The Beatles: "Eleanor Rigby" - Vinyl Friday #65!
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 24 авг 2024
- To quote this song, "AHHHHH". Guess who spent several hours working on a little video-within-the-video, then accidentally popped it in the recycling bin AND emptied said recycling bin...?
So segments of this video had to be done twice. But this song was fully deserving of that time and effort, because it is (deep breath) oneofthebestBeatlessongsthereis. Fight me! Or...don't, because I am extremely conflict-averse.
Friends - this song is a masterpiece. And that's all there is to it.
For those of you with a burning desire to generally support what I do, I'm here to help you along in that journey: www.buymeacoff... (but no pressure, friends☺️)
Happy Friday, folks!
Want to look at pictures of what I'm working on? / fathommusicnz
Interested in purchasing music I've made? fathomnz.bandc...
Fathom albums "The World to Breathe" and "Modern Reflections, Vol. 1" are also available on all streaming platforms. Tweed's album "High Brow Blues" is also ALSO available on all streaming platforms!
Thanks for your sharing your attention with me. :)
#beatles #thebeatles #revolver #vinyl #vinylcommunity #musicreview
Just when I think Nancy can't surprise me anymore, she plays ER's string composition on her guitars... Genius!
Even the poor kitty-cat was mesmerized.
Wow, such a fantastic recreation! George Martin is absolutely the most legitimate 5th Beatle. Another great video. Thank you.
The other person considered the 5th Beatle was Billy Preston.
Ahhh that's it. Thank you!
@@fathommusicnz I am overjoyed I found your channel this morning in Northampton Massachusetts USA!!! Revolver holds the #1 spot quite often in my favorite albums. Hearing you recreate the strings with your guitars blew my mind. Thank you!!! I predict your channel will be a great success as your knowledge and ability to express yourself in an interesting manner are first rate! A+Fathom Music NZ
@@bob4analogHe almost was. Lennon and Harrison wanted to ask him to join but McCartney was against it given the complex legal issues they were having - he thought it was not a good idea to bring someone into that.
When Paul does eventually die, he will be remembered, chiefly for this. It's absolutely breathtaking in it's lyricism and composition. The maturity of the subject is remarkable for someone so young. It's abstract, relatably human and a little bit frightening. In McCartney's canon, this is his towering achievement. And that's saying something!! On a personal note, my Father mentioned that this was played on the radio prior to it's release when he was in a very busy indoor market in Glasgow (The Barras). He said that nearly everyone stopped to listen. They suspected it was The Beatles and that it was unique and quite unusual.
Agree. I like Lennon much better than McCartney but this song is great, particularly compared to a lot of the fluff he created later on. It's also probably their best lyric, and I don't think Lennon had much to do with it.
7:06 Your 4 guitar instrumental of "Eleanor Rigby" was brilliant. Wow... got a standing ovation from me.
You should put out a separate RUclips video of just that segment (7:06 - 9:14) tilted "Eleanor Rigby" 4 guitar instrumental".
Your breakdown of the 4 different verses... was sensational.
Your in depth look at how the music steps aside for the vocals... perfectly stated - while demonstrated visually with your hands & aurally with the music.
And then how some of the music highlights/augments key parts of the lyrics... again with your hands demonstrating along to the music.
You are a master teacher/communicator. Bravo, Nancy. Another standing ovation from me.
I'm listing two of my favorite points that you made in this video below - because they are so exceptionally well said...
1. "It's genius arranging! Just stunning! Such good work. And then on top of that... it sounds great! It's not just the cleverness of it... it is so pleasant to listen to. So affecting... so moving. It's beautiful in its own right. Each little part is slightly different so that it draws and holds your attention - so that... Paul McCartney can tell his beautiful story. Ahhh... it is such a beautiful collaboration... between two incredibly creative people. I genuinely think that this is one of George Martin's most impressive contributions to any Beatles song."
2. "I think this is a clever bit of arrangement... because when they're singing about all of the lonely people - there's a small group of them. But when Paul is singing specifically about the individual characters of the song - it's not even double tracked. It's just his voice on its own. And then at the very end when they bring that refrain back, that is usually sung by the 3, it's just Paul on his own... and it makes it so much more - melancholy and mournful."
