All The Lonely People – Eleanor Rigby

 
 

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?

 

 

Some Beatles from 1966 today.  I recently posted about a book called All The Lonely People which reminded me of this great but sad song.

 

The consensus now appears to be that Eleanor Rigby was just made up and wasn't based on a real person – but there are theories that her grave is in a churchyard that Lennon and McCartney had visited as young people.  Who knows?

 

But as an anthem for those people with no one and nothing, it is very moving.