The Beatles, Eleanor Rigby - A Classical Musician’s First Listen and Reaction / Excerpts

"I have a hard time calling this piece rock music." Well there it is, you have unlocked the rest of what you will hear from the Beatles. First they mastered rock & roll music. Then through their inventive music and creative lyrics they broadened the definition wider and wider. "I didn't know you could do that in a rock song." You couldn't - not until the Beatles knocked down the walls. The Queen songs you have come to love would not have happened if the Beatles hadn't joyfully broken the rules of what a pop song could be. Through their example, breaking the rules became one of the defining characteristics of the genre.

Paul sitting in ‘Eleanor Rigby’s’ kitchen listening to her stories …… and that’s why Paul has always been my favorite Beatle ✌🏼

Paul and John commented that George Martin earlier had taught them that you could use the chorus for the intro and it was a lesson they never forgot

This song is great in every possible way. Here and gone in 2 minutes and a few seconds. Loved your reaction. The background info was excellent. This song is one of The Beatles' songs that got EVERYBODY'S respect from around the world of music.

The true genius starts with Revolver. The albums from here on in are all unique (even Let it Be). The despair and desolation at the end of this song is complete. Then the next song is so different in music and tone…and the next one, and the next one. Please, don’t miss any songs from Revolver, there is so much texture and variety.

When i hear the song, i think of the phrase "People living lives of quiet desperation", it's a song for everyone who never made it, never realized any dreams, never found their soul mate, never got any lucky breaks, they aren't really living, just existing. Paul saw the Darkside of that and commented on it.

Of all the Beatles' songs I think this one would be the most appreciated by a Classical musician.

OK, 8 minutes in and I have to interject something important concerning the quote from engineer Geoff Emerick. Emerick is mistaken here and contradicts every other authoritative first hand source when he describes George Martin suggesting strings and having to persuade a reluctant McCartney. *Emerick here conflates the story of Yesterday with the storty of Eleanor Rigby." That;'s exactly what happened with Yesterday in 1965, right down to the detail of Paul fearing it could be "too lush, too Mancini [sic. Mantovani]". The story with Eleanor Rigby as told by John Lennon, by George Martin, and by Paul himelf, is quite different: According to John Lennon, Paul conceived the idea in the first place. ‘The violin backing was Paul’s idea,’ John said. ‘Jane Asher had turned him on to Vivaldi.’ Paul specified aspects of the score George Martin produced for the string arrangement 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.’ He visited George Martin’s flat to rough out the score. ‘Paul told me he wanted the strings to be doing a rhythm,' said Martin. 'He played the piano and I played the piano, and I took a note of his music.’ Martin wrote out the string parts guided (he said) by the sound of a Bernard Herrmann film score. Paul also supervised the string recording session from the control room. His final instruction relayed via George Martin was to insist on ‘no vibrato,’ as he had done two years before for Yesterday. In his recent 'The Lyrics' Paul describes it like this: 'George Martin had introduced me to the string-quartet idea through “Yesterday.” I’d resisted the idea at first, but when it worked I fell in love with it. So I ended up writing “Eleanor Rigby” with a string component in mind. 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.”' [I should add that I'm very far from the first to notice memory errors in Emerick's essential but occasionally unreliable book, Here, There & Everywhere.]

The quiet desperation reminds me of a William Blake poem. "I wander through each charter'd Street, near where the charter'd Thames does flow, and mark in every face I meet, marks of weakness, marks of woe.."

I've cherished the intense feelings of this lyrical tale since I was a kid in 1966. Thanks for letting us know what makes it great.

Recorded 12 days before Paul McCartney's 24th birthday. He was 23 years old when he wrote it..

You explained it so well. Some people are skeptical when someone analyzes a piece of art, and say the reviewer reads too much into it. But many times the artist creates by instinct, and the meaning is there even if he/she didn't think of that consciously.

Again it was very pleasant to watch this reaction 👌😃 The intensity in this song ... you named it strikingly well. I really got goosebumps sometimes when you pointed this out ... A vivid colourful street scene ... people walking in both directions ... isolated, no connection to each others ... great description 😊👍 No place for melisma in the music, so appropriate! The eloquence of the Beatles ❤️😊👌

One of the five favorites of all Beatles songs.

A very insightful analysis. It's amazing to see someone, on their first listen, notice aspects of this music that I've missed, even after listening to this song for most of my life. I think we often pick up on certain internal patterns in great music unconsciously when listening. It's similar to how Paul McCartney, who wrote this song without any formal knowledge of musical structure or harmony. Apparently guided by his intuition. Or whatever it is that gives someone this kind of talent,

This was greatest deep dive into Eleanor Rigby imaginable. It’s noteworthy that in the second to last chorus they sing “Lovely People” with the more emphatic vocals. It’s to say that those lonely people are also lovable. Brilliant song. Brilliant analysis Amy. Thanks Virgin Rock

The strings are very reminiscent of the striking ones in Psycho the Hitchcock movie from 1960. Very abrupt and striking .. which fits in with the subject matter perfectly.. distressing and stark at the same time .. genius … no one had heard this type of “pop” music in 1966 and follows on from the bitterness from Taxman perfectly

One of your best reactions - well done. I think you captures all the elements of this masterpiece, including an important one as I see it: The point of having father McKenzie in the song is to have two lonely people coming to the same place in years without ever connecting. The story is that so many people pass through life without noticing each other. It's a very sad an melancholic song of missed opportunities of what life could be. And I am glad you also caught the meaning of '..was buried along with her name'. The lyrics are brilliant - so much said in so few lines, and the music match the lyrics perfectly, like you point out very clearly.

I was convinced I wouldn't listen to nearly an hour of review on a 3 min song. Yet I did listen to it all. Shows how little I knew ! Hello EVERYONE, with Amy's first listen We Are All Together.😊

Re: weddings. It used to be common in the UK for women to congregate at churches for weddings, to see the spectacle, comment on the wedding dress, flowers, etc. I guess it was kind of a free show for them, where they could imagine themselves in a similar situation. Perhaps the kind of thing that a friendless spinster might yearn for.