Would have loved to see a conversation between George Martin and Paul about exactly how they worked together on the music for the song. How much was Paul directing what George did..? How much of it came from McCartney's mind - and then was molded by Martin..? That would have been a really good subject for a half hour special (McCartney and Martin on the Music of Eleanor Rigby).
16:38 That huge smile on your face... after you said, "He's doing it For No One". OMG... you are so funny.
Coincidence..? I'd say that those two names were among the thousands of other names he had noticed throughout his life... and when he was searching for a good name to use for this song - and he thought of Eleanor Bron... and then later saw "Rigby" and decided to put them together... that name that he probably saw on a grave long ago might have triggered him to see that combination - as a very good one.
"It is one of the band's most beautiful - and heart-rending songs. Do you agree with that..?"
My question is... How could anyone NOT agree with that..? The answer is obviously... YES.
It could be argued that it might not be THE band's most beautiful and heart-rending song... but you could not argue that it is among the best.
I'd list "For No One", "She's Leaving Home", "Yesterday', "Hide Your Love Away", "It's Only Love"...
And songs like "Yer Blues", "Oh Darling" and "I Want You"... (at least in terms of "heart-rending")
"oneofthebestBeatlessongsthereis" I agree. Got to be in the top ten.
Your cat is obviously a huge fan of the song.
i think Lennon's singing on the Help album is deep and stays in the mind.
If the cat is ever not featured in the video, it's because he's asleep somewhere. He LOVES when I film VF. I have no idea why. He's an odd little critter, but very dear.
This is one of those songs that could be a one hit wonder for a band and we would still remember them 50+ years later. And yet it is just another Beatles song.
I echo that emotion of how good your recreation of the string arrangement was on guitars. Just awesome. Love your channel. Still can’t over that crossover episode you did with Abby. I knew about her channel before I just discovered your channel a few days ago. A true meeting of giants! Thank you for all these deep dives into great music. You’re the best.
Wonderful breakdown. Eleanor Rigby was the song that cemented The Beatles’ supremacy in my personal musical world. I was 15, it was 1990, and to this day I can’t believe my ears every time I hear it.
I love you for considering George Martin the fifth Beatle. John, Paul, Ringo, Georges all the way!
That all-guitar string quartet rendition was pure magic.
Ok, we ARE living in a simulation. I made a coment recently on another thread for another video. I just now saw this video where you said the SAME thing as I have believed at least as long as the Anthology was out, though it may have been longer as I have read countless Beatles books over the last fourty or so years. Watched documentaries, you name it. So I went back through my history to reference it and low and behold it was YOUR video on And Your Bird Can Sing! I hadn't seen this on until today. That is so weird to me. 🤯
It was songs like this, Yesterday, which you also mentioned, his contributions to Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite, the Yellow Submarine orchestral pieces etc that has always played into my thoughts on this. These things to me are beyond standard production duties, though I know many producers play parts on recordings for bands they are working with. In the beginning, he was just a very good, very thorough producer and he never stopped being that.
His amazing mathematical pitch process he used to slow down the version of Strawberry Fields used in the second half of the song is a production issue. Have you listened th the version of Strawberry Fields on the Love album and realized that John's original vision for the song was finally realized with George and Giles Martin using computer technology some 34 years after it's inception? It had John's acoustic demo version as intro, blended into the first part of take two I believe - I'm doing this from memory so forgive me if I'm mistaken. The take 7 in time and pitch shifted using software. Also, Ringo's drum part was added as the song apparently didn't sound right without it. The only thing that is missing is Paul playing the intro on the Melotron I can only assume since they couldn't originally use the demo.
Ok, I'm stepping off my soapbox. Thanks again for your great content. I appreciate it!
Agree about everything. Eleanor Rigby is one of those songs that set the Beatles apart. I can’t think of any other similar or contemporary artist that combined commercial availability with this kind of… gravitas? Even the Beatles themselves had a hard time topping this seemingly effortless genius on ample display here, in this song and the whole album.
I have listened to this song for decades but I have never noticed the attention to detail George Martin put in to make each verse different. Thank you for that brilliant analysis and recreation!
