{"id":9029,"date":"2023-04-04T15:27:10","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T20:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?p=9029"},"modified":"2023-04-04T15:27:10","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T20:27:10","slug":"revolver-deep-dive-part-2-eleanor-rigby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/revolver-deep-dive-part-2-eleanor-rigby\/","title":{"rendered":"Revolver Deep Dive Part 2: Eleanor Rigby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revolver<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Side One, Track Two<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEleanor Rigby\u201d Lives On<\/strong><\/p>\n

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by Jude Southerland Kessler and Simon Weitzman<\/p>\n

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Through 2023, the Fest for Beatles Fans blog will be delving into the fine details of The Beatles\u2019 astounding 1966 LP, <\/em>Revolver. This month network TV director, producer, and author, Simon Weitzman – <\/strong><\/em>best known in The Beatles\u2019 World for his beloved film <\/em>A Love Letter to The Beatles: Here, There, and Everywhere \u2013 \u00a0joins John Lennon Series<\/strong> author Jude Southerland Kessler<\/strong> for a fresh, new look at a track that literally changed all we had come to know about The Beatles! Simon is co-author, with Paul Skellett, of four remarkable Beatles books: <\/em>Eight Arms to Hold You, All You Need is Love, The Mad Day Out with Tom Murray, and <\/em>The Beatles in 3D. We\u2019re thrilled to have Simon with us this month and in person, in just a few days, at the New York Metro Fest for Beatles Fans!<\/em><\/p>\n

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What\u2019s Standard:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Date Recorded:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Home Demo was recorded by Paul in late March 1966 at Ringo\u2019s flat in Montague Square (Winn, 7)<\/em><\/p>\n

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First EMI session, 28 April 1966, Studio Two<\/em><\/p>\n

5 p.m.- 7:50 p.m. (Lewisohn, <\/em>The Beatles Recording Sessions, 77)<\/em><\/p>\n

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Second EMI session, 29 April 1966, Studio Three<\/em><\/p>\n

5 p.m. \u2013 1 a.m. (Lewisohn, <\/em>The Beatles Recording Sessions, 77) <\/em><\/p>\n

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Third EMI session, 6 June 1966 in Studio Three (control room only)<\/em><\/p>\n

7 p.m. \u2013 12 a.m. (Lewisohn, <\/em>The Beatles Recording Sessions, 82)<\/em><\/p>\n

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Tech Team<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Producer:<\/em><\/strong> George Martin<\/em><\/p>\n

Engineer: <\/em><\/strong>Geoff Emerick<\/em><\/p>\n

Second Engineer: <\/em><\/strong>Phil McDonald<\/em><\/p>\n

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Stats:<\/em><\/strong> On 28 April, a professional string octet (members listed below) recorded 14 takes. On 29 April, as John C. Winn tells us in <\/em>That Magic Feeling, \u201cPaul added his lead vocal on track 4, and then he, John, and George harmonized for the choruses on track 3.\u201d (p. 24) That evening, the tape recorder was slowed a bit to achieve a higher pitch when played at regular speed. Finally, on 6 June (spilling over into the small hours of 7 June), Paul re-recorded his vocal, employing a unique concept provided by Martin. Martin had suggested Paul \u201csing the chorus in counterpoint to his final vocal refrain.\u201d (Winn, <\/em>That Magic Feeling, 24)<\/em><\/p>\n

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Instrumentation and Musicians:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul McCartney<\/em><\/strong>, the composer, sings lead vocal.<\/em><\/p>\n

John Lennon<\/em><\/strong> sings backing vocals.<\/em><\/p>\n

George Harrison<\/em><\/strong> sings backing vocals.<\/em><\/p>\n

String Octet<\/em><\/strong> including violinists Tony Gilbert (first violin) Sidney Sax, John Sharpe, and Jurgen Hess; violists
\nStephen Shingles and John Underwood, and cellists Derek Simpson and Norman Jones. Musical arrangement by George Martin. (Hammack, 136)<\/em><\/p>\n

