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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
"Eleanor Rigby" was never an acceptable song!!
"Eleanor Rigby" was never an acceptable song!!
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gene
329 posts
Jan 02, 2010
8:19 PM
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“Eleanor Rigby”, by The Beatles is a song that never should have been written, and absolutely should have never, ever been publicly released. It should never be heard or played again. It is a very insensitive, if not offensive song.
Briefly, the song, written by Englishmen, depicts the lives of two Catholics, one of which is an Irish priest. (Father McKenzie) as being lonely and worthless.
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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
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
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Poor Eleanor is a servant or volunteer for the church, and has nowhere else to go. Is this the stereotype of faithful Catholics the Beatles are trying to portray?
Father McKinzie writing a sermon nobody will hear. Mending his socks. So what? Why should he care if nobody sees them.
He burys Eleanor. “Nobody was saved.” In other words, her lowly Catholic, church working life was a total waste, according to The Beatles.
And to add more fuel to the flame,”McKinzie” happens to be an Irish name. Remember Father McKinzie? Englishmen wrote a degrading song about this Irishman. Tensions between Northern Ireland and England were high at the time and those tensions had been there for centuries. To illustrate, I’ll do some copy/pasting from here.
"In 1610, England enacted the Articles of Plantation, confiscated land from the native Irish then transferred ownership to people loyal to the Crown. These early loyalists from Scotland and England were "planted" on the rich land, while the native Irish were driven to the rocky hinterlands, or into servitude."
"In 1845, Ireland suffered the Great Famine, caused by crop failures over successive years. Faced with starvation and abject poverty about 1.5 million Irish fled to other lands, namely America, while another million starved to death in Ireland, or died on the "coffin ships" headed to America. During the famine years England continued to import meat from Ireland, while the Irish starved. Many Irish have never forgiven England for failing to intervene and argue that the English policy amounted to genocide against the Irish race. By 1900, Irish Catholics owned only about 7% of their homeland and were doomed to their destiny as an underclass."
"In 1916, an uprising occurred in Dublin on Easter Monday, marking the beginning of the end for English rule in Ireland. It also marked the beginnings of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The rebels were apprehended, but had little public support until the British began assassinating them by firing squads."
"In the late 1960’s, a civil rights movement took shape in Northern Ireland, patterned after that in the United States. Key issues were demands to repeal the Special Powers Act (SPA), to disband the sectarian B-Specials, fair housing, fair employment, fair education, fair treatment before the law and voting reforms. In response, the government banned civil rights marches under the SPA, but the marches continued, provoking violent confrontations in London/Derry in January 1969."
"On Bloody Sunday in July 1972, the IRA exploded twenty-two bombs in Belfast, killing nine and causing extensive damage to the city center. By the end of 1972, the death toll was 474, with most attributed to the IRA. As a result of internal disputes, the IRA split and the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) emerged as the dominant Republican force."
This song, “Eleanor Rigby” is meant only to taunt the Irish, the Catholics and Particularly the Irish Catholics. The song should be banned!
Last Edited by on Jan 02, 2010 8:40 PM
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gene
330 posts
Jan 02, 2010
8:20 PM
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OK, in case y’all ain’t figgered it out yet, the above post was tongue-in-cheek. What I am really trying to say is this:
Do we want to overanalyze a song and all the historical content surrounding it, or do we just want to play the dang song and enjoy it?
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nacoran
656 posts
Jan 02, 2010
8:48 PM
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Gene- Some people actually enjoy analyzing a song, or even over analyzing a song. Sometimes you can learn what you do and don't like and why.
So here goes... Elanor Rigby, I think... Ah, never mind.
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Sirsucksalot
134 posts
Jan 02, 2010
9:54 PM
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I Like The Beatles.
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Luke Juke
53 posts
Jan 03, 2010
2:10 AM
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'Sitting on a corn flake waiting for the van to come, . . . . I am the eggman . . . Coo coo kachu'
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djm3801
289 posts
Jan 03, 2010
5:58 AM
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Well, Imagine is then another one. Subliminal communism or just a song? I think it is just a song but not a particularly good one. It seems to be quite famous given its mediocrity.
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hvyj
69 posts
Jan 03, 2010
6:03 AM
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I like the version by Sugarcane Harris. Didn't care much for the original, though. Sugarcane played electric violin. Sometimes I try to copy some of his licks and solos on harmonica.
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rbeetsme
99 posts
Jan 03, 2010
11:16 AM
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Gosh, I can never listen to "Love Stinks" again. My world is shattered.
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Honkin On Bobo
97 posts
Jan 03, 2010
11:21 AM
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Great stuff gene. But one point of unsolicited advice, after making the post don't follow it up with "uh, that was tongue-in-cheek". If someone didn't get your point....well isn't that part of the joke? When humorists write great satire they don't say at the end, "by the way that was satirical".
Pouncing on the people who didn't get your point is half the fun. And for the record, I agree with everything you were trying to illustrate, and think you did it cleverly, Adam's point nothwithstanding.
Just my $.02.
Last Edited by on Jan 03, 2010 11:28 AM
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djm3801
294 posts
Jan 03, 2010
1:46 PM
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Yup. Thanks for correction. Lennon was not the Beatles. I like most of George Harrison stuff myself.
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gene
335 posts
Jan 03, 2010
3:54 PM
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"Now, if the Beatles had written a song about Father O'Kenzie, you might have a pint."
Adam,
OK, so McKinzie is Scottish and not Irish, but having made such a mistake does not undermine the point I was making. The point wasn't really about that particular song, but about analyzing songs in general in such a mannor. (The fact that you have a typo in your sentence in no way undermines the point you were making.)
EDIT:
Oh, no! I hope you didn't mean that I might have a point about "Eleanor Rigby" being unacceptable!!
Honkin,
Thanks, but my main intention was to make the point. I wasn't very concerned with the humor.
"Do we want to overanalyze a song and all the historical content surrounding it, or do we just want to play the dang song and enjoy it?"
EDIT:
But now that I think of it, it might have been fun/interesting to watch the reaction to the original post...even if I would have been accused of back-peddaling later on.
Last Edited by on Jan 03, 2010 4:08 PM
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LittleJoeSamson
179 posts
Jan 03, 2010
6:27 PM
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Cheese...check out the songs "Sebrina, Paste and Plato" by Jellyfish, or "Sister Contine" by Rusted Root.
What's the point? Just play the darn music!
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