10 Greatest Covers Of Beatles Songs

Paul McCartney’s “Eleanor Rigby” was one of The Beatles’ most daringly different pieces to date. Arriving as the band fully moved away from the teenybopper pleasing R&B days - as well as touring - the song eschews the majority of the band in favour of a George Martin string arrangement and an oblique, spooky tale of loneliness and isolation.

Aretha Franklin heard this, liked it fine, but decided it was lacking a whole lot of fun and rhythm, and so totally stripped the track and re-did it her way. She takes the role of Eleanor, performing the song in the first person. It’s a lot less sorrowful, a lot more danceable.

The strings are replaced primarily by a terrific funk organ, the Lennon/Harrison high harmonies chucked in favour of an insistent soul backing. Best of all, unsurprisingly, is Aretha herself. She doesn’t sound massively familiar with the original, leaping all over the rhythm at will. She sounds great, as she always does, and injects the track with immense pep - not necessarily what the original was lacking, but it doesn’t hurt any.