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Sources:<\/em><\/strong> Lewisohn, <\/em>The Complete Beatles Chronicle, 219, Lewisohn, <\/em>The Recording Sessions, 77, Martin, <\/em>All You Need is Ears, 199, Emerick, <\/em>Here, There, and Everywhere, 127, Rodriguez, <\/em>Revolver: How The Beatles Reimagined Rock\u2019n\u2019Roll, 167-169, Davies, <\/em>The Beatles Lyrics, 144-149, \u00a0Margotin and Guesdon, <\/em>All the Songs, 326-327, Winn, <\/em>That Magic Feeling, 7 and 24, Hammack, <\/em>The Beatles Recording Reference Manual, Vol. 2, 136-137, Turner, <\/em>A Hard Day\u2019s Write, 104-105, Riley, <\/em>Tell Me Why, 184-185, Spizer, <\/em>The Beatles for Sale on Parlophone Records, 213, Spignesi and Lewis, <\/em>100 Best Beatles Songs, 93-95, McCartney, <\/em>Paul McCartney, The Lyrics, 157-163, Sheff, <\/em>The Playboy Interviews, 118-119 and 151, Shotton, <\/em>John Lennon: In My Life, 123-124, and MacDonald, <\/em>Revolution in the Head, 162-163.<\/em><\/p>\n

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What\u2019s Changed:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely Everything!!!<\/em><\/strong> If you knew nothing at all about The Beatles, and heard \u201cLove Me Do\u201d followed by \u201cEleanor Rigby,\u201d you would vow that those two songs were not<\/em> composed by the same band! Even if we juxtaposed 1965\u2019s \u201cHelp!\u201d against 1966\u2019s \u201cEleanor Rigby,\u201d the differences would still be myriad and vast. The second track on Revolver<\/em> truly changed so much<\/strong> that we know about The Beatles. It was a dramatic 180-degree pivot. Here are just a few<\/em> of the meteoric changes:<\/p>\n

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    \n
  1. Instrumental Personnel<\/strong> \u2013 Paul sings the lead vocal while John and George sing back-up, but nary a Beatle plays an instrument on this track. The instruments are manned by a professional string octet, but not by John, Paul, George, and Ringo. That is certainly \u201csomething new\u201d!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Instruments<\/strong> \u2013 four violins, two violas, two cellos. And that is all. To quote Clang: \u201cShocking!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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        \n
      1. \u201cA Complete Change of Style\u201d<\/strong> \u2013 This quote regarding \u201cEleanor Rigby\u201d (and \u201cTomorrow Never Knows\u201d) is from Sir George Martin. And of course, he said it perfectly. Both songs propelled us headlong into \u201cthe new direction.\u201d Prior to Rubber Soul<\/em> and Revolver, <\/em>Beatles music had been upbeat if not always optimistic. Even songs expressing crushing depression (such as \u201cI\u2019ll Cry Instead\u201d and \u201cHelp!\u201d) sound hopeful, if not downright joyous.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

         <\/p>\n

        But \u201cEleanor Rigby\u201d is unabashedly a song about painful isolation from which there is no glimmer of rescue. In The Beatles\u2019 catalog, this<\/em> is a revolutionary theme and sound. As Tim Riley observes in Tell My Why<\/em>: \u201cThe \u2018ah\u2019s\u2019 aren\u2019t soothing, they\u2019re aching, and the sudden drop in the cellos after the first line sinks the heart along with it.\u201d Yes, \u201cMisery\u201d was a song of heartbreak but left open the possibility that the wayward girl would \u201ccome back to me.\u201d And in \u201cGirl,\u201d the bickering couple only suffer through their troubles because they\u2019re still very much in love.<\/p>\n

