The Beatles | Eleanor Rigby
The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” - how Paul McCartney created rock’s first and most devastating song about loneliness using only string instruments and collective lyrics in 1966.
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Story Behind “Eleanor Rigby”
Paul McCartney came up with the melody of “Eleanor Rigby” while experimenting at the piano. But the song began with a different name entirely. McCartney originally called the main character Miss Daisy Hawkins, and he paired her with a priest he named Father McCartney. Then he took the song to John Lennon’s house, and something shifted.
Paul told official Beatles biographer Hunter Davies: “Then I took it down to John’s house in Weybridge. We sat around, laughing, got stoned and finished it off.” What started as Paul’s solo composition became a collective effort. George Harrison contributed the “all the lonely people” line, and Ringo suggested “darning his socks.” Lennon helped reshape the lyrics. Pete Shotton, Lennon’s friend, suggested the song’s ending—that Eleanor and Father McKenzie meet too late, at her funeral.
The name Eleanor Rigby itself came from somewhere mysterious. In the 1980s, after a headstone engraved with the name “Eleanor Rigby” was discovered in the churchyard of St Peter’s Parish Church in Woolton, in Liverpool, McCartney said he attributed the coincidence to a product of his subconscious. McCartney has denied that that is the source of the names, though he has agreed that they may have registered subconsciously. The name’s origin would remain deliberately ambiguous—fitting for a song about invisibility and being forgotten.
Breaking the Rules in 1966
What made “Eleanor Rigby” revolutionary wasn’t just the lyrics. It was a song about loneliness featuring a string octet as its only musical backing. No guitars. No drums. No bass. No Beatles playing anything at all. This was unprecedented for a major rock band in 1966. The Beatles had broken their previous policy by allowing album tracks to be issued on a UK single, and this pairing of a novelty song and a ballad devoid of any instrumentation played by a Beatle marked a considerable departure from the content of the band’s previous singles.
The decision meant only one thing could matter: the song itself. Not the performance. Not the band’s presence. Just the composition, the arrangement, and the human voice trying to articulate something true about loneliness. For a group at the absolute height of their commercial power, “Eleanor Rigby” represented a kind of artistic courage most bands never find.
“Eleanor Rigby” Recording and Production Details
George Martin’s Bernard Herrmann Inspiration
The first session for “Eleanor Rigby” took place on 28 April 1966, with the recording of the string octet backing. The session was a short one, beginning at 5pm and finishing at 7.50pm. A string octet had been booked, featuring four violins (played by Tony Gilbert, Sidney Sax, John Sharpe and Jurgen Hess), two violas (Stephen Shingles and John Underwood), and two cellos (Derek Simpson and Norman Jones). The performers were each given a standard Musicians’ Union fee of £9 for their work, and performed a score written by George Martin.
George Martin’s approach was crucial. George Martin said: “I was very much inspired by Bernard Herrmann, in particular a score he did for the Truffaut film Farenheit 451. That really impressed me, especially the strident string writing.” McCartney’s choice of a string backing may have been influenced by his interest in the composer Antonio Vivaldi. Two brief rehearsals took place, with and without vibrato, and the musicians opted to play without.
Geoff Emerick’s Revolutionary Miking Technique
The magic came from engineer Geoff Emerick. Emerick noted: “On ‘Eleanor Rigby’ we miked very, very close to the strings, almost touching them. No one had really done that before; the musicians were in horror.” Emerick was determined to capture the sound of bows striking strings with an immediacy previously unheard on any recording, classical or rock. Microphones were placed close to the instruments to produce a more vivid and raw sound.
Fourteen takes of the strings backing were recorded, the last of which was the best. On 29 April 1966, Paul McCartney added his lead vocals onto track four, and he, John Lennon and George Harrison sang harmonies for the chorus on track three. George Martin requested an additional vocal overdub from McCartney on 6 June 1966. McCartney provides the lead vocal, double-tracked, with Lennon and Harrison adding harmonies.
The result was aggressive and intimate simultaneously—the strings “bite” rather than soothe. This wasn’t orchestral sweetness. This was Hitchcock film scoring applied to pop music.
