10 Beatles Tracks That Were Ahead Of Their Time
6. Paul McCartney: Eleanor Rigby (1966)
The variety of styles and sounds found in the Beatles back catalogue borders on the unbelievable. Barely a year before the release of the psychedelic trip into Strawberry Fields, they released Elenor Rigby. The mournful saunter through the lives of the lonely, couldn't have sonically been further from Taxman or Yellow Submarine, which appear on the same record.
It's a strange mixture of baroque and pop; elements of classical music fused with more traditional ballad techniques. But there was nothing typical about it. The bleak message was a far cry from the kind of things breaking number one. Love, both lost and gained, was always a popular go to; political commentary was also making a rise in pop music, but usually, the themes explored were all about having a good time.
There was nothing romantic or glamorous about the song's characters. The lyrics didn't attempt to recontextualise the life of societies unnoticed individuals with a stoic nobility - it was just stark, honest song writing, amounting to a haunting funeral dirge. The masterfully evocative lyrics and the unconventional song structure was unlike anything else.