Who was the person the Beatles sang about who died in the church and was buried, and nobody came?
A very sad song, and at the time it was rather out of keeping with the type of songs that we had come to expect from the fab four.
Well now, the song was real enough, but I have often wondered if there was a real Eleanor Rigby, or not.
Well, I was playing some gigs recently in Liverpool, and although my evenings were busy, the rest of the day was free and so I decided to use my spare time to do some research into this and to try and find out if there really was an Eleanor Rigby.
I looked up a few points of reference in the local library, donned my Sherlock Holmes hat, and set off for a suburb of Liverpool known as Woolton.
A visit to the local church will take you through the church graveyard, and there one of the tombstones or headstones caught my eye.
Yes, you guessed it, the tombstone had the inscription Eleanor Rigby.
Having located such an interesting gravestone I then began to ask myself if any of the Beatles lived anywhere nearby. And guess what? As a child John Lennon used to live in Menlove Avenue, which is very close to the church.
This made me think back to my childhood, and I remember as a young boy I and my friends would often play in our local churchyard, playing hide and seek and other games behind the headstones.
Therefore it is not unreasonable to assume that John Lennon also probably often went into this churchyard, and would have seen the headstone dedicated to Eleanor Rigby.
Now unfortunately I only had a couple of days in Liverpool so I was not able to dig any deeper into this, but I intend to return soon and continue my research.
But I plan to spend more time in the near future finding out all that I can about Eleanor Rigby, and the other people who share her tombstone.
If you are interested in this, and want to be kept updated on my findings then this is the best thing to do. Click on the link at the bottom of the page. This will take you to another page, and near the bottom you will find my email address. Just send me a little note asking to be kept updated, and I will do so whenever I have something new to share with you.
The Beatles Eleanor Rigby
This aroused my curiosity and I decided that I would try and find out a bit more about this person whose name was on the tombstone, and also about the other people mentioned on the same tombstone.
I did indeed find out some information and I wrote an article about my findings. If you would like to read a copy of this article then please go to my website mentioned at the bottom of this article, and there you will find my email address and you can simply email me and request a copy.
I did say in that letter that as and when I could find out some more information, I would be writing another article, and this is the reason for these writings.
Now in case you cannot remember who Eleanor Rigby was, let me give you a few verses of the song, by The Beatles, which made her famous.
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?
Do you remember that, a great song with a haunting melody.
Well now, soon after I had written my first article on what I had found out about Eleanor, I received an email telling me about a fascinating auction that was shortly about to happen in the UK.
What led up to the auction was this. A charity in the UK had written to Paul McCartney asking for a donation, nothing surprising in that you might think.
This charity did not hear back from Paul McCartney for 9 months, and then, right out of the blue, they received a letter which included a document.
The document was a Liverpool City Hospital salary register, showing the signature of an E. Rigby.
Eleanor Rigby apparently worked there as a scullery maid and the custom was to sign for your monthly salary.
Eleanor earned the princely sum of £14 per month back in 1911 when this salary register was signed.
This document gives us one of the clearest clues yet as to the identity of Eleanor Rigby, the woman in the song of the same name who dies alone with no one to mourn her.
Well I have more to say on this, and more research to carry out, so if you would like to be kept updated then please go to my website where you will find my email address. Simply send me a message asking to be kept updated.
Both John Savage & Jonathan Charles are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
John Savage has sinced written about articles on various topics from Family, Online Business and Marketing. Go to for more information.. John Savage's top article generates over 135000 views. to your Favourites.
Jonathan Charles has sinced written about articles on various topics from Entertainment Guide. John Charles is a guitarist who has met and spoken with all of The Beatles. to be kept updated.. Jonathan Charles's top article generates over 33100 views. to your Favourites.
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