GEORGE MARTIN: "PAUL CAME TO ME WITH ELEANOR RIGBY..."

In an interview recorded before his death in March (16) for new TV docu-series Soundbreaking,  George Martin recalled his inspiration for the song.

"He (Paul) came to me with Eleanor Rigby, which cried out for strings; not the smooth, legato stuff of Yesterday, but something very biting... (and) very edgy," he said.
"It suggested to me the stuff that Bernard Herrmann had been writing for Psycho..."

Martin's producer son Giles reveals the song was groundbreaking for the Beatles because it marked the first time the group didn't play any instruments on a song, revealing, "It was just a string octet."