuine interest in the late 60s, and that there was cross currents for a short period. There are plenty of examples of studio experimentation during the period that suggest an influence. Berio and Ligeti both admitted to admiring the Beatles. Stockhausen never admitted to liking anything except his own music (and Webern's).
Another sing that plays with that chord relation, in this case between c minor and Ab major, is ‘o Superman’ by Laurie Anderson
Yes, but her "songs" are barely listenable.
@@docsavage8640
Unless you're Dennis Nilsen.
You mentioned Dorian mode but not the final cadence. They tried to finish songs in a surprising way so you would want to hear them again immediately.
I was 15 when when the Beatles arrived and I bought all their records as they were released. That same year I discovered Bach. I wonder if they can be compared.
You did well to discover Bach and the Beatles in the same year!
What was Ringo doing in 1966?
Only Ringo would be able to answer that question.
Drugs.
@@themusicprofessor
Drumming.
13:51 C lydian scale, not Major. Very nice video by the way.
It's possible that chromatic line was inspired by the James Bond theme
Actually I think Beethoven was inspired by the Batman theme there
Notice
Professor King, do you intend to do something on "She said, she said"? I believe it was a favourite of Bernstein's and is a high water mark in Lennon's musicality, pre-Epstein's demise and his retreat into drugs and an Oedipus complex. Paperback writer was designed deliberately to be a one chord song, although it has to use the IVbVII at the end of each chorus(?). It's interesting for two reasons:1) I think it actually precedes Revolver, or may be one of their 1966 non-album singles and ; 2) it got to number one.
Fascinating comment. I would like to go back to the Beatles at some point. Interesting that you highlight "Paperback Writer' which was indeed a very significant song. Here's an interesting video about it: ruclips.net/video/1agHG_6r5ss/видео.htmlsi=6pjsKWZTzEPXdtx3
The Music Professor Interesting you should cite this song's genius. (I sure like it.)
Some colleague of Jane Asher's Guildhall-instructing mother (who in turn had an influence on McCartney as he lived at their digs) had told Paul of ER's musical cliche's and very basic nature. I wish I could remember this guy's name. Humorously the person making those remarks then summed up by asking "Is this your next number one?" 😄
Also, Ned Rorem I believe it was, said in effect, good lyrics but the melody was no more adventurous than a Kentucky Carol - whatever that might be.
Yes, the Guildhall connection was strong with JA's mum and of course George Martin! I think this is really a question of 'sophisticated' listeners having a naturally condescending view of McCartney's apparently simple material. I would say though that ER is simple but also brilliant. The combination is not an easy one to achieve.
@@themusicprofessor Agree.
You presume that McCartney composed the orchestration, something he'd never done since, interestingly. I'd bet that he had a short guitar or piano chordal piece that simply would never sound right as written, and that Martin first suggested the strings and then composed them as something that Paul McCartney was simply incapable of creating. Not that McCartney would ever admit as much, but nevertheless, it's the only thing that truly makes sense.
His lyrics are phenomenal, though, without question.
I agree - I don't think I imply he had anything to do with the orchestration except to suggest to George Martin that 'it sound a bit like Psycho'.
The strings in this song are ridiculous.
Lyrics by John Lennon, music by George Martin and Paul McCartney/George Harrison.
"Lyrics by John Lennon"? Where did you get that from? Your order of creative priority is seriously skewed. Try: music by Paul McCartney *with* George Martin, plus a contribution from George Harrison; lyrics by Paul McCartney with contributed ideas from Ringo Starr, Pete Shotton and John Lennon.
@@strathman7501 you are somewhat disoriented in this matter.
@@debessar95 I asked you where you got the idea "lyrics by John Lennon". You don't respond. I suspect the answer must be "John Lennon", who claimed to have written "a good lot" of the lyric. Nobody else involved and in a position to know has ever claimed that the lyric was "by John Lennon", in fact quite the opposite.
Pete Shotton (Lennon's oldest mate, who was there) said that John’s contribution was “virtually nil”. Paul said, “Yeah, about half a line!”. Ringo contributed the idea for Father MacKenzie to be darning his socks. Pete Shotton suggested the denoument in the graveyard.
Even John said that Paul already had the first verse complete (Eleanor, the rice, the face in a jar etc) and the chorus, but claimed to have contributed significantly to the other two verse lyrics. But knowing that Ringo and Shotton contributed the key ideas for each of those verses, and that it was George Harrison who suggested re-echoing Paul’s line “All the lonely people” as a refrain (“Ah, look at all the lonely people”), there isn’t a lot left for John, certainly not the “about 70%” or “60%” or “50%” that he claimed in various places.
John’s story was that he went off with Paul into another room and they finished the song between them, such that “not a line of theirs [George’s, Ringo’s and Shotton’s] remains in it”; but this has to be interpreted as a verbal polishing of the last two verses using the ideas and images already in play.
John’s account of being pissed off that Paul involved the others amounts really to a tacit admission that his role was small, and this annoyance (plus, possibly, a little envy, critically-acclaimed poetic lyrics being supposedly his turf) may explain his need - atypical, I would say - to take unjustified credit for this song.
As for the music, all evidence indicates that tune and chordal backing were Paul's and that he was mainly responsible for the character of the arrangement. He and George Martin worked together on the score, which was based on Paul’s Vivaldi-inspired staccato piano: ‘I thought of the backing, but it was George Martin who finished it off,’ he said, adding ‘I just go bash, bash on the piano. He knows what I mean.’
Paul’s big concern in studio discussions had been that it might come out lush.Engineer Geoff Emerick recalls that Martin had to reassure Paul that it would work with an octet. Paul’s final word was, ‘Ok, but I want the strings to sound really biting.’ He then visited George Martin’s flat to rough out the score. :-
John Lennon: “The violin backing was Paul’s idea. Jane Asher had turned him on to Vivaldi and it was very good. The violins were straight out of Vivaldi. I can’t take any credit for that, at all.”
Paul McCartney: “I thought of the backing but it was George Martin who finished it off. I just go bash, bash on the piano. He knows what I mean.”
George Martin: “Paul came round to my flat one day and he played the piano, and I played the piano, and I took a note of his music… When Paul told me he wanted the strings in ‘Eleanor Rigby’ to be doing a rhythm it was Herrmann’s [Psycho] score which was a particular influence."
Paul McCartney: "When I took the song to George, I said that, for accompaniment, I wanted a series of E minor chord stabs. In fact, the whole song is really only two chords: C major and E minor. In George's version of things, he conflates my idea of the stabs and his own inspiration by Bernard Herrmann, who had written the music for the movie 'Psycho.' George wanted to bring some of that drama into the arrangement. And, of course, there's some kind of madcap connection between Eleanor Rigby, an elderly woman left high and dry, and the mummified mother in 'Psycho.'"
@@strathman7501 Your head is full of fragmentary information that you are unable to turn into a correct conclusion.
@@debessar95 Ha, another empty reply - as empty as your own head, I suspect. But don't worry, my post isn't for you. The information is there for others who have the wit to understand it.
Eleanor Rigby goes well with Pink Panther. Some time ago I made this mashup: ruclips.net/video/x2wxgtEufrY/видео.html
Interesting to hear you refer to the collaborative genius of the four Beatles and then call out John, Paul and George. What about Ringo? Take the drums out any of the music you’re discussing here and none of it has the same impact.
Yes, I agree. For this video, I was focussing more on the creative impact of the other 3 Beatles because they all wrote songs for Revolver. But I do fully accept Ringo's essential (and creative) contribution to the band.