The Beatles Song That “Absolutely Floored” David Crosby

There is much to be admired about the Beatles. Their unique sonic direction, ability to take risks and innovate, and signature humor are a few examples. But for David Crosby, there was one Beatles song that was particularly inspiring for him: “Eleanor Rigby.” Find out why the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young member thought that song stood out from the pack, below.

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The Beatles Song That “Absolutely Floored” David Crosby

Many Beatles fans count “Eleanor Rigby” as one of the best Beatles songs. Crosby certainly did. The Paul McCartney-penned song sees him shine a light on those society has forgotten: the lonely. According to Crosby, it’s the choice of narrative that makes this song great.

“Nobody else wrote about those people,” Crosby once said. “Nobody else had the heart to write about the lonely, old, frozen-in-place people that are the main part of the population. Nobody writes about them.

We write about glorious, brave, bigger-than-life,” Crosby continued. “We write about people who are in terrible pain. We write about very dramatic things. But we don’t write about small, cold, old, painful, lonely stuff like that, man. It was a very brave piece of writing. It’s a kind song, it’s a song of compassion in a quiet and very beautiful way…it absolutely freaking floored me.”

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

“The song itself was consciously written to evoke the subject of loneliness, with the hope that we could get listeners to empathize,” McCartney once said of this song’s origins. “Those opening lines—Eleanor Rigby / Picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been / Lives in a dream. It’s a little strange to be picking up rice after a wedding. Does that mean she was a cleaner, someone not invited to the wedding, and only viewing the celebrations from afar? 

I wanted to make it more poignant than her just cleaning up afterward, so it became more about someone who was lonely,” he continued. “Someone not likely to have her own wedding, but only the dream of one.”

Revisit the Beatles song that “absolutely floored” Crosby, below.

(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)