‘Eleanor Rigby’ is one of the most famous tracks from The Beatles’ seventh full-length record, Revolver. Released in 1966, the song was an instant chart-topper and remains well-loved to this day, but was the song title taken from the name of a real person?
One of countless hits attributed to the songwriting partnership between John Lennon and Paul McCartney, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ was inspired by an amalgamation of experiences McCartney has detailed. The initial inspiration came from his childhood when he used to complete chores for elderly ladies as a scout.
A young McCartney forged a relationship with one of the ladies he helped out and was inspired to write ‘Eleanor Rigby’ based on his experiences. “I wanted to write a song that would sum them up,” he explained during a conversation with The New Yorker, “‘Eleanor Rigby’ is based on an old lady that I got on with very well. I don’t even know how I first met ‘Eleanor Rigby’, but I would go around to her house, not just once or twice.”
The future Beatle would often do her shopping and join her in listening to the radio, but the name Eleanor Rigby wouldn’t come directly from her. In fact, when he first wrote the song, the working title was ‘Daisy Hawkins’, but it didn’t quite stick.
Though others have speculated that the name came from a graveyard in Woolton, McCartney suggested that this inspiration could have only been subliminal. In reality, he picked up the forename from the band’s Help! co-star Eleanor Bron, while the surname came from a shop sign McCartney stumbled upon while wandering around Bristol.
“My memory has me visiting Bristol, where Jane Asher was playing at the Old Vic,” he recalled, “I was wandering around, waiting for the play to finish, and saw a shop sign that read ‘Rigby’, and I thought, That’s it! It really was as happenstance as that.”
So, while ‘Eleanor Rigby’ was based on a real person, an old lady who lived alone, and McCartney felt compelled to keep company, the name itself spawned from a range of influences, names he had happened to stumble upon and take a liking to.
Who wrote Eleanor Rigby?
‘Eleanor Rigby’, like countless Beatles hits, was attributed to the partnership between Lennon and McCartney. McCartney created the song inspired by his childhood Scout endeavours and names he had picked up a liking for, penning a verse and melody before working on the song with Lennon and their other bandmates.
Lennon would later stake a claim to the song that seemed exaggerated, one of the few times the pairing had conflicting memories of who had written a track. Though it seems that McCartney was the main songwriter, reports are still unclear, and all band members contributed to the creation of the song.
Was Eleanor Rigby released as a single?
On August 5th, 1966, the same day that Revolver was released, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ was released as a double-A side single alongside ‘Yellow Submarine’. The song also featured alongside ‘Yellow Submarine’ in the 1968 film of the same name. Both songs would become Beatles classics, winning instant commercial success while also remaining well-loved almost six decades later.
Revisit ‘Eleanor Rigby’ by The Beatles below.
