Eleanor Rigby — The Beatles
“Eleanor Rigby” is my favourite Beatles song. Its impeccably-observed vignettes of life and peerless string section are compelling listening.
Ironically, my favourite Beatles song was released as a Double-A side with possibly my least favourite Beatles song, “Yellow Submarine”. But I guess even songwriting giants like John Lennon and Paul McCartney have off-days…
“Eleanor Rigby” was a UK Number One in 1966 and won a Grammy for Paul McCartney’s vocal performance.
It was also a significant departure from The Beatles’ earlier work, musically, lyrically and stylistically.
None of The Beatles played a single note on “Eleanor Rigby”, but instead we have a wonderful string section, arranged by the legendary George Martin.
This was one of those times…“Yesterday” being the most notable other one…when George Martin’s previous experience as a producer of classical music records for EMI really came in handy.
The strings on “Eleanor Rigby” might just be my favourite string section in all of popular music.
Those strings aren’t just there as a far-off accompaniment to the main vocal. They play a more integral role than that.
There’s a lot going on in the confines of a relatively small string section and all the musicians are kept…
