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.

***THIS STORY IS PRELUDE TO THE NOVEL TWO LIVES FOR ELEANOR RIGBY. THE NOVEL IS AVAILABLE NOW*** “I understand your feelings, but you know that living in the virtual world and ignoring the world around you is not healthy. You have difficulties dealing with your traumas. Living a virtual life is an escape from your problems. It won’t help you to get a grip on the real issues which are preventing you from living your life fully. You live in a dream, Eleanor Rigby.” Nurse MacKenzie “When Eva Mendez looked into my eyes, my life began. I remember that day clearly. The events took place in London, in the hologram matrix of the second reality I have entered voluntarily to live in…” Eleanor Rigby feels an irresistible attraction towards Eva Mendez, the first Green Party’s candidate for prime minister of Great Britain; but Eva is not a real person—she is a hologram in a computer simulation of a secondary reality that runs autonomously. Eleanor, on the other hand, is an organic person who has volunteered to live as an avatar in the computer simulation that is populated by other avatars, and holograms like Eva. Leading a lonely life in a halfway house, Eleanor escapes the primary reality via an electronic disc she attaches to her temple. When Eva returns Eleanor’s affection and offers her a job, Eleanor is tempted to stay in her new life that seems to provide everything real life doesn’t. As she prepares to leave the primary reality behind for good, nurse MacKenzie knocks on the door of her room…

Eleanor Rigby is the story of Liz, a self-described drab, overweight, crabby, and friendless middle-aged woman, and her unlikely reunion with the charming and strange son she gave up for adoption. His arrival changes everything, and sets in motion a rapid-fire plot with all the twists and turns we expect of Coupland. By turns funny and heartbreaking, Eleanor Rigby is a fast-paced read and a haunting exploration of the ways in which loneliness affects us all.

This novel is as a keepsake. It comes to us from times irreversable, when the Kyrgyz Republic was still solidly embedded in the USSR and few people dared to dream about an independent future. For most Kyrgyz, contacts with the West were limited to the one-way traffic of Beatles-cassettes brought about by Soviet soldiers serving in Eastern Europe. In those late seventies, early eighties, a period of stability in Soviet history, the events of this story take place. Four students experimenting with telepathy turn upside down their home village when one of them fixes in his dream a date with an english girl. In expectation of her arrival, the students agitate the whole population to tidy up their houses, the streets and in the meantime their morality. Kyrgyz tradition prescribes hospitality, but the isolated village lacks of many elementary conveniences. By depicting the struggle with the bureaucratic authorities which the students have to fight in order to improve the life circumstances, the writer shows the defects of the political system. The novel is a cultural critique, a profound complaint against the mentality of inertness fostered throughout decades of Soviet rule. Though the students are oriented to the West, they love their homeland and keep hoping for a better future. Now that reality has surpassed all dreams and Kyrgyzstan has become a democratic republic, people ardently try to get rid of the past. Contacts with the West flourish in the form of international organisations which aim to develop a civil society in Central Asia. As a journalist, the author is watching the changes in his country attentively. His novel was an invitation for the West to come, but the story doesnt end with it. We can expect a following-up, since these times of transformation are fascinating for all who are interested in the young republics of the former USSR. The editor, Kirsten Verpaalen (anthropologist)

Music directory with records for artists, titles, labels and year of release for 45 RPM records published between 1947 and 1982.

Contains updated information on new Beatles material associated with the Anthology, complete track listings from their albums, and appendices on the Beatles' songs, their release dates, and even a cross-reference of British and American versions of early albums.

This book takes a thematic approach to the history of rock and roll through 1980, listing "classic," "definitive," and "reference" songs for each theme. Also includes recommendations for building a rock library, rock and roll in the movies, and a general history of rock and roll.

The most complete, colorful, and authoritative package of its kind, American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3, Third Edition, examines popular music in the United States from its beginnings into the 21st century. Significantly revised and updated, the third edition features: expanded coverage of the Latin American stream of influence; updated discussions of online distribution models, technology, and new trends in popular music; exact timings in the listening guides; a new appendix illustrating basic musical concepts; and a free six-month subscription to the Encyclopedia of Popular Music online.