Comments on: Carl’s Rock Songbook #31: The Beatles, “Eleanor Rigby”

By: Local musician Deron Baker releases CD | Blue Meanie Me .com

Local musician Deron Baker releases CD | Blue Meanie Me .com — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:53:24 +0000

[...] Carl's Rock Songbook #31: The Beatles, “Eleanor Rigby” Revolver is a very good Beatles album, but I always program it to skip “Eleanor Rigby.” First of all, it is catchy in a bad way. It's not so unlike a little set-piece in an opera or a musical, but still, the impression its melancholy yet rushed melody … Read more on First Things (blog) [...]

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:42:20 +0000

Carl works hard to find things to object to. There are too many examples in this short piece to list, but here are a few.
*There are no digs at Christianity, or any religion, in this song. It’s simply about a small, dying parish, of which there was no shortage in 1966. Nobody attends and nobody is saved because the people who had once attended services at this church have died. This very shift caused many parishes to consolidate.
*It’s a preposterous stretch to say that the “ah” is actually an “I.” Even if this were true, it would undercut the author’s assertion of too much detachment, not support it.
*To claim that Paul’s song is obscene or a violation is just vapid. Some songwriters, such as John Lennon, are diarists. They write in the first person and let you know that the anguish they sing of is theirs. Paul McCartney is usually a dramatist. Like all dramatists, he observes and reports. His personal sadness informs the work, but it’s woven into the fabric of the lives of the characters involved. “Heart of Darkness” is no less a work of art than “De Profundis,” just because it’s a dramatic construction, as opposed to a journal of the author’s pain. In the same way, “Eleanor Rigby” is no less artistic than “Love Will Tear Us Apart” or “Not Dark Yet.”
*”And in truth, there never has been an Eleanor Rigby in the world, has there?” is just silly. Of course there have. One can claim to be unaware of them for the very reason the song describes. They die without anybody taking notice. The Eleanor Rigbys and Fr. Mackenzies of the world don’t even cause a ripple in the pond when they go. That’s why some might think they never existed in the first place. Mr. Scott should start taking his evening walks in any nearby cemetery. He’ll see how many graves are never decorated, tended or even visited, just like the grave of the real Eleanor Rigby in the yard of the Woolton Village Church, Liverpool.
*Of course the song doesn’t hint at their complexity. That’s the point. Nobody knows it. Nobody even knows they’re there. Even McKenzie and Rigby don’t know of one-another’s complexity. They’re there, side by side, each performing the duties that once may have given their lives meaning, and they may as well be on different planets.
A book could be written about Carl Scott’s struggle to make himself appear deep and substantial, as well as to hide his apparent envy of artists to whom people actually pay attention, but who’d read it?

By: Peter Lawler

Peter Lawler — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:04:46 +0000

Although joseph read a lot more into the song than Carl did, I’m afraid I have to side with Carl. Nobody is really like Eleanor. Still, a song about smug charity and real loneliness would be welcome.

Speaking of this stuff: Huckabee’s interview with Bono was really quite touching. My opinion of Bono shot up a little, that’s for sure.

By: The Ex-Deist

The Ex-Deist — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:34:39 +0000

I agree with Carl’s analysis of Eleanor Rigby 110%–particularly the spirited objection to it at the end. It’s a song for smug people.

By: joseph

joseph — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:00:43 +0000

I feel sorry for the author of this little blog b/c he simply doesn’t “get it.” Let me reduce my take to this: the Beatles were real and honorable. The church is false and deceitful. What if they had written a non-reduced song about all the evils commmitted in the name of God? Maybe it could have been entitled: “Raping little boys and blaming them.” How would that suit your quest for “appropriate loneliness?” You are a fool.

By: The Beatles » Blog Archive » Carl’s Rock Songbook #31: The Beatles, “Eleanor Rigby” – First Things (blog)

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:14:27 +0000

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