Franklin, Aretha - Eleanor Rigby Lyrics

i like this way more than i expected to

How must dare anyone dislike this... Well still go hard if you ask me in 2020 rest in peace Aretha ❤🔥💯💪😘

In honor of my best buddy in kindergarten, Phillip, who died just days after his 6th birthday, I have given to St. Jude for years.

this slaps

Beatles' original is good, but Franklin's straight in the face rendition provides a much healthier view of the otherwise ill-perceived concept of 'loneliness'.

??????
By simplifying the original minor chord sequence, using two tedious major chords and writing a massively inferior "blue note" (same old same old) melody??
Major chords and melody: Happy / strident / "healthy".
Minor chords and melody: Sad / wistful / "lonely".

Lyric aside, whatever this is, it isn't 'Eleanor Rigby'.

spectacular voice, but I prefer the Beatles with eleanor Rigby

I like this version because Aretha did it Aretha's way but man The Beatles version has such a haunting tone with the violins

Yes, this is what a cover should be. Who needs a note for note replica of an iconic classic? So yes its a great interpretation, but ultimately, if THIS was the original, it would NOT stand out among other R&B hits beyond its era in the same way The Beatles version has.

@Alan Sands I totally disagree. I think that this is exactly what a "cover" should *not* be. This track here has nothing in common with the Beatles original except the lyric. She should've written her own lyric and called it an original.
The original Beatle minor key melody and chord sequence is perfectly appropriate for the sad, wistful and mournful lyric. Franklin abandons the rich minor chord sequence by playing the two most tedious major chords possible and also abandons the beautiful minor melody for her own same old same old 'soul' note tune. A massively inferior tune.
Should music teachers inform their students that the best way to musically "interpret" a sad, wistful and mournful lyric is by using major keys and strident major noted melody?? As a Beatles cover this is a farcical catastrophe.

@blackmore4 "When Aretha sang any song, even a Beatle song, she claimed it as her own — and the Beatles knew it. Nothing could make them prouder than getting one of their songs stolen by the Queen."
She did her own version - better or worse - as she always did with covers because she could. She was Aretha Franklin, for crying out loud. The original is still great and gets all the recognition it deserves. No one gets hurt. Chill out.

@houstonwehaveabook I get hurt. Wilful destruction of beauty makes me very queasy indeed. I love plenty of Franklin records but dear god, I wish she'd steered clear of a fair few 'interpretations'.

@blackmore4 It's ok if you do, it's your right. I don't mean that in a rude way. I saw many of your comments here trying to convince people that this isn't a good version. I like the original, and I like this version as well. I'm perfectly fine enjoying both. A lot of other people do. You clearly don't, but no one has to consider this version bad just because you do. Music is taste, everyone has their own.

❤️♥️

I hate it so much. Paul is good Aretha is good. Not a crossover though

Paul sings Eleanor Rigby largely better than Aretha

is a pop is best the beetles

This is the BEST cover of this song.

But it isn't even the same tune. Think of it as an Aretha Franklin original using McCartney lyrics.

Eleonor Rigby, what kind of karma do you have? Everyone is asking what's wrong with you??

Wow! I like this excited version, compared with The Beatles.

First time hearing this. It's fun finding gems that everyone else has known about for years. Sometimes the music scene feels dull but then something unexpected comes along and wakes you up out of your lull.

Man, can she carry a tune!

3/12 2019 as of this date 58 Democrats have seen this video and disliked it

Im a dem but i liked it. _/( '_')\_

I can’t dig this. This song is meant to be sad and dreary. This just sounds like a song you sing a church. Nice voice but I don’t really like the cover. It’s to upbeat.

I love Aretha voice and some of her song.
I don't know who arranged this cover version, it's a very good version.

But i can't help the feel that it's a wrong arrangement or maybe the song just simply not suitable.

This song is about loneliness, tragedy, irony, presumably post-war life after WWII.
The arrangement of this cover just didn't reflect that, thus the song and the meaning lost, so is the appeal to me...

An excellent version of The Beatles cover version who i think even surpassed the original is Earth Wind and Fire - Got To Get You Into My Life, they really made it their own.

Listen to it more than a couple times...initially I had your reaction,it dissipated then congealed into a massive howl
.the kind I like

@James Moskal
IDK man...
I do listen to it couple of times... Still had that feel
Her voice is still gold, the arrangement is decent.

But at the end, it's feel like.... Eh, what song is this again?
A great arrangement of song should be able to offer it's unique to the original without losing the original meaning and flavor.
I hate many of jazz cover version exactly because of this, sometimes (or many times) jazz musician goes overboard with their liberate way of interpreting a song, and go overboard for show off a skill, rather than offer a unique interpretation.