Hi❤ ur videos been into beatles since 1982 all songs are great my top3 strawberry fields john Eleanor Rigby paul a day in the life john and paul love u from ireland
great mentions mate.
Cool guitar reconstruction. Who says The Beatles couldn't have played this live?
Your arrangement of the strings is compelling. And really shows George Martin's brilliance.
That was an awesome instrumental cover you did!
Wow, that string re-creation on guitars was fabulous! You really showed one of the strengths of this great song in a whole new light. Amazing work!
Re the lyrics, I agree that they're brilliant. Easily one of Paul's three or four best efforts. Athough there is some controversy around who contributed what lyrically, it doesn't really matter -- because what that illustrates is the incredible synergistic collaboration of the group as a whole. Together those guys truly were far more than the sum of their parts.
Oh, and by the way, I know how it feels to spend hours working on something and then inadvertently delete it. I did that myself a couple of weeks ago. Probably 30 or 40 hours of labor on a project, and then poof -- it's totally gone. Start all over? I might do that someday, but haven't yet found the mojo. So more power to you for jumping right back on the horse!
Thank you, the recommendation about Brad Mehldau made my day. Stunning.
Yeah I discovered him a while ago. Absolutely
brilliant!
Love the recreation of the string arrangement on the guitars ! Beautiful .
You've really outdone yourself this time. I can scarcely believe the depth and nuance of your analysis. I've been a Beatles fan for 60 years, yet you at your tender age understand their music so much better than I do! I will admit that I cringed when you said you were going to recreate the instrumentals. I mean, how can that possibly be any good? In fact, it wasn't good -- IT WAS BRILLIANT! Thank you. You have my deepest respect and admiration.
George Martin brought so very much to The Beatles. He was such an important element to help round out the legend. When he was passed over for Phil Spector around "Let It Be," he must have been crushed. It almost hurt my feelings.
Lady you are awesome 👌
Totally agree with your customary expert analysis - the most beautiful deceptively simple melody, coupled with a stunningly, starkly appropriate string arrangement , with the addition of the overlapping 'chorus' to perfectly illustrate the lonely lives - a loneliness that all have felt at one time or another. As near to genius as collaboration can get imo! Incidentally your re-creation of the string arrangement was lovely in itself and shows how well the arrangement stands in its own right - and I would say that George Martin's contribution to 'I Am The Walrus' is also an amazing example of his skill and musical empathetic understanding. Great work - you Fathomed it out again!
"you Fathomed it out again!" Love that.
I hope that I'll get to do Magical Mystery Tour one day, because I truly think that "I Am The Walrus" is a masterpiece.
@@fathommusicnz - Nancy, Since you are the owner, President and CEO of this wonderful channel... I think you could jump ahead and do whatever you want - whenever you want. Just keep having fun - and do what you do. It is always clever, informative, creative, and a blissfully great time.
Btw... one of my favorite things about "I Am the Walrus" is that John wrote the lyrics mostly just to poke fun at all the people trying to find great messages in his songs. I think John said something like... "Try and figure that out - ya bastards".
Thank you. You are the most incredible person I've come across on RUclips in the 10 yrs I've been following. I met The Beatles at 17 on their 64 US tour, immediately got a set of drums, became a musician and my life CHANGED forever. You're brilliant, insightful, passionate, sensitive, talented and "get" the Beatles Thing as so.e of us do/have forever. (Me!) Thank you for expressing & illuminating all the things I've been feeling and living for so long. 💚💙🩵💜
Absolutely brilliant, go kiwi girl go.
Wow, what a great analysis! Love the "guitar quartet"
Lovely guitar work!
Paul and George worked together on 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…I was very much inspired by Bernard Herrmann, in particular a score he did for the Truffaut film ‘Fahrenheot 451.’ [sic] That really impressed me, especially the strident string writing. When Paul told me he wanted the strings in ‘Eleanor Rigby’ to be doing a rhythm it was Herrmann’s score which was a particular influence."
Thx! You’ve said everything I ever thought about this song and more!