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        But the world of \u201cEleanor Rigby\u201d is a place in which \u201cno one was saved.\u201d In Revolver: How The Beatles Reimagined Rock<\/em>\u2019n\u2019Roll,<\/em> Robert Rodriguez points out that even \u201cYesterday\u201d holds more hope than \u201cEleanor Rigby.\u201d He observes: \u201c\u2019Yesterday\u2019 bore obvious commerciality with its time-honored theme of love gone wrong. But \u2018Eleanor Rigby\u2019 was a somewhat unsettling composition devoid of traditional romanticism, calculated to stir rather than to soothe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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          \n
        1. Contested Authorship of Lyrics<\/strong> \u2013 The lyrics of only one other Beatles song<\/em> \u2013 \u201cIn My Life\u201d \u2013 has been claimed by both <\/em>John and Paul. Through the years, Paul has always claimed full authorship for \u201cEleanor Rigby.\u201d In Paul McCartney, The Lyrics<\/em>, he goes into great detail about several \u201cold ladies\u201d he encountered in his youthful Bob-A-Job-Week chores \u2013 ladies who inspired the character. And Paul adds that Eleanor Bron might have reinforced the concept of using \u201cEleanor\u201d as the character\u2019s name. Then he states, \u201cInitially, the priest was \u2018Father McCartney\u2019 because it had the right number of syllables. I took the song out to John at that point,<\/strong> and I remember playing it to him, and he said, \u2018That\u2019s great, Father McCartney.\u2019 He loved it. But I wasn\u2019t really comfortable with it because it\u2019s my dad \u2013 my Father McCartney \u2013 so I literally got out the phone book and went on from \u2018McCartney\u2019 to \u2018McKenzie.\u2019\u201d (pp. 157-163)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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          However, in the 1980 Playboy Interviews<\/em>, John Lennon told David Sheff, \u201cYeah, \u2018Rigby.\u2019 The first verse was [Paul\u2019s], and the rest are basically mine\u2026we were sitting around with Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall, and he said to us, \u2018Hey, you guys, finish up the lyrics.\u2019\u2026and I was insulted that Paul had just thrown it out of the air. He actually meant he wanted me <\/em>to do it, and of course, there isn\u2019t a word of theirs in it because I finally went off to a room with Paul and we finished the song<\/strong>.\u201d John then goes into great detail about the writing process of \u201cRigby,\u201d even stating that \u201cwhen [he] stepped away to go to the toilet,\u201d George and Paul were working on \u201cRigby\u201d in his absence, and they came up with the line, \u201cAh look at all the lonely people.\u201d When he returned, John says, \u201cThey were settling on that.\u201d He says that he heard it, loved it, and remarked, \u201cThat\u2019s it!<\/em>\u201d (pp. 118-119)<\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

          Later in the same interview, John restated his contribution to \u201cEleanor Rigby,\u201d calling it \u201cPaul\u2019s baby, but I helped with the education of the child.\u201d (p. 151)<\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

          However, in his book, John Lennon In My Life<\/em>, Pete Shotton revealed a very different account of the song\u2019s creation. Pete says that he and about 8-10 other people (including Ringo) were spending an evening in John\u2019s home Kenwood when Paul arrived. McCartney presented those gathered with a set of lyrics for \u201cEleanor Rigby,\u201d<\/strong> and said, \u201cI\u2019ve got this little tune here. It keeps popping into me head, but I haven\u2019t got very far with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

          Pete says, \u201cWe all sat around, making suggestions<\/strong>, throwing out the odd line or phrase\u2026[When] Paul got to the verse about the cleric, whose name he had down as \u2018Father McCartney,\u2019 Ringo came up with the line about \u2018darning his socks in the night,\u2019 which everybody liked.\u201d However, Pete says that he <\/em>objected to the cleric\u2019s name and pointed out to Paul that fans might think it is Jim McCartney having to darn socks, lonely and all alone. And when Paul agreed, Pete goes on: \u201c\u2026I noticed a telephone directory lying around and said, \u2018Give us that phone book, then, and I\u2019ll have a look through the Macs.\u201d And he did. After finding and rejecting the humorous name \u201cMcVicar,\u201d Pete says that he asked Paul to \u201ctry Father McKenzie out for size, and everyone appeared to like the lilt of it.\u201d (Shotton, 123)<\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

          Then, according to Pete, Paul told the gathered group: \u201cThe real trouble is I\u2019ve no idea how to finish this song.\u201d Ideas and suggestions were thrown out at random. And Pete claims that he suggested having Eleanor die and having Father McKenzie perform the burial. Pete states that he said, \u201cThat way you\u2019ll have the two lonely people coming together in the end \u2013 but too late.\u201d (Shotton, 124) It was a concept, Pete tells us, that Paul seemed to endorse, but an ending that John did not care for one bit.<\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

          Quite a different tale! So, where does the truth lie? Who wrote what and when and why?<\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

