Book excerpt: Colin Campbell investigates the nature of the story that can be extracted from the intriguing words and powerful images contained in this famous Beatles’ song. Eleanor Rigby is one of the most well-loved of all Beatles’ songs, both because of its haunting melody, and also – memorably - for lyrics that have fascinated and intrigued Beatles’ fans all round the world since it was first released in 1966. This scholarly work assesses the plausibility of the many different stories that commentators and fans have spun from the enigmatic words and phrases of this lyric and, while dismissing the more fanciful, tries to arrive at a version that is both consistent and tenable. At the same time Professor Campbell explores both the reasons for the enduring appeal of this much-loved lyric and its significance for the Beatles’ development from jobbing song-writers to sophisticated artists.