ELEANOR RIGBY AND MY GENERATION, CULTURAL CONTEXT

In the United kingdom, before the 60’s there was not a substantial difference
between generations.

Jon Savage, author of “England's Dreaming”, states that the term tennager was first
used during 1944 in America (2008) but it wasn’t until 1959 that Britain started to see
a rise in youth culture. (Lambert, 2003)

Teenagers from the 1960’s were the first generation to live what is called a
generational gap. It was reflected in the music they listened to, the consumption of
drugs, fashion, sexuality, leisure activities... (Watson). A whole different culture was
born. People who were not part of the change did not understand it and would
disapprove of youth's way of life.

This essay will evaluate how the songs Elenoar Rigby by the Bealtes and The Who’s
My generation relate to their cultural contexts. It will focus on the perceptions of
generational gaps in society and how these are viewed by the differing age groups
through the lyrics in the songs. In addition it will attempt to conclude with how the
meaning of the lyrics has aged and can be interpreted in 2021.

Eleanor was not the average pop song of the moment, both because of it’s lyrics and
arrangement (Ian McDonald, 1994). McDonlad suggests that the topic of death and
mortality would usually not be written about in a pop piece of music, he states that
‘Where acknowledged, it is either sanitised with heavenly choirs or treated as a black
joke’ (1994).

McDonland is a well respected expert on the Beatles music and so his points are
interesting considerations. although his ideas will always be interpretations of the
intentions of the lyricist in this case paul McCartney.
It could be suggested that McCartney is commenting on a demographic of people
who are no longer a part of the youth culture, in this instance focusing on the passing
and death of an elderly generation. Even though McCartney was in his twenties and
a part of the youth culture he is seen here to be focusing on an older generation
rather than attempting to speak to his generation.

McDonald also states that both Eleanor Rigby and Father Mc Kenzie (the old lonely
woman and the father whose sermons nobody will hear) could be thought of as
symbols of a decadent and forgotten generation, that is looked on with pity from
McCartney and his generation (1994). ‘Writing the words of a sermon that no one will
hear’ (Genius Media Group, 2021)
It could be suggested that McCartney is writing about a past that does not 
understand youth’s changing culture, sexual revolution, rock and roll and all what the
1960’s meant for the youth. In addition to this point, In an interview with GQ in 2018
Paul McCartney said that when he was a child he lived on a housing estate where he
met many old ladies who would tell him stories about World War II. He would usually
visit and go shopping for one of them, and that is where he took the figure of the
lonely old lady, Eleanor Rigby. (songfacts, 2021). Beatlesbooks.com also agrees with
this statement pointing to Mccartneys interactions with the elderly as his inspiration
for wanting to write about an older generation.

In comparison The song My Generation by the Who could be suggested to take a

very different approach to its connection to different generations and age groups in
society in Britain in the 1960’s than Eleanor Rigby does. Marwick suggests that there
was a cultural revolution in the 1960’s when the song was released (2005). In
addition Galliano also points to there being a rise in youth cultural awareness (2003).
My generation is an important example of a song that speaks to this generation in
contrast to the approaches of Elenor Rigby.
Lyricinterpretations.com states that My Generation is a song designed to appeal to
the same generation as the band was at the time of writing. In addition, they suggest
that the song focuses on how the elder is “trying to put the younger generation down
and criticize their lifestyle choices, ideas, activism, music tastes, etc. because they
were new and different and so the older generation got a bit scared and confused
and wondered where the heck they went wrong” (2021).

Although there are lots of interipations of the lyrical meaning of the song, these views
are widely held. In order to fully understand its meaning an exact explanation from
the lyrics would have to be analysed.

Townshend explained in an interview to have written this “for rebellious British youths
known as mods. It expressed their feeling that older people just don't get it” (2016)

LyricInterpretations.com point could be interpreted as to demonstrate that every line

of this song is strictly dedicated to giving a clear message. Suggesting that the
younger generation feels rejected and uncomprehended by the previous generation
and so they reject them.

Both writers still perform these songs even though they have both become the older
generations. Hunt suggests that nowadays they're songs can still be speaking to the
actual youth as the generational gap continues to exist, even though their position in
society has shifted due to their age (2021). It could be suggested that these historical
songs were meant for one time but the ever changing meaning of lyrics through
interpretation made them timeless to date. But this does not mean that the authors
understand today’s youth.
Bibliography

Beatlesebooks, 2021 Source available at:

http://www.beatlesebooks.com/eleanor-rigby

Galliano (2003) Source available at:

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hatlas/1960s/world.html

Genius Media Group, 2021. Can be found at:

https://genius.com/The-beatles-eleanor-rigby-lyrics

Hunt, Julia (2021) Source available at:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/roger-daltrey-pop-woke-generation-141459417.html?guc
counter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_s
ig=AQAAAKKLKHkug0GbLpdv5wJbkQWDfO245OB7EpIrjX_8NMulLFRfMrPG-ZhH
QR6pZb0IMrWROwYCtKbRRAVkN6GMRU6qKu6H-daogAdOEMYp2o84T9lYL7RF1
WiaQvqu8Hv4SnAwdPPEba1WTOI3bG1fEuckb9uFd-Agxsj5JmhEkEkH

Lambert, Stephen (2003) source available at:

https://www.fenews.co.uk/featured-article/17839-the-changing-face-of-youth-culture-i
n-the-uk

Lyricinterpretations (2021) Source available at:

https://www.lyricinterpretations.com/the-who/my-generation

Marwick, Arthur ( 2005) Source available at:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40109676?seq=1

Savage, Jon (2008) (Teenage: The Creation of Youth: 1875-1945)

Songfacts, (2021) Source available at:

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-beatles/eleanor-rigby

Townshend (2016) Source available at:

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-who/my-generation

Watson, Kimberley (no date) Source available at:

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-1960s-The-Decade-that-Shook-Britain/