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John Lennon claimed to have written "about 70 per cent" of the words for Eleanor Rigby, although in separate accounts Paul McCartney and Pete Shotton both remember otherwise. Shotton described Lennon's contribution as "virtually nil".
Ah, the first verse was his and the rest are basically mine. But the way he did it... Well, he knew he had a song. But by that time he didn't want to ask for my help, and we were sitting around with Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall, so he said to us, 'Hey, you guys, finish up the lyrics.'Now I was there with Mal, a telephone installer who was our road manager, and Neil, who was a student accountant, and I was insulted and hurt that Paul had just thrown it out in the aid. He actually meant he wanted me to do it, and of course there isn't a line of theirs in the song because I finally went off to a room with Paul and we finished the song. But that's how... that's the kind of insensitivity he would have, which upset me in later years. That's the kind of person he is. 'Here, finish these lyrics up,' like to anybody who was around.
Oh, he had the whole start: 'Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been.' And he had the story and knew where it was going. So we had to work out, 'Well, is there anybody else in this story?' We came up with Father McCartney for a bit, but Paul said his dad would be upset, so we made it into McKenzie, even though McCartney sounded better. And then we went on to new characters... It's hard to describe, even with the clarity of memory, the moment the apple falls. The thing will start moving along at a speed of its own, then you wake up at the end of it and have this whole thing on paper, you know? Who said what to whom as we were writing, I don't know.
I do know that George Harrison was there when we came up with 'Ah, look at all the lonely people.' He and George were settling on that as I left the studio to go to the toilet, and I heard the lyric and turned around and said, 'That's it!'
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
Paul McCartney recorded a demo of Eleanor Rigby at the Ashers' house. He later claimed that Marianne Faithfull expressed an interest in recording the song after she and Mick Jagger were played the demo.
I remember thinking to myself, What am I going to do when I'm thirty? Thirty was the big age. Will I still be in a group? I remember being round at John Dunbar's house, having a very clear vision of myself in a herringbone jacket with leather elbow patches and a pipe, thinking Eleanor Rigby, this could be a way I could go, I could become a more serious writer, not so much a pop writer.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
In the studio
Recording began on 28 April 1966. With a score by George Martin, and inspired by the music written by Bernard Herrmann for the Truffaut film Farenheit 451, no Beatles played on the record. Instead a closely-miked string octet was recorded in 14 takes, after which Paul overdubbed his lead vocals.
The violins backing was Paul's idea. Jane Asher had turned him on to Vivaldi, and it was very good, the violins, straight out of Vivaldi. I can't take any credit for that, a-tall.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
On 29 April McCartney added more vocals, and he, Lennon and Harrison provided harmonies. The song was then considered complete until 6 June, when Paul added one more vocal part.
George Martin's score was released in 1996 unadorned by vocals, on the Anthology 2 collection. The song also appeared in remix form on the Love album.
Chart success
The double a-side single Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine was released on 5 August 1966, the same day as Revolver.
The single entered the charts on 10 August at number two. The following week it reached the top, where it remained for four weeks.
In America it fared less well. Released on 8 August, it charted at number 11 and spent six weeks in the top 40. It peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and Cashbox charts; this has been attributed to the downbeat subject matter, and also the fallout from John Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" comments.
Eleanor Rigby was nominated for three Grammy awards in 1966, and won the Best Contemporary Rock and Roll Vocal Performance, Male.
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Paul was kind of upset about john taking credit for a large part of the lyrics of eleanor rigby. Like you said, paul said that wasnt true in many occasions.
This is what McCartney said to Hunter Davies in 1981 just a few months after the playboy interview was published and John had died. “ I saw somewhere that he says (John) he helped on Eleanor Rigby. Yeah. About half a line. He also forgot completely that I wrote the tune for In My Life. That was my tune. But perhaps he just made a mistake on that.”.
The timing for Paul's response couldn't have been better.
So?
He DID write the tune for "In my life".
My reply was about Paul's insensitivity with a remark like "Yeah. About half a line" (concerning Eleanor Rigby) made to Hunter Davies, just a few months after Lennon's death.
Why didn't McCartney say this prior to Lennon's death?
John's opinions about Eleanor Rigby and In My Life were well known prior to December 8, 1980.
Everett’s take:
A string octet were recorded – mikes right at the strings – two per track, requiring a reduction to one track.
