The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby (Lyrics)

[queenmajesty]

Such a "touching song". Way too many people live this life. Doesn't take much to be a friend!

[gioiaferrante]

The song has always broken my heart and the meaning behind it, “Eleanor Rigby” was released by The Beatles in 1966 as part of their Revolver album roll-out. A unique offering for the famed group, the song features only a string arrangement and vocal from Paul McCartney across the verses. The full group joins in on the chorus for a few moments of classic Beatles harmony.

Paul McCartney recounted the song’s origin and meaning in a 2018 interview with GQ, saying “Over the years, I’ve met a couple of others, and maybe their loneliness made me empathize with them. But I thought it was a great character, so I started this song about the lonely old lady who picks up the rice in the church, who never really gets the dreams in her life. Then I added in the priest, the vicar, Father McKenzie. And so, there were just the two characters. It was like writing a short story, and it was basically on these old ladies that I had known as a kid.”

Behind the Lyrics

McCartney, who penned most of this song, got the name from the actress Eleanor Bron, who appeared in the 1965 Beatles film Help!. “Rigby” came to him while in Bristol, England when he spotted a store named Rigby and Evens Ltd. Wine and Spirit Shippers. He liked the way the two names ringed together because it sounded natural and matched the rhythm he wrote.

As the opening chorus makes perfectly clear, the song is a sort of character piece about “all the lonely people.” The song’s intricate string arrangement underscores the narrative Paul McCartney sings about across the track’s three verses. The two characters, Eleanor and Father McKenzie, are both isolated in their own lives before finally “meeting” after Eleanor’s death, with the priest burying her.


Eleanor Rigby Meaning

The first verse follows the titular Eleanor as she tidies up after a wedding send-off and peers through the window at her house.

Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice
In the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face
That she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for

When McCartney first introduces us to Eleanor she is living in a “dream” world of her own, picking up rice from a wedding that was thrown over the happy couple. With the opening lines, he quickly lets the listener know that the closest Eleanor comes to getting married herself is tidying up after everyone has left.

Eleanor Rigby, died in the church
And was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt
From his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

Later it’s revealed that Eleanor died, leaving no one to carry on her name. McCartney adds a bit of irony towards the end of the song by having the song’s two characters cross paths a little too late. If the two had met earlier they might have become friends with something in common, but it was too late. Eleanor died leaving Father McKenzie to “meet” her while officiating the funeral. He also implies that McKenzie’s sermon “saved” no one given that nobody attended.

Father McKenzie

The second character featured in the song’s lyrics is Father McKenzie. Without having much of a congregation, McKenzie is forced to write sermons that “no one will hear.” He later talks about darning his socks. Question is, if no one else will see if his socks are darned, why does he care? The second verse’s lines speak to the priest’s isolation and lack of companionship.


Heart breaking in my eyes, There are so many lonely people still in the world in 2022 going on 2023

[ouroascobras]

I girl i know sang this at a violin camp. She had the violins in the background and it was the most beautyful thing i’ve ever listened to.

[RuiCâmaraPina]

The best of the best !!! Summer of 1966 !!

[APPLEDITS]

so many feelings and emotions in just 2 minutes

[robertosebastiani]

I also was in 4th grade when it came out. Our English teacher has us always in a discussion about Beatles music's meaning and would break down lyrics . Most of my teachers at that time so into them.IIf we behaved in most classes while doing tests they would play Beatle music. It was the culture and I miss those days. There music was life changing and new, not the crap that's passing as music today.

[jenniferms]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Sir Paul McCartney!! The violin segments in this oh-so-bitter-sweet-song are fantastic!
Most sincerely,
J. Nichols 🖖

[alexiagiannopoulos]

Such a somber but beautiful song. I love how poetic Beatles songs are. Love it.

[barbarahyde]

At school we have a spring concert where students play their instruments and this is one of the songs

[ruthbaumann]

Ergreifender Text, so kraftvoll, ich liebe die Musik von den Beatles, ,

[LeonardoGPN]

In my personal interpretation, Eleanor Rigby and Father McKenzie shared a platonic relationship. In this perspective, love is not merely expressed through words or symbolic unions such as marriage. It finds its expression in the happiness derived from performing acts for the sake of the other, like cleaning rice for a wedding or writing a sermon for someone. It suggests that significant connections go beyond conventional romanticism and social conventions. The lonely individuals are not necessarily Eleanor Rigby or Father McKenzie, but rather those who have never experienced love and are unable to recognize it.

[anderwneale]

I love a song that tell's a story, great.

[erinoconnor]

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window
Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Father McKenzie
Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working
Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie
Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved
All the lonely people (ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people (ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all belong?

[Heavydrop]

This song also reminded me of " Eleanor " by the Turtles 🐢 1967 I love Both songs, Long live 60s music 👍🤩🍺🥃

[Bienvenue]

I listened to this song so long ago when I was a kid and now coming back to it, it just hits differently😭

[dansdotcom]

Now that I'm 70 years old the Beatles were the Muhammad Ali of Composer's, I lived this in real time. The Greatest Band ever, dare to compare.

[CensureAsylum]

Man as a child I did hear this song every day on the radio. as a small child growing up in Liverpool . I had no education My only introduction to music was the radio. I listened all day every day to the radio.

[MattPringle-ft]

A beautiful song. One of the best I've heard

[massimomarchesin]

Anche ELEANOR RIGBY è uno dei brani fondamentali per l'inizio del PROGRESSIVE ROCK di stampo classico Si evince dal fatto che ascoltando attentamente il brano si nota che la sezione orchestrale di archi porta alle strutture dei concerti grossi BACH, VIVALDI, HANDEL etc ed è abbastanza chiaro che di lì a poco anche il progrock di stampo classico sinfonico se ne servirà e NON poco

[albertrodriguez]

I believe this was one of the best if not the best song the Beatles ever did!