The Beatles - A level Revolver Analysis Part 1: The Genius of Eleanor Rigby 

That's not what "boy band" means.

@@docsavage8640 And the term didn't exist back then. To be fair, you could describe them as the prototype of boy band, as they were the prototype for many other genres. Get a set of pretty young males to sing in harmony and have session musicians to play on the record. The Bee Gees did that par excellence and far more. But Beatles and Bee Gees were far more than the products of a svengali manager.

What a kind comment. Thank you! I hope you manage to keep that excitement.

Might as well think of them as Herman Melvill and the Bronte Sisters then.

Thanks so much for watching

You're very welcome!

#Lateral - Sir, would you do a PlayList on mmmm Jazz through the ages?

Would love to see more A level music studies

Glad it helped! There is lots more A level stuff in the pipelines so keep your eyes peeled.

@@themusicprofessor will do 👀

Except when Paul was.

You did well to discover Bach and the Beatles in the same year!

Yes, but her "songs" are barely listenable.

​​@@docsavage8640 Unless you're Dennis Nilsen.

Actually I think Beethoven was inspired by the Batman theme there

Only Ringo would be able to answer that question.

Drugs.

​@@themusicprofessor Drumming.

Fascinating comment. I would like to go back to the Beatles at some point. Interesting that you highlight "Paperback Writer' which was indeed a very significant song. Here's an interesting video about it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1agHG_6r5ss.htmlsi=6pjsKWZTzEPXdtx3

Yes, the Guildhall connection was strong with JA's mum and of course George Martin! I think this is really a question of 'sophisticated' listeners having a naturally condescending view of McCartney's apparently simple material. I would say though that ER is simple but also brilliant. The combination is not an easy one to achieve.

@@themusicprofessor Agree.

"Lyrics by John Lennon"? Where did you get that from? Your order of creative priority is seriously skewed. Try: music by Paul McCartney *with* George Martin, plus a contribution from George Harrison; lyrics by Paul McCartney with contributed ideas from Ringo Starr, Pete Shotton and John Lennon.

@@strathman7501 you are somewhat disoriented in this matter.

@@debessar95 I asked you where you got the idea "lyrics by John Lennon". You don't respond. I suspect the answer must be "John Lennon", who claimed to have written "a good lot" of the lyric. Nobody else involved and in a position to know has ever claimed that the lyric was "by John Lennon", in fact quite the opposite. Pete Shotton (Lennon's oldest mate, who was there) said that John’s contribution was “virtually nil”. Paul said, “Yeah, about half a line!”. Ringo contributed the idea for Father MacKenzie to be darning his socks. Pete Shotton suggested the denoument in the graveyard. Even John said that Paul already had the first verse complete (Eleanor, the rice, the face in a jar etc) and the chorus, but claimed to have contributed significantly to the other two verse lyrics. But knowing that Ringo and Shotton contributed the key ideas for each of those verses, and that it was George Harrison who suggested re-echoing Paul’s line “All the lonely people” as a refrain (“Ah, look at all the lonely people”), there isn’t a lot left for John, certainly not the “about 70%” or “60%” or “50%” that he claimed in various places. John’s story was that he went off with Paul into another room and they finished the song between them, such that “not a line of theirs [George’s, Ringo’s and Shotton’s] remains in it”; but this has to be interpreted as a verbal polishing of the last two verses using the ideas and images already in play. John’s account of being pissed off that Paul involved the others amounts really to a tacit admission that his role was small, and this annoyance (plus, possibly, a little envy, critically-acclaimed poetic lyrics being supposedly his turf) may explain his need - atypical, I would say - to take unjustified credit for this song. As for the music, all evidence indicates that tune and chordal backing were Paul's and that he was mainly responsible for the character of the arrangement. He and George Martin worked together on the score, which was based on Paul’s Vivaldi-inspired staccato piano: ‘I thought of the backing, but it was George Martin who finished it off,’ he said, adding ‘I just go bash, bash on the piano. He knows what I mean.’ Paul’s big concern in studio discussions had been that it might come out lush.Engineer Geoff Emerick recalls that Martin had to reassure Paul that it would work with an octet. Paul’s final word was, ‘Ok, but I want the strings to sound really biting.’ He then visited George Martin’s flat to rough out the score. :- John Lennon: “The violin backing was Paul’s idea. Jane Asher had turned him on to Vivaldi and it was very good. The violins were straight out of Vivaldi. I can’t take any credit for that, at all.” Paul McCartney: “I thought of the backing but it was George Martin who finished it off. I just go bash, bash on the piano. He knows what I mean.” George Martin: “Paul came round to my flat one day and he played the piano, and I played the piano, and I took a note of his music… When Paul told me he wanted the strings in ‘Eleanor Rigby’ to be doing a rhythm it was Herrmann’s [Psycho] score which was a particular influence." Paul McCartney: "When I took the song to George, I said that, for accompaniment, I wanted a series of E minor chord stabs. In fact, the whole song is really only two chords: C major and E minor. In George's version of things, he conflates my idea of the stabs and his own inspiration by Bernard Herrmann, who had written the music for the movie 'Psycho.' George wanted to bring some of that drama into the arrangement. And, of course, there's some kind of madcap connection between Eleanor Rigby, an elderly woman left high and dry, and the mummified mother in 'Psycho.'"

@@strathman7501 Your head is full of fragmentary information that you are unable to turn into a correct conclusion.

@@debessar95 Ha, another empty reply - as empty as your own head, I suspect. But don't worry, my post isn't for you. The information is there for others who have the wit to understand it.

Yes, I agree. For this video, I was focussing more on the creative impact of the other 3 Beatles because they all wrote songs for Revolver. But I do fully accept Ringo's essential (and creative) contribution to the band.