Beatles - Eleanor Rigby
"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 shortly before he died, John Lennon claimed that, at McCartney's request, he completed the lyrics to the second and third verse. Pete Shotton, a close friend of John Lennon has been quoted; "Though John 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 John helped on about "half a line".
Unusually, the song is in modern Dorian mode, rather than the normal major/minor modes of popular music.
It remains one of The Beatles' most recognizable and unique songs, with an eight-person string section working from a score by George Martin and its striking lyrics about the loneliness of old age, continuing the transformation of The Beatles started in Rubber Soul from a mainly pop-oriented act to a more serious and experimental studio band.
The song was primarily written by Paul McCartney, although in an interview conducted with Playboy magazine in 1980 shortly before he died, John Lennon claimed that, at McCartney's request, he completed the lyrics to the second and third verse. Pete Shotton, a close friend of John Lennon has been quoted; "Though John 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 John helped on about "half a line".
Unusually, the song is in modern Dorian mode, rather than the normal major/minor modes of popular music.
It remains one of The Beatles' most recognizable and unique songs, with an eight-person string section working from a score by George Martin and its striking lyrics about the loneliness of old age, continuing the transformation of The Beatles started in Rubber Soul from a mainly pop-oriented act to a more serious and experimental studio band.
02/06/2007