Notes About “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles
Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 28, 29 April, 6 June 1966
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Released: 5 August 1966 (UK), 8 August 1966 (US)
Duration: 2:10
Album: Revolver (track 1)
Single Release: Double A-side with “Yellow Submarine”
UK Chart Performance: #1 (entered charts 11 August 1966, hit number one seven days later; spent 13 weeks in charts)
US Chart Performance: #11
US Sales: Sold 1,200,000 copies in four weeks; earned Beatles their twenty-first US Gold Record award
Grammy Award: Won Grammy for Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Performance, Male in 1966
The Beatles “Eleanor Rigby” Era Band Details
Album Details
Album: Revolver
Release Date: 5 August 1966 (UK), 8 August 1966 (US)
Album Concept: The Beatles’ final recording project before their retirement as live performers; marked the group’s most overt use of studio technology to date
Context: Recorded after a three-month break at the start of 1966, during a period when London was feted as the era’s cultural capital
Personnel on “Eleanor Rigby”
Paul McCartney - Vocals
John Lennon - Harmony vocals
George Harrison - Harmony vocals
Violins: Tony Gilbert, Sidney Sax, John Sharpe, Jurgen Hess
Violas: Stephen Shingles, John Underwood
Cellos: Derek Simpson, Norman Jones
Arranger: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Production Notes
No Beatle played any instrument on the recording
The octet was recorded on 28 April 1966, in Studio 2 at Abbey Road Studios; it was completed in Studio 3 on 29 April and on 6 June
Revolver in North America was reduced to 11 songs by Capitol Records, with the omitted three appearing on the June 1966 LP Yesterday and Today
In the US, the single’s release coincided with the Beatles’ final tour and public furore over Lennon’s “More popular than Jesus” remarks
Capitol were wary of the religious references in “Eleanor Rigby”, given the ongoing controversy, and instead promoted “Yellow Submarine” as the lead side
Interesting Facts About “Eleanor Rigby”
The Song That Opened a Genre
Classical strings had been used in pop music only rarely before, as in 1958, by Buddy Holly, on his single “True Love Ways.” But the Beatles use of strings in “Eleanor Rigby” in 1966, opened a whole new era of studio application. It ushered in the common use of stringed instruments in pop music and helped bridge the then-wide rift between classical and pop music.
In a 1967 interview, Pete Townshend of The Who commented, “I think ‘Eleanor Rigby’ was a very important musical move forward. It certainly inspired me to write and listen to things in that vein.” The song proved you didn’t need electric guitars or a rock band to make important rock music. You needed a great composition and the courage to strip everything else away.
The Songwriting Controversy
In Lennon’s recollection, the final touches were applied to the lyrics in the recording studio, at which point McCartney sought input from Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans, the Beatles’ longstanding road managers. “Eleanor Rigby” serves as a rare example of Lennon subsequently claiming a more substantial role in the creation of a McCartney composition than is supported by others’ recollections. In the early 1970s, Lennon told music journalist Alan Smith that he wrote “about 70 per cent” of the lyrics, and in a letter to Melody Maker complaining about Beatles producer George Martin’s comments in a recent interview, he said that “Around 50 per cent of the lyrics were written by me at the stud[io].”
Paul would later clarify in private conversation with Hunter Davies that he wrote most of the lyrics himself, with only about “half a line” coming from John. It’s one of the few Beatles songs where the songwriting credit remains genuinely contested, reflecting the collaborative chaos of their creative process.
The Radio Controversy That Hurt US Charts
In the US, the single’s release coincided with the Beatles’ final tour and public furore over Lennon’s “More popular than Jesus” remarks. Public bonfires were held to burn their records and memorabilia, and many radio stations refused to play the Beatles’ music. Capitol were wary of the religious references in “Eleanor Rigby”, given the ongoing controversy, and instead promoted “Yellow Submarine” as the lead side.
In Gould’s description, it was “the first ‘designated’ Beatles single since 1963” not to top the Billboard Hot 100, a result attributed to Capitol’s caution in initially overlooking “Eleanor Rigby”. The song that would become their most celebrated composition was actively suppressed by their own label in America due to religious controversy.
Common Questions
Q: Did The Beatles actually play any instruments on “Eleanor Rigby”? A: No. The Beatles did not play any instruments on “Eleanor Rigby;” the octet is the only music. The Beatles, however, do not play any instruments on “Eleanor Rigby;” the octet is the only music. McCartney provides the lead vocal, double-tracked, with Lennon and Harrison adding harmonies.
Q: Who wrote “Eleanor Rigby”? A: It’s credited to Lennon-McCartney, but the basic song came from Paul McCartney. The lyrics were collaboratively finished with input from John Lennon, George Harrison, Pete Shotton, and others, but Paul wrote the core composition and lyrics.
Q: How many times was “Eleanor Rigby” recorded? A: Fourteen takes of the strings backing were recorded, the last of which was the best. George Martin requested an additional vocal overdub from McCartney on 6 June 1966, meaning vocals were added after the orchestral backing was complete.
Q: Why wasn’t “Eleanor Rigby” a bigger hit in America? A: Capitol Records were wary of the religious references in “Eleanor Rigby”, given the ongoing controversy over Lennon’s “More popular than Jesus” remarks, and instead promoted “Yellow Submarine” as the lead side. Radio stations that refused to play Beatles music due to the controversy also avoided “Eleanor Rigby.”
Q: How did this song influence music history? A: The Beatles use of strings in “Eleanor Rigby” in 1966, opened a whole new era of studio application. It ushered in the common use of stringed instruments in pop music and helped bridge the then-wide rift between classical and pop music. In some reference books on classical music, “Eleanor Rigby” is included and considered comparable to art songs (lieder).