As a child when it came out on the radio I felt it was normal that someone should create such an impressionistic song. After all, it was in painting and cinema and since all things were new to me I didn’t realize it’s sheer innovation! I suppose my parents did though. My mom liked the Beatles but my father frowned! Eventually he came around though. How could he not! Thx again! It’s fun to learn!
A masterfully written song.
I also learnt a bit from this video :)
What a reservoir of information! It's great to watch a seminal Beatles song so masterfully broken down for us lay music lovers. And while I don't typically seek this level of song dissection, I can appreciate how expertly your laser focused understanding of its musical elements brings Eleanor Rigby into brilliant view. Bravo!
Listening to the parts--so spare--so much with so little--something i never noticed because of the rich, dramatic sound quality combined with poignancy of the lyrrics Wonderful presentation--thanks so much!
Great work on your guitars!!!
You bring a fantastic refreshing energy to the Beatletube and vinyl community my friend!! I was delighted to find this channel. Watching this gem as I get ready for work. Thanks!!
Your love of music (and The Beatles) is inspiring to me. So glad I found your Channel. (BTW: Father McKenzie writting a sermon... FOR NO ONE/The Good Book, I read you Fathom. Those were clever and funny).
I just discovered your channel today. I watched your, "And Your Bird..", analysis. Now this! Excellent musicians who appreciate The Beatles and explain techniques used, help me with my own songwriting. Thank you! And, I'll buy you a cup of coffee in a bit. But first, you've inspired me to go to the piano and work on a song that needs a little "Something". Ouch, terrible pun!
Yes ! Without George Martin The Beatles would 150% not be the band that we all know.
George Martin will never receive enough credit for the nurturing advice and musical where with all he gave them.
He was only an EMI Employee but trust me he was honest modest and was a listener and a teacher.
He was the 5th Beatle because without him they would have been lost and there musical endeavours totally different without the class he imposed upon them.
No two ways about it.
Always and forever totally underestimated in the musical progression of the Beatles.George Martin will always painfully be an unsung hero from within the Beatles Music.
the juxtaposition of these two songs at the beginning
taxman eleanor rigby
underlines so well the astonishing diversity of music this band produced : also the feeling that it was all impossible and yet it happened.
that transfer to guitars for the string parts was as invigorating, your choice of word nancy, as the song itself. superb.
alan ginsberg thought the words read like a poem and burroughs was impressed by how much narrative was inserted into three verses. what a lightweight paul was!
i love the way dream, with his vocal phrasing, floats at the end of the line. the colours of the song kind of have that graham greene tinge which became known as greeneland. the eleanor sequence in the yellow submarine movie reinforced that maybe.
heartbreaking (?) beatles. i think golden slumbers is so emotive but solo wise paul manages the total removal of all defences with here today. then again who resisted now and then: c'mon hands up, who?
Always enjoy your comments, Alan.
@@aBeatleFan4ever thanks Mike (?). i look for your comments now because your analysis is better than a clayton's!
Completely agree about the diversity of the album. I think perhaps that it what makes it so special, and perhaps even a massive turning point in the band's career - this, to me, is the first album in which clear song-writing personalities emerge. It's been there before, but it's explosive on this album.
And I can't believe I forgot to mention the sequence in Yellow Sub. I love that scene.
Another Excellent Video💗👍🎉
Brilliant investigation of an extraordinary piece. If anyone I talk to doubts Paul's lyric writing I point them to this one. He worked closely with Martin on all of the orchestral arrangements. It was Martin's talent to interpret Paul's unschooled ideas into scores like this one (there's a terrific bit on the Super Deluxe Revolver extras that features them working through it). Also, this is one of the most successful people on Earth at the time, still in his twenties, and instead of writing about all the fun he's having he delves credibly into this rumination on the loneliness and isolation around him without being maudlin (actually, it remains chilling to me). The line about wearing a face that she stores in a jar by the door gave me serious goosebumps when I first heard it as a child. Really enjoyed the rearrangement for guitars and bass, always easier to hear familiar music freshly when played on different instruments. And a deep dive into the elegance and emotionality of the strings. More goodness about one of my favourite albums ever. Thanks :)
Top selling musicians of all time.
