The Beatles song Paul McCartney thought predicted his future: “This could be a way to go”
When The Beatles first formed, no one expected any rock band to stick around for more than a few years. Chuck Berry and Little Richard were still in the public eye, but there was no use in thinking they would become evergreen artists who would keep pumping out hits every time they picked up their instruments. Even Paul McCartney knew that it could all end tomorrow, so ‘Eleanor Rigby’ was him testing the waters for what he thought his next venture would be.
Because, really, every single one of the Fab Four had an agenda outside of just rock and roll.
Looking through their solo careers, George Harrison was interested in making music in an attempt to connect with a higher power, while John Lennon used his words to spout out whatever revolutionary thought popped into his mind, whether it had to do with politics or the world at large.
As for Macca, he just wanted to make music that would appeal to millions of people, which usually meant writing the typical love songs that everyone gravitated towards. Being an entertainer means more than just saying ‘I love you’ to a decent melody, and ‘Eleanor Rigby’ was a masterful work of storytelling.
Framing everything from the perspective of a lonely old woman picking up rice in a church, this is as far away from the typical Beatles song as possible. Featuring a grim storyline about death, a string section, and virtually no guitars to speak of, the track reads like a character study set to classical music, especially during the ending, where everything comes to an abrupt close when the strings bow out.
But, really, McCartney was looking forward to what life could look like for him if he decided to become a real composer. He had already dipped his toes into show tunes by singing ‘Til There Was You’ and ‘A Taste of Honey’, and since ‘Michelle’ had some jazzy textures to it, it wasn’t out of the question for him to create a song more fine-tuned than ‘She’s A Woman’.
Recalling his time writing the track, McCartney remembered thinking about what he could do if he had a more elegant arrangement behind him, saying, “This could be a way I could go. I had a clear vision of myself in a herringbone jacket with leather elbow patches and a pipe. I could become a serious writer, not so much a pop writer. Yes, it wouldn’t be bad, actually–at the terrible old age of 30.”
It would take McCartney a few more decades past 30 to reach it, but he was more than capable of arranging that style of music as well. His Liverpool Oratorio was a great first foray into working with classical musicians, and while Working Classical saw him recycling his old familiar tunes, hearing tracks like ‘She’s My Baby’ with an orchestral backing makes you appreciate his repertoire in a different light.
The Beatles may have started off not knowing one difference between different time signatures or keys, but McCartney knew he had hit a milestone with ‘Eleanor Rigby’. And along with the rest of Revolver, he and his mates were about to take a nosedive into musical history that no one would soon forget.
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