Ever-Young Sir Paul & All the Lonely People

 

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby
Picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window
Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

I've been outside a lot in the past two days, cleaning up the mess in our yard after the violent storm which ripped through the east end of Belleville. I am grateful though because the downed twigs and branches were nothing compared to the massive trees which crashed down in the historic East Hill, only a few blocks from our home. A team has been dispatched to establish if it was a tornado which created such havoc. 

I'm done, I hope, so I have to comment on the auspicious birthday of Sir Paul McCartney. He is 80 years old today, which is 120 in rock/pop years Some of us are old enough to recall Beatlemania, and while I was still enough of a sprout that I didn't catch on in the early 60s I became a huge fan in the years shortly before they broke up, when their music matured and changed the genre of rock. 

Paul was often characterized as the cute, cheerful Beatle and the argument has been made that without the edge of John Lennon in their collaborative song-writing they wouldn't have been as successful. I was intrigued to read the comments of 30 musicians, some grizzled vets and others relatively young, about their favourite Paul McCartney song.

                                           Eleanor Rigby statue by Tommy Steele on Stanley Street, Liverpool. 

                                               The plaque reads: "Dedicated to All the Lonely People"

Several  of them chose Eleanor Rigby whose lyrics demonstrate an awareness of loneliness and a remarkable compassion for those who go about their daily lives without the comfort of meaningful relationships. Even Father McKenzie, who might provide spiritual solace to Eleanor lives in isolation. This song has been admired by poets such as Alan Ginsburg and a book was written about it. 

These lyrics are remarkable for a 24-year-old, it seems to me. And my brother, Eric, a life-long McCartney admirer, points out that there is no guitar nor drums in a pop song written in 1966. 

During the pandemic many lonely people became even lonelier, often declining in body, mind and spirit. I heard an insightful resident of a long-term care facility who observed that people around her were dying from isolation, not physical illness, and that may well be true.

Happy birthday Paul, and thank you for the reminder to honour our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, through a kind word and a willingness to see those who might otherwise be invisible. 

Father McKenzie

Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working
Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby
Died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie
Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

All the lonely people (ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people (ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all belong?

                                     Paul in concert last night, giving directions to the fountain of youth?