Probably of my top 10 Beatles songs. Started with your video of "And Your Bird Can Sing and now enjoying your channel!! Great Work!! Mind Blowingly!!! Peace 🕊️☮️♾️😎
I started my exploration of this channel with "And Your Bird Can Sing" too!!! I predict this effort goes far. Very intelligent and entertaining, a must watch for any Beatle fan.
Cheers!
@@tomb613YES! Should be required study in all schools!! ☮️
It's interesting that Eleanor Rigby was written and recorded round about the same time as John made his infamous Jesus comments. This song also seems to be saying that Christianity, if not dead, is certainly on a life-support system. People talk about the "Swinging Sixties" like it was all non-stop fun, colour and mini-skirts, but as someone who lived through those times, I can vouch that actually, day to day life in those times could, for some people, be very bleak indeed. The world conjured up by this song is a very accurate picture of a reality that sort of ran parallel to all the swinging stuff. It's a great testament to the humanity and down-to-earthness of The Beatles that they could so accurately and uncompromisingly portray and express that in their music.
I think we need to clarify words like composing and writing. George Martin did a fantastic arrangement, but that does not make him the composer/writer here. This may sound like merely parsing words, but for music professionals it's a hugely important distinction, and I think it also makes sense logically.
Great video...great song!
so enjoyable!
Stunning. This video is stunning.
Your guitar arrangement sounds fantastic!!
I was 5.5 when this came out. By my teens it occupied 40 mins of a music lesson for me at school for a tune I'd already heard 100 times. The lesson was totally eclipsed/blown away by your video - thanks for that. I really enjoyed the Music lesson at school too!
As switched on as a 5.5 might not be it was impossible to imagine how adored the 4 individuals were. Record releases were anticipated and monitored eagerly. My guess (informed or formed) is this song is at the point where folk who weren't exclusively pop/rock were won over - even massively impressed. From 4-10 this was the band you heard in my universe/head/demographic/circumstance; We had Beatles cereal bowls (obviously this affects the brain very badly. in later life).
*Tips hat*
I especially enjoyed the guitar segment. It was really well executed and sounded swell!
This is a fantastic demonstration of your talent. Blown away by the effort here, the thoroughness, the thoughtfulness. I've heard this song many times, but it's works like this that increase my appreciation for them. Many thanks!
You are a brilliant pontificating genius!!
Love your taste in music and personality! I gotta say thank Krishna that Decca turned the Beatles down and that Brian talked George Martin into giving them a chance.
George Martin was an enormous resource and absolutely vital to the Beatles success I also got to ad without Donovan being in India with the Beatles in early ‘68 who knows what the White Album would’ve sounded like. I love your content and keep up the good work.
Just found your channel recently. This was brilliant
YOU ARE WONDERFUL
Elenor clearly is one of the few parisioners at Father McKenzie's church and yet they never make a human connection with each other. It's a song about how you can be alone even though you are surrounded by people....wearing the face that she leaves in a jar by the door. On one level it could be about makeup. My Grandmother would always say she had to "put her face on" before she lefr the house. But I think it speaks of putting a metophorical mask on to not show the world your true loneliness. The British idea of stiff uppper lip.
Oh. My. God. My friend I specifically say Oh My Gosh in life, I don’t like saying “God” but I do sometimes. My friend. Oh my God!?!? That Eleanor rigby recitation on four instruments was amazing. I literally want to be just like you.
Now i love this channel❤
Just so exquisite 😮 you are blowing our minds thank you💜
To me it´s a song about a normal, average life away from the spotlight and it reflects the life of millions of unsung people. But it´s also an atmospheric song: It´s kind of sad without being sad, and tragic without being tragic. In the end I think of David Crosby who said that this song was an eye opener to him as he heard something about loneliness and an inescapable course of life which he never heard in a song before.
I will also echo the fact that I loved your guitar arrangement of the strings. Another excellent and enthusiastic analysis.
Speaking of jazz covers, have you heard Vince Guaraldi's version of Eleanor Rigby? That's one of my favourite Beatles colours
I have now! Thank you for sharing - really enjoyed it.
Bravo on your string section! I’m inspired to learn the bass part on my uke bass.🎶🙂🪬😎
I love your English.