          The only thread that is consistent in all accounts is that Paul took the song to John and somehow the two of them \u2013 alone or with other people \u2013 finished the lyrics as a joint effort<\/strong>. All other details vary, depending upon the teller of the tale. Rarely does this scenario occur with a Beatles song. Credits are shared; nods are given. But the history of \u201cEleanor Rigby\u201d is much like the record\u2019s namesake, aloof and unknown.<\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Recording Techniques<\/strong> \u2013 When Paul McCartney told new EMI engineer Geoff Emerick that he wanted the strings on \u201cEleanor Rigby\u201d \u201cto sound really biting,\u201d Emerick was a little intimidated. How could he achieve that?<\/em> In his book Here, There, and Everywhere<\/em>, Emerick tells us that he devised an outrageous plan to close-mic the strings. He explains: \u201cString quartets were traditionally recorded with just one or two microphones placed high, several feet up in the air so the sound of bows scraping couldn\u2019t be heard.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

             <\/p>\n

            Defying this unwritten rule, Geoff close-miked the instruments. It was a bold act of genius. And the result was precisely what Paul wanted! Not only did the strings supply melody but they also supplied percussion. And their \u201charsh realism\u201d brought the strident authenticity of a callous world into this lonely and tragic song. (More on this in Simon Weitzman\u2019s \u201cFresh, New Look\u201d interview below.)<\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            One final note<\/strong>\u2026According to The Beatles, \u201cEleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name.\u201d But in 2023, almost 60 years from her appearance in the world of The Beatles, Eleanor lives on. By the mid 2000\u2019s, the song had been covered by over 200 musicians. Ray Charles, for example, hit No. 35 on the Billboard<\/em> charts with his version of the song. In 1969, Aretha Franklin\u2019s take on the number shot to No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100<\/em>. But these two icons are not alone in their respect for the song. Hundreds of other groups recorded their own tributes to Father McKenzie, all the lonely people, and yes, to Eleanor. In 2023, Eleanor is still with us\u2026living on.<\/p>\n

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            A Fresh, New Look:<\/strong><\/p>\n

            \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

            We\u2019re thrilled to have Simon Weitzman with us this month for a close and personal examination of \u201cEleanor Rigby.\u201d Apart from his other many credits, listed earlier in the blog, Simon is working on a documentary about <\/em>Beatles PA and Rolling Stones Tour Manager, Chris O\u2019Dell. He\u2019s also completing his wonderful film, <\/em>A Love Letter to The Beatles: Here, There, and Everywhere, which you will be able to enjoy at the New York Metro Fest for Beatles Fans<\/strong>. Taking time out of his hectically busy schedule to discuss \u201cEleanor Rigby\u201d was a real treat for the Fest staff. Thank you, Simon!!!!<\/em><\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            Jude Southerland Kessler<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Hi Simon, thank you \u201cooover and oover and oover again\u201d (whoops, wrong band!!) for giving us the gift of your time. We know you\u2019re incredibly busy, so I\u2019ll dive right in. Simon,<\/em> the 1966 addition of young Geoff Emerick to the production team at EMI certainly made\u00a0<\/em>Revolver\u00a0an edgier, more experimental LP. Please tell us a bit about Emerick’s clever method of making the orchestral segment “hard-biting,” as Paul had requested him to do.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

            \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

            Its production is as exquisite as it is different. Paul was a forward-thinker and was amenable to George Martin\u2019s suggestions that classical music be employed. Despite initial misgivings, Paul wisely followed Martin\u2019s lead and brought classical influences firmly into the 20th<\/sup> century. It was familiar ground for George Martin; it enabled him to take a leap of faith with Paul and really push the strings in the recordings, whilst taking inspiration from Bernard Herrmann, who himself innovated the modern film compositions that were to shape cinema throughout the century. Indeed, \u201cEleanor Rigby\u201d has a soundscape that would very comfortably sit in a number of movie soundtracks today.<\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            \u201cI was very much inspired by Bernard Herrmann\u2026[he] really impressed me, especially the strident string writing. When Paul told me he wanted the strings in \u2018Eleanor Rigby\u2019 to be doing a rhythm, Herrmann\u2026was a particular influence.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n