Who Was Eleanor Rigby: and 908 More Questions and Answers About The Beatles

by Brandon Toropov

For which album were the songs "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" originally intended? What was the original title of the album eventually released as Abbey Road ? Which instruments were played by the Fab Four during the recording of "She's Leaving Home"? These are just some of the almost 1,000 questions included in Who Was Eleanor Rigby... Organized year-by-year in chronological chapters, the book includes questions covering all facets of the band from Liverpool, and is a surefire hit with all their fans. More than 25 years after their break-up, the Beatles are once again the hottest act in music. The recent documentary on the band was one of the biggest television events of the year, and the two Anthology double-CDs soared to the top of the charts. . Incidentally, the answers to the questions above (1) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , (2) Everest and (3) none -- a group of string musicians handled all the playing. As for the book's title, Eleanor Rigby was a name on a tombstone found by Paul McCartney.

Genres: Music

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 1996

Reviews

[Stephen Novik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought this was a really excellent book until I got to the 'Paul is Dead' category and it insisted that the Sgt. Pepper clue is OPD when, in reality, the abbreviation is OPP and stands for Ontario Provincial Police, not Ontario Police Department. How hard could it have been to have done some very basic research??

[Ariel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll be totally honest when I say this wasn't that great of a book. Even for a trivia book, it was kind of boring. It doesn't help that the copy I read was made in 1996. I don't know if they've come out with an updated edition, but chances are they haven't. The book starts out kind of fun and nice, but gets dumber and crummier as you get closer to the end. It's pathetic that unless you're like a Beatleologist, you have no way of answering any of the questions in the last two chapters. Heck, I know I've read my fair share of Beatles related books over the past few years, and there were just some questions that made no sense whatsoever. I think the person who wrote this either wasn't that much of a Beatles fan to begin with, or wasn't very good with writing or something, because so many of the questions were just...So confusing!. I can understand why this book isn't very popular, I just bought it and already want to get rid of it. I think the only way I'd use this book again is if I was giving it to a five year old or some child who is a Beatles fan and doesn't care if they get every question wrong. It's already bad enough I asked some of the questions to a Beatles fan who was just a kid when the Beatles were actually around and SHE didn't know the answers!. Honestly, this book is just not worth your time.