IDK
Maybe because Aretha is a big name, and combined with good song, I hoped more from her, law of diminishing return?

Her cover version of Let It Be is excellent though, I do like that one.

@Dalfi Fran excellent, enjoyed your reply...now I'm swayed, to ur view.

Phenomenal, if this a'int soul then there is no soul.

What a great cover!!

i cannot believe i had never heard this before.

My grandfather said that you'll think that you've seen everything and then something like this comes and slaps you in the face

8 de 1 a 10

Well...as great as Aretha was, god bless her, this is not Eleanor Rigby...This is a new song, with Eleanor Rigby's lyrics thrown in....New melody, new harmonies,...

Its a cover

ELEANOR RIGBY : C'EST LE MIEUX D'ARETHA FRANKLIN

Wonderful voice

I would have never thought nothing of this song had she not sung. She gave it meaning and life as far as im concerned. RIP Queen Of Soul.......you were and still are one of kind.

RIP REE REE

Etta James,,,,smoked all females in singing

pointless cover version. As if she could top the Beatles' original

And She Did...Beat It...!!!

It's a sad song, not soul funkytime.

It can't be "sad" because it's "soul funkytime"? Imagine being so insular....I have to laugh!

Go ahead, girl

anjelheaven But it’s not sad is it. Imagine being so insular that you feel the need to be condescending to prove a point, rather than explain why this in any good or better than the original. Instead of fighting for your opinions, or even better, listening to others, you just shut them down. But hey, respect for other’s opinions is dead, hell I don’t even know if it was ever alive.

Celebrating the Life of our LEGends. .

Sounds great except when she sings the words "Eleanor Rigby." This song...is not that song. RIP regardless of course.

Shut the fuck up...damn

This isn't Eleanor Rigby. It's a fair to middling Aretha Franklin album track. Her melody has nothing to do with the Beatles original and it's massively inferior. Likewise her predictable and tedious 2 chord sequence. If I'd been McCartney, I'd have refused the release and suggested to her that she write her own lyric and call it her own.

I love her version of this song. It’s a totally different creation.

If only she'd written her own lyrics and called it an original. If I'd been McCartney, I'd have said no to this being released.

She ruined this song! I hope she dies!

Right up there among the best Beatles covers. RIP, Aretha.

RIP Queen Of Soul

I like it

The world is filled with lonely people all missing you, the queen of soul, may you rest in peace and love and prayers for your family. I am so grateful to have had you sing for my life too.

I don't know what to say. I am heartbroken. I feel a huge sadness. This woman and her voice shaped my life. She made me want to learn how to sing in the first place. As a teen ager I was in awe of how easily she reached the high notes with a power that is exceptionally. Her phrasing and sound colour seem to come right from the soul. I wonder if there will ever be a singer like her, ever. In the age of autotune, where people seem to flee from the human voice and feelings rather than wanting to meet and embrace them. I cannot express what I feel tonight. A little piece of me has died with you, wonderful woman and singer Aretha Franklin. I will love you and cherish your music for all times, and as long as I live. I hope the place where you are now is good to you, and good for you. Take good care, dear Aretha!

Love that song. Aretha spicing up Beatles songs, it's epic. Keep them coming, up in heaven.

Preach! Thank you

cvt berlin maybe one day Lester (me) will take a shot at the tune. Things are done bit by bit!
"PEWDIEPIE OUR INSPIRATION" that is the name of my latest
YouTube. Can you after listening (please go listen) determine what Beatles
song I used? Please go give it a listen (Thanks!) and let me know.
Thanks again!

stop hating on autotune

this is... not my jams.

Who cares bitch

O M G !!!

Rip🖤

Rest in peace angel

RIP Aretha

Wow... It's so different but just as enjoyable as the Beatles version. It reminds me of 'Proud Mary' sung by Tina Turner and CCR, or 'I've Heard It Through The Grapevine' by Gladys Knight, CCR, and Marvin Gaye. Different versions of the same song that can stand on its own!

RIP Queen of Soul

On top of her own songwriting, she even made Eleanor Rigby a song you can't help but want to dance to. Now that's talent. God bless ya, girl.

Your inability to read something properly suggests you are the messed one. Peace and Love.

Paul Fraser oh i m sory

I love Aretha voice and some of her song.
I don't know who arranged this cover version, it's a very good version.
But i can't help the feel that it's a wrong arrangement or maybe the song just simply not suitable.

This song is about loneliness, tragedy, irony, presumably post-war life after WWII.
The arrangement of this cover just didn't reflect that, thus the song and the meaning lost, so is it's appeal to me...