Brilliant analysis of my favorite Beatles song! Amazing recreation too ❤
🎉I wish I had a 10th of your talent.
After losing some work - if possible, always a good idea to jump right in again while its fresh in your mind.. always much quicker second time as all the thinking has already been done 😂
Great analysis. One thing I might add is George Martin has said his orchestration was a bit of a shout out to Bernard Herrmann, the great soundtrack composer who scored many of Hitchcock's movies. The part in the fourth verse that you call the "frantic striking" always sounded like the stabbing sounds in the movie Psycho to me.
Amazing!
I experienced the Beatles in realtime - I was just coming up to ten years old when this song came out, and wouldn't start taking piano lessons till a year later. So they were a bit beyond me... but always there as the soundtrack of my [generation's] life, and always there to come back to. Now, 58 years later, your musical knowledge and Beatles enthusiasm bring me joy and a deeper appreciation of the artistry of the song. Thank you!
I really enjoyed the four-part guitar arrangement because besides being beautiful, I could really hear the separate instruments' parts. Bravo! Is that you playing all the parts or did you get a little help from your friends?😉
Andrew - It is all her.
George Martin said that when he introduced himself to Brian Epstein, Brian realised he had reached the bottom of the barrel when it came to record labels. Rejected by all, they were now talking with the producer of a spoken word/novelty record label. Now it seems impossible to imagine the next eight years without him.
24:15 How do you feel about "She's Leaving Home"?
The horror if the Beatles had been stuck with Norrie Paramor or Wally Ridley… 😬
After she finished her rendition I immediately started singing “when I wake up early in the morning”
As I was watching this, listening to the repetitive strings in the background, and watching this video right after your review of Good Day Sunshine, it struck me that Paul
used the same technique in both songs. The repetitive piano, all the same notes, introduces GDS, and the repetitive strings, all the same note, are throughout ER. So Paul
took the same aural idea and applied it to create one happy, uplifting song, and one sad, haunting song…opposing moods…both one the same album.
Poet Allen Ginsberg said that "Eleanor Rigby" was a Charles Dickens' novel in 4 verses, with all the humanity, morality & tragedy of the human condition. It's miles away from "she loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah," which was recorded only three years earlier.
Just an amazing exposé and performance; also hugely educational and enriching for the uninitiated. I too have loved the song, but could never have told you why🙃. EnJOYed, thank you!
This one is BRILLIANT!
"For No One." Ha ha ... you are so cute ! Love it 🙂
Heavens - the breakdown of the strings on part of guitars is worth the admission fee alone. And get this... there is no admission fee. Good times.
UPDATE - having finished now, I can add I was so impressed by the observation of the conversational emphasis of DARNING his SOCKS in the NIGHT when there's NOBODY THERE - that I got a bit teary.
My own music veers toward chamber-pop, and I aspire to the baton-handing Martin did so easily to keep the strings from interfering with the singing. He was a stud hombre.
✌️♥️🍏
She's so cute and sweet
A great reaction and I am so grateful to you.
Please, please, please consider doing their earlier classics, “Walk Like A Man”, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, “Dawn”, “Rag Doll”, “Working My Way Back to You” and the song my dear departed older sister Ronnie loved: “Ronnie”! She was already a huge fan and had all the hits on 45 rpm singles.But she went nuts when they released that one, because she had been waiting for a song with her name in it.
You will both love these and *those* were the hits that gave Frankie Valli the reputation for one of the best, if not best falsettos in pop music.
Please consider going to those early 60’s Four Seasons hits. You can get thank us all later.
You would think that if George Martin and Paul McCartney did a record together in 1966 it would be a massive hit, right? Well, they did - and it wasn't. It's the soundtrack for the movie "The Family Way".
"Love in the Open Air" from the soundtrack won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Instrumental Theme in 1968.
Apparently the "Ah, look at all the lonely people" bit was George Harrison's contribution! :)
Playing the string arrangement on guitar is incredibly impressive. You really did all of this just for this video? That's insanely dedicated to quality. You deserve my like! I also subscribed.
