In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window
Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Father McKenzie
Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working
Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie
Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved
All the lonely people (ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people (ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all belong?
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window
Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Father McKenzie
Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working
Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie
Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved
All the lonely people (ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people (ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all belong?
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
I think that this song can be interpreted many ways, but I'll just comment on, what I consider to be, the two most obvious interpretations. The first is based on the more superficial and tangible. The song begins and ends talking about lonely people, and asks the question, “where do they all belong”? The answer is obvious, with each other. If they were with each other they wouldn't be lonely. We all live in our own worlds. That's why Eleanor has a (public) face that she keeps in a jar by the door. We don't let others know the Real us. Why won't anyone hear the priest's sermon? It doesn't say nobody will be there, it says, “a sermon no one will hear”. The congregation will be there, they just won't hear, or understand the sermon. We tend to talk “at” each other, especially when given titles denoting authority or alleging expertise. We all live in our own world, by ourselves and that is why we are lonely.
Interpretation #2. There is no God. Lonely = alone with no invisible friends. Notice how the whole song revolves around religion. Eleanor (old church lady) is waiting for someone, “waits at the window” — this God that she has focused her whole life on. But why are we so lonely? If we truly believe in all the stories of our wonderful invisible friend who loves and cares for us so much, and is always with us, then why are we so lonely? (because it is a lie and that is what the rest of the song is about) Pay close attention to the words No One and NoBody and how they are used. The reason “no one will hear” the sermon (and not nobody, denoting physical people with bodies) is because there is no God, no spirit or ghost listening. “Eleanor Rigby died in the church” also speaks to the way the church holds us back from our potential (guilt, original sin, comparing yourself to a perfect being, constantly worshiping authority figure) and kills our individuality (“buried along with her name”). No people seemed to show up to this lonely person's funeral, except for Father McKenzie. It specifically states that no one (not a body but an entity, a ghost or spirit) was saved. If you surrender yourself to your religion's tenets, shouldn't you receive salvation? And yet, for this religious person, “No One was saved”. Well, there's a whole lifetime thrown down the toilet, which is the point of the song.
Forgot to mention "where do they all come from"? All people come from parents, who presumably love them, so why would we have so many lonely adults? By asking this question, the song makes us think about what is done in childhood to create such screwed up adults. One of the things that really messes people up is religion. Telling children there is something wrong with them (original sin) and making them compare themselves to someone that was perfect, where they will always come up short. Religion also divides us into groups, making us lonlier. Look at how many families are screwed up because an abusive parent thinks they have the right to be abusive because some "holy book" says something that they can interpret into " The holy book gives me the right to abuse others".