An excellent version of The Beatles cover version who i think even surpassed the original is Earth Wind and Fire - Got To Get You Into My Life, they really made it their own.

@Dalfi Fran I might agree with you as to the first two stanzas, but she really nailed the sadness of Eleanor dying alone without a single soul to mourn her passing. That stanza was better than the original

If anything, Eleanor was a unsung victim of WWI -- an elderly woman who never found love because over a million English men her age died or were horribly traumatized in the trenches fifty years before

@Dalfi Fran
_"I don't know who arranged this cover version"_
I don't know who arranged the instruments but Franklin wrote the melody, nothing to do with McCartney. She should've asked McCartney if she could use his lyrics and then claimed the composing credit. This isn't McCartney's vastly superior melody in any way.

_"I can't help feel that it's a wrong arrangement or maybe the song just simply not suitable."_
Correct on both points.She should've written a completely new lyric and called the song her own.

I don't think the Earth Wind & Fire version of 'Got to Get You Into My Life "surpassed" the Beatles' original but I do think it's a brilliant cover. They didn't forget that, no matter how stylistically different your interpretation is, to make a great cover, you don't abandon the melody completely.

Reprise exceptionnelle d'un tube des Beatles ; personnellement le "best" d' Aretha Franklin

Alguien más está aquí por Quantum Fracture? xd

Noo, pq?

RIP ARETHA. COMPLETE LEGEND. RESPECT FOREVER

God Bless Aretha. I heard Paul was devastated when he heard about Aretha dying. She did so many covers of Beatles Songs, Lady Madonna, Eleanor Rigby and of course Yesterday.

@laminage Also The Long and Winding Rd, which is quite good

R.S.P.C.E.T! Find out what it means to me!

Crespo?

best version of this ever.....

Definitely!

TimPriceJazz You obviously haven’t heard the original then...


Not to take away from this version though, it’s brilliant

I'm not talking about the original- I'm talking post-original.

But it's just a version of the same old same old blue notes she'd juggle on most of her covers. Her melody (and chord sequence) has absolutely nothing in common with the original. If I'd been McCartney, I'd have said no to the release and I'd have advised her to write her own lyrics and call it original.

Very Spiritual Vibrations coming from The Queen Always!!!!

Favorite if your lord and savior brian moon brought you here

I love this!

I hate it.

Squealing pig on this.

Yo Momma

Thanks Andy Hunter M

I love Aretha but this version got really bad ... it totally disassociated the song.

Shut up...!!!

Franklin Askew Great way to respond to valid criticism there mate

whats bad about dissociating a song anyway? especially the way aretha did this ;)

I believe i commented on this song b4 , this is 4 the 21 youtubers who don't like this song: R E A L L Y??? Oh yeah , Ree was kinda cute.

She is not the maker of elenor rigby

It might as well be her song, she certainly owns it!!! No one else can take such a Boring song and pep it up with the Life, soul and Spirit spin that The Queen has given this song!! I say that;s ROYALTY!!!!

A Jewel Ra Eleanor Rigby isn’t boring, it’s one of the greatest songs ever made. I don’t know where you got that from mate.

Horible

Fuck off

Aretha franklin have a lot of songs, but for some reason this one seem so special to me. 💛💚❤️💜💙

Carrie Nixon This isn’t her song, it’s a cover of The Beatles

what year is this

“this girl’s in love with you” 1970

The Queen not only does your song, she does it better :)

Not better then the original. This is hardly a complete cover.

this is like night and day compared to the Beatles version, lol!

It's brilliant.

I think it's a middling album track. Because, lyric aside, it's not 'Eleanor Rigby' at all. As on most of her covers, she abandons the original melody in favour of the same old same old blue notes. This melody has nothing in common with McCartney's massively superior one.

LOL nope

Franklin Askew calm down

Square peg. Round hole. This REALLY doesn't work.

It's been done before - upbeat songs with dark lyrics

tg72211 You don’t know soul.

umkc73 He doesn’t need to. I think Aretha could do a good Beatles cover, maybe of something like Revolution, but this is just not great.

It so blows away the Beatles version, which is itself most excellent.

Dixie Dale the Beatles version is 100x better

It's simply a great piece of work. Period.

Who is on drums on this?  God?

I believe this is the studio cut off of "this girls in love with you", so most likely Roger Hawkins and the Swampers. She does a take on "live at the Filmore" with Bernard Purdie that is hot!!
God bless Aretha

SeerTrulth me

SeerTrulth: I thought it was Benard "Pretty" Purdie on drums.

No, I can say with utmost certainty that Neil Peart is not doing these drums.

