Post by erik on Oct 22, 2022 12:37:14 GMT -5
The Fab Four go semi-classical in the 1966 hit of theirs that's in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight.
ELEANOR RIGBY (The Beatles; Capitol; 1966)—After having had all of 1964 and pretty much all of 1965 to themselves in terms of both the U.S. and British singles charts, that quartet of lovable Moptops from Liverpool known as The Beatles went from being kids to adults in quite a hurry. Beginning with their late 1965 smash hit single “Yesterday”, and their across-the-board #1 album Rubber Soul, they were no longer content to just do “I Want To Hold Your Hand” or “She Loves You”. They had begun experimenting with orchestral instruments, like the string quartet featured on “Yesterday”; and on their 1966 album Revolver, which went to #1 on both sides of the pond, they took it a step further with Paul McCartney’s “Eleanor Rigby”. For this single, which was released simultaneously with the album in August 1966, producer George Martin had a group of eight string players from various London orchestras accompany the four on the song. This was something pretty much unprecedented for any rock band (only the Beach Boys and their album Pet Sounds could compete for elaborate production at that time). The group, however, initially faced a bit of a problem in the U.S. as some people were still hot under the collar about comments that John Lennon had made in a British pop music magazine where, out of context, he implied (perhaps more than a little rightly) that the Fab Four were “more popular than Jesus”; some radio stations, particularly in the South, refused to play their records, and there were actual Beatle record burnings as well. Despite this, “Eleanor Rigby”, as a B-side to “Yellow Submarine”, managed to reach #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late September, and was later covered by, among others, Ray Charles (in 1968) and Aretha Franklin (in 1969).
ELEANOR RIGBY (The Beatles; Capitol; 1966)—After having had all of 1964 and pretty much all of 1965 to themselves in terms of both the U.S. and British singles charts, that quartet of lovable Moptops from Liverpool known as The Beatles went from being kids to adults in quite a hurry. Beginning with their late 1965 smash hit single “Yesterday”, and their across-the-board #1 album Rubber Soul, they were no longer content to just do “I Want To Hold Your Hand” or “She Loves You”. They had begun experimenting with orchestral instruments, like the string quartet featured on “Yesterday”; and on their 1966 album Revolver, which went to #1 on both sides of the pond, they took it a step further with Paul McCartney’s “Eleanor Rigby”. For this single, which was released simultaneously with the album in August 1966, producer George Martin had a group of eight string players from various London orchestras accompany the four on the song. This was something pretty much unprecedented for any rock band (only the Beach Boys and their album Pet Sounds could compete for elaborate production at that time). The group, however, initially faced a bit of a problem in the U.S. as some people were still hot under the collar about comments that John Lennon had made in a British pop music magazine where, out of context, he implied (perhaps more than a little rightly) that the Fab Four were “more popular than Jesus”; some radio stations, particularly in the South, refused to play their records, and there were actual Beatle record burnings as well. Despite this, “Eleanor Rigby”, as a B-side to “Yellow Submarine”, managed to reach #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late September, and was later covered by, among others, Ray Charles (in 1968) and Aretha Franklin (in 1969).