Ray Charles Pondered The Loneliness of Eleanor Rigby
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A man who had 12 children by 9 women was not often lonely. But he could sing about loneliness. Georgia native Ray Charles could take on any subject and make it convincing. Such is the case with his 1968 version of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby.” Eleanor Rigby was a lonely woman. She lived alone and died alone. Father McKenzie, who spoke at her graveside, was also lonely. The loneliness seemed to bother him less than it did Eleanor, but the song doesn’t explain why. The world’s indifference to people like them is common; that’s not analyzed either. What’s told is a story of two people afflicted with different degrees of sadness. The Beatles and Ray Charles deliver the same story but not in the same manner. Reviewing the differences in the two renditions is almost as interesting as the story of the song’s characters.
Ray Charles Pondered The Loneliness of Eleanor Rigby
Ray Charles Pondered The Loneliness of…
Ray Charles Pondered The Loneliness of Eleanor Rigby
A man who had 12 children by 9 women was not often lonely. But he could sing about loneliness. Georgia native Ray Charles could take on any subject and make it convincing. Such is the case with his 1968 version of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby.” Eleanor Rigby was a lonely woman. She lived alone and died alone. Father McKenzie, who spoke at her graveside, was also lonely. The loneliness seemed to bother him less than it did Eleanor, but the song doesn’t explain why. The world’s indifference to people like them is common; that’s not analyzed either. What’s told is a story of two people afflicted with different degrees of sadness. The Beatles and Ray Charles deliver the same story but not in the same manner. Reviewing the differences in the two renditions is almost as interesting as the story of the song’s characters.