{"id":429180,"date":"2025-09-16T15:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T15:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/429180\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T15:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T15:19:11","slug":"the-forgotten-song-that-outsold-eleanor-rigby-in-1966","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/429180\/","title":{"rendered":"The forgotten song that outsold ‘Eleanor Rigby’ in 1966"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"George<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n

Tue 16 September 2025 15:00, UK <\/p>\n

In one summer week, in 1996, the English world was about to change forever. <\/p>\n

A set of floppy-haired youngsters, in their mid-20s, were about to deliver what the entire country was waiting for. Two moments of pure precision, skill and most important, success. Yes, within just one week, England won their first and only World Cup, and The Beatles<\/a> released fucking Revolver.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maybe you think I\u2019m stretching with my world-changing comment, for by 1966, The Beatles had already altered history and wouldn\u2019t be credited with doing the same until Sgt Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band a year later. Maybe it\u2019s even more of a stretch putting it in the sentence as England\u2019s World Cup win. But it\u2019s truly my favourite Beatles album, and I am trying to imagine what my current life might feel like, were these two events to happen to me, in the same week. <\/p>\n

Why do I hold the record in such high regard? Well, not only is it the record that truly represents the band\u2019s full transition into the experimental, with the monkey of touring off their back and the creative reins firmly in their grasp, but to me, it\u2019s their most succinct collection of good songs. \u2018Here There And Everywhere\u2019<\/a> is as vintage McCartney as it gets, while \u2018Tomorrow Never Knows\u2019 is John Lennon at his groundbreaking and esoteric best.<\/p>\n

I guess that goes to show, it was a perfect combination of innovation and hits. And one of which was undoubtedly Eleanor Rigby. Considered strings foreshadowed the grand soundscapes<\/a> of what was to come, while maintaining that innocent and inquisitive sense of melody, the sense that laced the entirety of their early work.<\/p>\n

\"Ringo<\/a>Ringo Starr, John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney in 1966. (Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n

In many ways, it acted as the perfect soundtrack to the creative bridge they were crossing, oozing sonic experimentation while holding onto that lyrical youthfulness. Because after all, it was inspired by<\/a> a simple childhood memory from the mines of McCartney\u2019s mind. <\/p>\n

He harked back to his days as a Boy Scout, where he volunteered to help a group of elderly ladies that made a lasting impact on him. \u201cI wanted to write a song that would sum them up,\u201d he explained during a conversation with The New Yorker. \u201c\u2018Eleanor Rigby\u2019 is based on an old lady whom I got on with very well. I don\u2019t even know how I first met \u2018Eleanor Rigby\u2019, but I would go around to her house, not just once or twice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy memory has me visiting Bristol, where Jane Asher was playing at the Old Vic,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI was wandering around, waiting for the play to finish, and saw a shop sign that read \u2018Rigby\u2019, and I thought, That\u2019s it! It really was as happenstance as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what song outsold \u2018Eleanor Rigby\u2019 in 1966?<\/p>\n

Well, despite the fact that it had absolutely everything going for it on that front, it was outsold by a more obscure song. Never mind its catchy melody and easy-to-sing-along lyrics, also in the age of pure Beatlemania, it didn\u2019t have the gusto to top this one track.<\/p>\n

The New Vaudeville Band released their song \u2018Winchester Cathedral\u2019, an ode to the music hall genre, but with an extra sense of novelty from its horn section in antique costumes and the lead vocalist using a megaphone. <\/p>\n

Sure, it was novelty and fun, but not exactly an outright earworm, which was what made it so shocking in that it outsold \u2018Eleanor Rigby\u2019. But then it compounded, as they beat the Fab Four to the Grammy for \u2018Best Contemporary (Rock & Roll) Recording\u2019 in 1967. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n

The Far Out Beatles Newsletter<\/p>\n

All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy) Tue 16 September 2025 15:00, UK In one summer week, in 1996, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[77,269,4162,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-429180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-the-beatles","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115214652020641235","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}