Why Paul McCartney Initially Balked at Having Strings on The Beatles' 'Eleanor Rigby'

While many rank “Yesterday” among the greatest songs ever written, Paul McCartney didn’t want to release it as a Beatles single in 1965. Paul pointed to the arrangement, which featured a string quartet and no one from The Beatles other than him.

“We were a little embarrassed about it,” Paul later said in an interview from Beatles Anthology. “We were a rock ‘n’ roll band.” While The Who’s Pete Townshend might disagree with that take, Paul got his wish about “Yesterday” remaining a non-single (at least on the U.K. market).

The following year, Paul wrote another outstanding composition that ended up with a string accompaniment: “Eleanor Rigby.” But this time around producer George Martin suggested taking all the guitars out completely.

Source: cheatsheet.com