Father McKenzie was so poor he could not afford to buy new socks so he had to darn them. Very few people came to his church services and sometimes no one shows up but he had to write a sermon just in case someone does show up. That’s one reason he was poor, few gave. The song tells of the foreknowledge that his next sermon he was working on will be a time where no one shows up. His church had no real spiritual substance to it and was mostly used for social events such as a wedding. Elenor could have been Father Mackenzie’s sister who never had a relationship with a man but was given a job of cleaning up the church after its social events. She eventually died while she was cleaning the church or resting or praying there. She was buried by her priest, Father McKenzie. No one showed up to her funeral (nobody came) no one was saved meaning the gospel wasn’t preached because no one was there but Father McKenzie himself. Her being buried just with her name eludes that she had no assets but may have at least had a tombstone with her name on it so that Paul could write about her. 😊
Elenor often would look out the church window and dreamt of her love who never returned. Perhaps he didn’t make back from the war but she had a picture of his face that she always kept safe in a jar by the door. Wearing the face that she kept in the jar means that she looked at it so often it was like she was figuratively wearing it.
I hope this brings more understanding to the song for people?
The first single I ever owned was the double A-sided one with Eleanor Rigby and Yellow Submarine., when I was 6 or 7. I still have it. Eleanor Rigby is just gorgeous.
Wonderful and brilliant exploration of a magnificent song
John may be a better lyricist, but Paul wrote my favorite Beatles lyric of all: “And though she feels as if she’s in a play / she is anyway.”
Stravinsky's Rite of Spring is a more plausible influence as it was also for Psycho in the first place. It has the gently swirling interludes too.
stravinsky is a seminal composer and a lot of twentieth century music and art makes sense when you hear it. i don't think that removes the justification that bernard hermann was was a source though: it's entirely likely and common to take from a specific source without being aware of a progenitor.
To add to the discussion, I found this from Paul McCartney's lyrics book: '"When I took the song to George (Martin), 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 (Martin) 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 [SPOILER FOR THE END OF] 'Psycho.'" George Martin adds, "I did notice in particular that the strings he wrote (for 'Psycho') were the very opposite of syrupy. They were jagged, spiky, very menacing. That kind of short attack that you get on his strings was very usueful on 'Eleanor Rigby.' It had to be very marcato; it had to be an absolutely tight rhythm, which strings aren't noted for."'
@@fathommusicnz my copy of the lyrics has it's own side table and it buckles every time i put the two volumes back . there is probably a video on string arrangements made for rock/pop songs waiting to be made. yesterday within you without you she's leaving home or George Martin's contribution as an arranger generally. I'd argue against the fifth beatle commendation myself but they're fine lines.
bernard hermann's score for vertigo is haunting: greatest film ever made?
There are a few things I would like to say : with this song,as stated in his book by George Melly Revolution into style? The Beatles were taken seriously by the serious people, before they were looked down on.My second remark is: Is it a Beatles song with only one Beatle on it? And thirdly, With this song Paul asked Martin to write a score, he was no longer embarrassed about being alone and two years later on the White album he played a lot of « solo » songs. How are they Beatles’ Was Eleanor Rigby a harbinger of thins to come?
Absolutely establish George Martin as the fifth Beatle on this song
He richly deserves it...
If I want to think of a sixth Beatle, I think of Billy Preston
Yeah, this song is a masterpiece. The names are interesting. I live near a cemetary (only a few miles from St Peter's Church) and regularly run through it on the way to Sefton Park when I'm going for a run. Over the years, the names on the gravestones have kind of seeped into my mind, so I can easily how it could happen.
I also feel that I must defend Paul as a lyricist. He probably didn't always put as much effort in to them, but when he did, his lyrics are up there with anyone. John Lennon included.
Richard - It's easy to cherry pick some little part of a lyric (a word or two..?) and think it's weak... by any artist.
It seems Nancy just likes to poke fun at Paul...
And that's OK. He can take it.
Eleanor Rigby is right up there. But there are spots that get me in other songs like Fool On The Hill.....or...well....too many other songs by them. Rabbit hole. You are correct though. George Martin was most assuredly is the fifth Beatle. Epstein, six, Geoff Emerick, seven was Mal Evans eight was Billy Preston.
