The strange connection between The Beatles and ‘Thong Song’
Rock pioneers The Beatles impacted popular culture so greatly that their influence has manifested in many ways. From the music to business decisions, the band pushed the boundaries of tradition in almost all formats, and given the quality of their output, by the time they split up in 1970, they long since had cemented their place as the most important outfit of all time. Demonstrating just how broad the Liverpudlian’s reach was, the Fab Four even had a defining role in one of the most iconic R&B singles of the 2000s: Sisqó’s ‘Thong Song’.
This connection comes by way of The Beatles’ classic track ‘Eleanor Rigby’, the 1966 single that arrived as part of the double A-side with ‘Yellow Submarine’. Famously, Paul McCartney was the primary songwriter of the song and came up with the melody as he experimented on the piano. The Beatles’ peer, Donovan, once claimed that he heard McCartney play an early arrangement of the track wherein the eponymous character was named ‘Ola Na Tungee’, with this version of the composition reflected the influence that Indian music and drug taking had on McCartney and the band had at the time. However, McCartney eventually changed it to a more reflective, less spiritual song.
Not only was ‘Eleanor Rigby’ a major success, but it also continued the Fab Four’s ongoing metamorphosis wherein they were shedding their skin as the pop act that captured kicked off Beatlemania with songs like ‘Love Me Do’ and moving into the experimental realm that would culminate with the following year’s psychedelic masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper’s.
Whilst many aspects make ‘Eleanor Rigby’ such a monumental number, much of its cultural standing is attributed to the emotive double-string arrangement configured by producer George Martin.
This was something that Sisqó and Grammy Award-winning songwriting and production duo Tim and Bob were fully aware of when penning the former’s 2000 hit ‘Thong Song’. Whilst the track is noted for the interpolation of Desmond Child and Draco Rosa’s ‘Livin’ la Vida Loca’, the obbligato strings of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ heard throughout the song stand out.
Performed by celebrated violinist Bruce Dukov on ‘Thong Song’, it was Tim who initially decided to sample the melody from ‘Eleanor Rigby’ as its basis before adding the beat on top. However, it was not The Beatles’ version that kicked the producer’s mind into gear; it was the 1967 rendition by influential jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, found on his album A Day in the Life, which also featured a cover of the titular Beatles song. Interestingly, it was Montgomery’s cover of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ that Tim sampled when constructing the 2000 track.
Listen to ‘Thong Song’ below.
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