Two vocal tracks were recorded: Paul’s lead vocal and John and George’s backing parts. ADT sent the lead vocal signal to the left for refrains, but to the left in the last refrain.
A fourth track was used to add a countermelody vocal from Paul to the last refrain, sung through a Leslie speaker and with ADT.
According to Anthology, Paul was the only Beatle on this song.
Reporter: Do you think you'll ever record solo?
...
George: We already have ... Eleanor Rigby was just Paul.
John: We just sat around drinking tea.
The harmony vocals of Paul,John,and George were recorded the day after Paul's original vocals.
There are no other Beatles on this record. Paul is singing double-tracked or second vocal.
Hi, Does anyone know if a score for the string parts exists that I could purchase or find through a library? I would like to analyze it.
Thanks!
Oh boy, here comes another dispute! Even though I eventually caved and came to believe paulsbass's centention that Paul alone sang that wordless ADITL bit, it's not gonna happen this time. I'm positive I hear George and John's harmonies in the left stereo channel, "Anthology" remarks notwithstanding. And anyways, being requried to do nothing other than to sing "Ah, look at all the lonely people" four times total would certainly leave John with plenty of time to do nothing but sit around and drink tea.
The 5th and 6th iterations of the "Ahhh..." lyric: Now THOSE were indeed sung by Paul all alone.
No dispute this time, you're totally right!
I completely forgot about that intro part (same in the middle). I don't know if the middle one is George or Paul, but the deep one is definitely John.
Sorry!
I should listen to the song before talking about it...
The basic melody is great. The strings are great and Paul's voice is great. One of the best Beatle songs. Paul is brilliant!
John was very jealous of Paul, wasn't he? Always had to throw in a little shot, a little putdown.
Might've been nice if he wasn't so jealous...and such a hypocrite; singing about "all you need is love" and "imagine no possessions" while walking out on his wife and baby and riding around in his golden Rolls Royce.
I don't think that John Lennon invented jealousy or divorce.
If you read about his family upbringing you may discover that he was left behind by his parents.
As for riding around in a "golden rolls royce" what did you expect after selling hundreds of millions of records?
No, John didn't invent jealousy or divorce. Nor did he invent infidelit or child abandonment. But he did engage in these activities, while at the same time singing and preaching the opposite.
I don't expect to change your mind about Lennon. And yes, I'm a great fan of his and the Beatles music. But truth is truth (as Lennon would probably agree). If you choose not to accept that truth, more power to you.
Yep, Paul wasn't jealous of John at all, he hasn't tried to take any credit for any songs In His Life...
I see no evidence of Paul's jealousy of John. I have NEVER read ANYTHING about Paul putting down a Lennon song. At most, there was some disagreement as to his contribution to some Lennon songs. Whereas Lennon critisized McCartney's songs constantly.
But just believe what makes you feel good.
Sorry Joe, I just have a quick response if that's okay. John is not putting down Eleanor Rigby, he's saying that he helped or wrote most of the lyrics. He put down many McCartney songs, but he put down even more of his own, so I don't think John really viewed songs as his songs versus Paul's songs, they were just Beatle songs because they all collaborated on most of the material. John is trying to take credit for this song, but Paul did the exact same thing on some of John's songs, he was just more "politically correct" about it whereas John was blunt and said what he felt. I'm sure if John were to be interviewed now, he'd feel differently and not put down a lot of the Beatles work, but unfortunately that's not possible.
No problem. Thanks for staying on topic.
What does Paul drive?
Imagine says to do what you can to fix the world, not to say give everything you own away and live on the street. There was mutual respect for each other, but Jealousy was NonExistant
OK, I think this is the sort of conversation that could run and run. Funny how so many threads seems to end up John v Paul. Can I suggest you take this to the forum instead, and keep this page for discussions about Eleanor Rigby? I won't publish any more comments on this matter on this page.
That Paul and John were both eager to take credit for this song reveals how timeless it truly is. The violins give it a surreal feeling, which reflects how the Beatles music progressed both lyrically and in depth, scope, and texture starting in '66.
Eleanor Rigby is one of the saddest song I ever heard. The Lyrics are great, but what impress me most in this tune is George Martin's contribution.. I think the arrangements are superb!
Indeed, this track is quite good. Can we safely assume that Lennon's contribution was rather prodigious, based on the inclusive banality of McCartney's post-1970 lyrics?