Eleanor Rigby

When people discuss their favorite Beatles songs, it's generally an optimistic, upbeat song about something warm and fuzzy. I, however, have always had a fascination with the song "Eleanor Rigby." I have never really known why this was my favorite song by the iconic band, but now that I question it, a clarity comes with it. For everyone living under a rock, here's the song.

The song is simply so much different that anything they've ever done before. It was outright shocking to the people of its time. The song is on the Revolver album, which is considerably darker that the ones before it, thanks in large part to this song. It tells a tale of Eleanor Rigby, who is incredibly lonely and lives in a church community. Father MacKenzie is also one of the "lonely people." One would think that, in this song, the two may unite and end their solidarity, but something else quite morbid ties the two together. The Father is the one to bury Eleanor. The idea that she dies in a church sounds righteous or, at the very least, convenient, but is made more depressing by pointing out that she was "buried with her name, nobody came." She had no one in the world and her whole proof of existence was snuffed out just like that.
However, we are led to believe that she didn't have much of an existence to begin with. "She kept her face in a jar by the door" eludes to her being quite faceless. Simply put, no one cared.
The song doesn't tell the story in a sympathetic way, but rather matter-of-factly, stating the actions and storyline of this event.
It goes on to say that Father MacKenzie was "writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear... No one was saved." The Beatles elude to the death of the communal spirit in this community. Once again, it's so matter-of-fact that it's hard to question. These types of poetry are my favorite. It's the story left untold, the lonely people in this world and proof that they actually lived, however bleakly.