Sir Paul McCartney reveals Eleanor Rigby lyric was inspired by his mum

Virgin Radio

6 Oct 2023, 10:49

Sir Paul McCartney says a weird lyrics in 'Eleanor Rigby' was inspired by his mother's love of a certain beauty product.

On his new podcast 'McCartney: A Life In Lyrics', Sir Paul dedicated the first episode to Eleanor Rigby and some of the strange words.

He says his mother loved Nivea face cream, and it inspired some of the lyrics: "Wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door."

McCartney also revealed the song was named after a grave he and John Lennon used to visit.

Poet Paul Muldoon is the co-host, and Sir Paul told him: “There is a grave which John and I wandered around endlessly talking about our future.

“And there is a grave there [with the name Eleanor Rigby]. I don’t remember ever having seen that gravestone but it’s been suggested to me that psychologically I would have seen it."

He then shared: “My mum’s favourite was Nivea and I love it to this day. It kind of scared me a little that women used quite so much cold cream, and it was my dread, when I got older and got married, that I would marry someone who would [wear a lot of cold cream] and put one of those big shower caps on and the curlers and have masses of things…

He continued: "So that played on my mind quite a bit, so she’s wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door."

He also shared a tragic film idea he had: “What I was seeing was like a film, just in my imagination. I’ve got two protagonists that are lonely, she and then him. You don’t feel so sorry for him, but he’s lonely. So ‘all the lonely people now’, becomes the chorus… She dies and he’s the one who buries her, and he’s wiping his hands as he walks from the grave, ‘no one was saved’ and that’s the wrap-up to the story."

The podcast came about after McCartney and Muldoon wrote a book called 'The Lyrics: 1965 to Present'.

A second set of 12 episodes will air in February next year.