The Beatles – Eleanor Rigby
1968 · Directed by George Dunning (sequence by Charlie Jenkins)
1.1M Likes
Best comments
1.“Song: lonely woman dies. Video: flying submarine.”
More comments
- 2.“This video has more personality than my ex.”
- 3.“'Dad, why is my sister named Eleanor?' 'Because your mother loves Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles.' 'Thank you, Dad.' 'No problem, You Never Give Me Your Money (Remastered 2009).'”
The story
Eleanor Rigby came out in August 1966, on Revolver and as a double A-side single with Yellow Submarine. Paul McCartney wrote most of it, and the backing is a double string quartet arranged by George Martin, a long way from four guys with guitars. It's a song about loneliness, about folks who live and die without anybody noticing, and it still went to number one in Australia, Canada, Belgium and New Zealand.
Two years later it got pictures. This is the Eleanor Rigby sequence from the 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine, directed by George Dunning with Heinz Edelmann's art direction. Most of that film is bright, poppy primary colors. Not here. Charlie Jenkins made this sequence himself, mostly in black and white with harsh strokes, following the song from Liverpool to London through a crumbling Britain of bulldogs in Union Jacks and grimy red phone boxes. He worked in his own photographs of real people from the production, and background painter Alison de Vere is one of the faces.
The Beatles' own channel credits the sequence with pushing the idea of a visual made to go with a song, and with inspiring Terry Gilliam's animations for Monty Python's Flying Circus. Watch it and you can practically hear the giant Python foot getting ready to drop.
