This is obviously a song about lonely people. It seems that Eleanor Rigby was a lonely single person, she often went to Church, perhaps to ease the emptiness that she felt inside, maybe she even hoped to make friends there. Whilst in Church perhaps she saw the rice left over from other peoples' weddings, and often regretted that she had never had the chance to get married or have a family.
"Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door", suggests that like most lonely people, she hid her unhappiness whenever she left the house and tried to appear happy like everybody else. "Window" and "Jar" suggests that her outward attempts to hide her unhappiness didn't work very well and was easy to see through, as both windows and jars are glass.
"Died in the church" perhaps relates to the last place she visited before she passed away, perhaps she was even found dead inside the church, either from natural causes or maybe even suicide.
"Buried along with her name" seems to indicate that she was the last of her family, having no relatives, siblings or children of her own to continue the family bloodline, maybe she was the last remaining "Rigby" from her family circle and nobody left to carry the surname on.
In the UK it is a tradition that when people are buried for the closest relative(s) to throw a handful of dirt into the grave before it is filled in. Because Eleanor had no relatives or friends at her graveside, Father Mackenzie felt sorry for her, and decided to do it, hence "Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave"
"No one was saved" perhaps sums up how Father Mackenzie feels, nobody comes to his Church, all he does is bury people and he has had no opportunity to help anybody with their problems or feel like he has played a part in bettering somebody else's life. Perhaps Eleanor was so lonely that she committed suicide in the Church which would also be an alternative to "Died in the Church", and also why Father Mackenzie feels guilty at not being in the Church to talk to her and try to stop her from killing herself.
This is obviously a song about lonely people. It seems that Eleanor Rigby was a lonely single person, she often went to Church, perhaps to ease the emptiness that she felt inside, maybe she even hoped to make friends there. Whilst in Church perhaps she saw the rice left over from other peoples' weddings, and often regretted that she had never had the chance to get married or have a family.
"Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door", suggests that like most lonely people, she hid her unhappiness whenever she left the house and tried to appear happy like everybody else. "Window" and "Jar" suggests that her outward attempts to hide her unhappiness didn't work very well and was easy to see through, as both windows and jars are glass.
"Died in the church" perhaps relates to the last place she visited before she passed away, perhaps she was even found dead inside the church, either from natural causes or maybe even suicide.
"Buried along with her name" seems to indicate that she was the last of her family, having no relatives, siblings or children of her own to continue the family bloodline, maybe she was the last remaining "Rigby" from her family circle and nobody left to carry the surname on.
In the UK it is a tradition that when people are buried for the closest relative(s) to throw a handful of dirt into the grave before it is filled in. Because Eleanor had no relatives or friends at her graveside, Father Mackenzie felt sorry for her, and decided to do it, hence "Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave"
"No one was saved" perhaps sums up how Father Mackenzie feels, nobody comes to his Church, all he does is bury people and he has had no opportunity to help anybody with their problems or feel like he has played a part in bettering somebody else's life. Perhaps Eleanor was so lonely that she committed suicide in the Church which would also be an alternative to "Died in the Church", and also why Father Mackenzie feels guilty at not being in the Church to talk to her and try to stop her from killing herself.