Shirley Bassey - Eleanor Rigby (1995 Live) video free download

1995 (Appearance on Des O Connor Show)

Shirley recorded and released this song on her 1995 CD, 'Shirley Bassey Sings The Movies'

ABOUT the song:

"Eleanor Rigby" is a song by The Beatles, simultaneously released on the 1966 album Revolver and on a 45rpm single. The song was written by Paul McCartney, but credited to Lennon/McCartney. With a double string quartet arrangement by George Martin, and striking lyrics about loneliness, the song continued the transformation of the group from a mainly pop-oriented act to a more serious and experimental studio band.

As with many of McCartney's songs, the melody and first line of the song came to him as he was playing around on his piano. The name that came to him, though, was not Eleanor Rigby but Miss Daisy Hawkins. In 1966, McCartney recalled how he got the idea for his song:

A promotional poster for the single from the UK." I was sitting at the piano when I thought of it. The first few bars just came to me, and I got this name in my head... 'Daisy Hawkins picks up the rice in the church'. I don't know why. I couldn't think of much more so I put it away for a day. Then the name Father McCartney came to me, and all the lonely people. But I thought that people would think it was supposed to be about my Dad sitting knitting his socks. Dad's a happy lad. So I went through the telephone book and I got the name McKenzie.

McCartney said he came up with the name Eleanor from actress Eleanor Bron, who had starred with the Beatles in the film Help!. Rigby came from the name of a store in Bristol, Rigby & Evens Ltd, Wine & Spirit Shippers, that he noticed while seeing his then-girlfriend Jane Asher act in The Happiest Days Of Your Life. He recalled in 1984, "I just liked the name. I was looking for a name that sounded natural. Eleanor Rigby sounded natural."

LYRICS:

Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church

where a wedding has been

Lives in a dream

Waits in 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?

Oh, look at all the lonely people

Oh, 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

Where do they all come from?

All the lonely people

Where do they all come from?

Oh, look at all the lonely people

Oh, look at all the lonely people

All the lonely people

Where do they all come from?

All the lonely people

Where do they all belong?

ABOUT the CD, 'Sings The Movies':

In 1995 Shirley Bassey signed a deal with the PolyGram TV label, she recorded and released two albums with the label. The first was a themed album of movie songs. The songs were personally selected by Bassey for the album, and are a diverse range of ballads and pop classics, some were originally composed for original soundtracks, but several were classic songs that appeared in successful movies. The album sold well across Europe and entered the UK Albums Chart, for a run of nine weeks, on November 11th 1995 and peaked at number 24.