Really enjoyed that. But will add, that from Paul’s point of view, he was living in England still recovering from the war. Maybe reaction to the many aging war widows, clinging to their religion, as church numbers started to wain. It’s a sad song.
When Paul was a boy scout he would go to the homes of elderly folks (mostly women) and do chores for them. One lady in particular interested him and after he did her grocery shopping for her, he would sit at her kitchen table and listen to her stories from the old days. Eleanor Rigby is loosely based upon her.
Such a great point about GE's mic placement. I'm an (albeit amateur) audio engineer. And I'm pretty sure that putting the mics overly close to the instruments, as he did, -- when going to tape, or maybe the tubes used at the time in a condenser mic amplifier -- creates a naturally compressed signal; which was what he was going for. OTTOMH, compression as an audio effect, and audio compressors purpose-built to create that effect, universally used today, were just coming into use around this time.
Another brilliant analysis. In defence of Paul's lyrics, however, I would point out that it was John who was the force behind the songs with nonsense lyrics. He wanted to get away from "silly love songs" and nonsense was often his answer. Paul was very simple in his lyrics but accurate too and I would submit that the bin lid you referenced is a typical example of John's influence on Paul. It was a moment when he thought, oh, anything will do, John's always doing that. Sure, semolina pilchard is a more arresting image than the lid but it's just as meaningless.
Excellent points raised! Though there's something about John Lennon's nonsense that I feel evokes a very specific mood. As a fan of Lewis Carroll, it really speaks to me.
dustbin lid is cockney rhyming slang for kid. Paul is apologizing for his bad behaviour in this song. In this line he is admitting that he can be immature and unreasonable. A dustbin is a garbage can, so he also calling himself a piece of garbage and he's begging her forgiveness. Is it a good line? No. but it's not a meaningless or thoughtless one.
The line about "dustbin lid" in The Other Me is undoubtedly a reference to the folk tune Liverpool Lullaby: "Oh, you are a mucky kid, as filthy as a dustbin lid" (approximately). In Paul's case, he's using rhyming slang, so dustbin lid = kid. In particular, a somewhat stroppy and unreasonable one. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a good lyric, but I hope I've given context to it.
Dustbin lid is British cockney slang for 'kid'. So it is not a bad lyric, you are just not aware of its meaning. John wrote plenty of meaningless lyrics: "Semolina pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower
Elementary penguin singing Hari Krishna", and John said that they had no meaning.
He also wrote some dreadful lyrics:
"In the middle of a shave
In the middle of a shave I call your name
Oh, Yoko
Oh, Yoko
My love will turn you on."
get that cat sum bone broth girl. love you guys.
I heard that Paul once said he didn't like his vocals on this song. And while it's not his best performance, he still did a great job.
He won the grammy for vocal performance.
@@Kieop Did he? That's cool :)
@@IsaacWale2004 Yes, but it's in an odd category since he got it for solo performance rather than duo or group, and this is technically a Beatles track, so I'm not sure how that happened.
Best Contemporary (R&R) Solo Vocal Performance - Male Or Female
Eleanor Rigby (Single)
I’ve always been taken by the sound of his voice in terms of of how it was recorded. It feels like he’s in the room with you- especially noteworthy given the year it was recorded eh?
Great video. Very well done. However, I confess to being a bit beyond mystified by your assessment of Sir Paul’s writing. May I just suggest the idea that great writers often write in very high volume. They fill notebooks, write thoughts on cocktail napkins, etc. If anything, I think Paul might simply be guilty of recording the odd mediocre bit that a strong creative collaborator like John would have contested. Could happen to anyone.
I think comparing Eleanor Rigby and I am the Walrus is unfair. Both are great songs. In fact, I think I am The Walrus is one of Lennon's best. From what I've read, the verses aren't particularly melodic because Lennon was imitating the back and forth sound of a siren.
Dustbin lid is cockney rhyming slang for 'kid' - he acted like a kid/foolishly :)
Oh my goodness, you've resolved a mystery that has been occupying far too much of my brain's real estate. Thank you!!
@@fathommusicnz A pleasure and an honour :)