It's so weird hearing an upbeat version of what could only be called a dreary and hopeless examination of a forgotten life.

it doesn’t sound that contradictory to me really. while the beatles original sounds like a mourning, aretha’s cover rather feels like she in first person hurls an accusation at the society and the powers that be: “Look at me, if we live in a best society possible, if our system works so well, then where do all the lonely people come from, where do they all belong? why there’s such a deep alienation between brothers and sisters in this world?”. this is so 60’s way to talk problems right? the cover is from ‘this girl’s in love with you’, 1970 - the very peak of the hippie/human rights/peace movement, and counter-culture in general.

Well stated!

Maybe it's a realization which leads to a turning point... maybe

Jess Ragan - Love your podcast by the way! :D

Dreary, really?

My girl Ree Ree! Genius!!

Weirdly the part that ruins it for me is her making it a first person thing

Jeremy Pape weirdly, same. cos she's not Eleanor Rigby shes famous not lonely and forgotten

The part that I have trouble with is actually when she skips the line "No one was saved."

That's because of Aretha being raised by a reverend father.

In a way she was Elenor Rigby. Art is more complex than you think.

this is not a cover. the original is e minor c major. This is a major chords song. Nice but another armony and another melody. All that remains is the text.

It's still her version of a Beatles song written by Lennon & McCartney,
which makes it a cover version .... A difference in chord changes does not change that fact.

The best covers are the ones that change the sound of the song, in my opinion. I don't want to hear the exact same song from somebody else. I want to hear how the new artist interprets the song. Aretha Franklin definitely did that.

@Nash Burnette How many Beatles and Led Zeppelin Songs that are credited to to said bands despite being created by other artists. This right here is Aretha's song.

Superb vocals, wonderful cover. I still prefer the original, with the violin.

superb vocal but horrible cover

Hands down, the strangest cover I've ever heard. Give one of the Fab Four's most melancholic, sorrowful and contemplative songs to the Queen of Soul, and you get Respect part 2? Who would've thunk it?

@Jonathan Bullas It's amazing how this woman's creative genius and vocal prowess is able to completely reinvent songs like this!!

+drasticanthemz   Honey....that's......the black church thang happening you're hearing mixed in with that genius!!

Jonathan Bullas: not bad coming from someone with no musical ability worth mentioning

But lyrics aside, it's not a cover at all. It's a completely different and inferior tune.

Great SOULFUL rendition! 'Retha does it best!

Victoria Grace who is some of your old skool r n b singers besides franklin .?

ELEANOR RIGBY GOT INJECTED WITH 20,000 CC OF SOUL. THAT PHOTO AT 2:26 IS CLASSIC.

You must be a nurse

This tune isn't 'Eleanor Rigby' in any conceivable way. She just used the lyric. And I wish she hadn't.

what a voice! 

Thanks for posting this AltheaJamilia! If Aretha isn't THEE Greatest Soul Singer on the Planet then I don't know who is! I Love this Soulful version of a Great Beatles song! Sing it Queen of Soul! I have NEVER heard a bad version of ANY Aretha recording...Bad recording technics (mono vinyl's) sometimes (maybe) but NEVER bad Aretha! :-)

If you wanna know what soul is, a pure definition of the word "soul", you just have to hear Aretha's voice for 5 seconds. 

wow aretha took this song to a whole new level

oh, so funky... the Queen of Soul rocks this Beatles classic as only SHE can. - simply LOVE this version. ;)

gmanjam holy shit u wrote this 5 years ago

Apart from the lyric, this has nothing to do with the Beatles song whatsoever. It's her melody. Calling it 'Eleanor Rigby' is a bit insulting to McCartney. It would make for a fair to middling self composed Aretha 60s album track but the genius Beatle melody (and sequence) is completely absent.

This combo is fantastic!!! Hope you don't mind if I teach it to one of my classes!! They'll get a lot of technical practice out of it!! Great job ladies!!

Please, please, please don't teach this in a music class. The lyric is sad, wistful and mournful. The original Beatles' music reflected that perfectly with a predominantly minor sequence and minor key melody. Franklin abandons the more appropriately complex, rich, wistful and sad sequence of the original altogether. Likewise, she also abandons the more complex, rich, wistful and sad melody completely.

Will you teach your students that the best way to illustrate sadness or reflective mournfulness is by using major chords and major key melody?
Or will you tell them that the best way to cover sad, wistful, mournful songs is by simplifying the original minor chord sequence, using two tedious major chords and writing a massively inferior "blue note" (same old same old) melody? Please reconsider. Music education deserves better.

Give us BACK the sound!!!!!

that's some bullshit the only other copy is all jumpy!! sorry for our loss dear!! BOOOO WMG!!