Eleanor Rigby — The Beatles (1966)

Why this song

Think of a rock band: guitars, bass, drums. Now take all of it away. In Eleanor Rigby there are no guitars, no bass and no drums. The only thing under the voices is violins, violas and cellos.

And yet it does not sound like calm classical music. It sounds tense, almost like a horror film. This song shows you why.

Historical context

By 1966 the Beatles had stopped playing to thousands of screaming fans: they had shut themselves in Abbey Road studio, in London, to try new things. Eleanor Rigby came out that summer on the album Revolver and, the same day, on a single with Yellow Submarine. In the UK it was number 1 for four weeks.

Paul McCartney wrote almost all of it. It tells the lives of two lonely people: a woman, Eleanor Rigby, and a priest, Father McKenzie. At first the priest was going to be called McCartney, but Paul changed it so nobody would think it was about his own father. He picked "McKenzie" from the phone book.

Photo: Rodhullandemu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The accompaniment was written by George Martin, the band's producer. He took the idea from Bernard Herrmann's music for the film Psycho, which uses short string stabs to frighten you. Eight session musicians played it: four violins, two violas and two cellos. In fact it is a string quartet doubled, with two players on each part.

Photo: Diario de Madrid, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Musical characteristics

Listen to the first few seconds. The voices sing a long phrase and the strings hold it up with long notes. Then the story begins and the strings change: now they play very short chords, one after another. Playing notes short and detached like that is called staccato. The opposite, long notes joined together, is legato. The same notes sound gentle in legato and tense in staccato.

And the bass? There is no bass guitar, but something does its job: the two cellos. They are the lowest instruments and hold the harmony up from below. Bass and rhythm are jobs in the music, not particular instruments.

The harmony is about as simple as it gets: two chords. On the record they are E minor and C. In class we move them down to A minor and F, which are easy on the ukulele. Moving every note to a different pitch while the song stays the same is called transposing.

At the end, Paul sings the opening phrase and the chorus at the same time, one on top of the other: he recorded it in another session, weeks later. Two different melodies sounding together and fitting: that is counterpoint.

Facts: E minor on the record, 4/4, about 137 BPM, 2:06. Form: sung introduction, three verses each with its chorus, and the opening phrase coming back before the third.

Trivia and curiosities

• The microphone plays too. Engineer Geoff Emerick put the microphones almost touching the instruments. The players complained and kept moving their chairs back until George Martin asked them to stop. That is why the strings sound so rough: the same notes change depending on how they are recorded.

• There is a real Eleanor Rigby, or so it seems. In the churchyard of St Peter's in Woolton, Liverpool, there is a gravestone with that name. John Lennon and Paul McCartney first met at that very church in July 1957. Paul says he does not remember ever seeing it. A tune or a name can stick in your head without you knowing.

• You can hear the strings on their own. In 1996 the Beatles released the take of the eight musicians without the voices. It is in Resources: you can clearly hear the staccato and the cellos doing the bass's job.

Photo: Loco Steve, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Guided listening

On the official audio linked in Resources (2:06).

• 0:00 — Voices and strings alone, with long notes. No steady beat yet.
• 0:13 — The first verse starts and the strings switch to staccato: short, dry chords that mark the beat without any drums.
• 1:26 — Just before the third verse, listen to the lowest sounds: the cellos, doing the bass's job.
• 1:47 — Last chorus. From here you hear two melodies at once, the opening one and the chorus: counterpoint. It is clearest around 1:54. The song ends at 2:03.

Classroom activities

• Play: A minor and F on the ukulele, first with long strums (legato), then with short strokes you damp with your hand (staccato). Same chords; listen to how the character changes. The lyrics with chords are in the class session.

• Sing: half the class sings the opening phrase and the other half the chorus, at the same time, like the end of the record.

• Analyse: listen to the strings-only take. How many times does the chord change in the first verse? Which instrument plays the lowest notes?

• Create: tell the story of someone who is alone in four lines and sing it over A minor and F.

Key vocabulary

• Staccato — staccato: notas cortas y separadas
• Legato — legato: notas largas y unidas
• Transpose — transportar
• Counterpoint — contrapunto

Resources

Official audio — the 1966 recording, uploaded by the label. The Guided listening timings follow this audio.

Music video — the sequence from the animated film Yellow Submarine (1968). It runs a few seconds behind the audio.

Strings only — take 14 by the eight musicians, without voices, released on Anthology 2 (1996).

Ukulele tutorial with A minor and F — Beginner Ukulele with Jewel. In the class key, with the two class chords.

Guitar tutorial — Lauren Bateman, in Spanish. The two chords, for beginners.

The three voices in the intro — DLD2 Music separates what Paul, John and George sing at the start. Under a minute.

• Cover image — The Beatles arriving at JFK Airport, New York, 7 February 1964. Foto: United Press International, dominio público, vía Wikimedia Commons