Across Abbey Road · Scene 10 of 21 · Album 7 of 13

10 1:30–1:37 Era 7Revolver 1966

“Because time stands still for the Walrus and the Fool on the Hill”

Summer 1966, the sun straight ahead, and an old woman sweeping a church step.

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The Scene

Scene 10 · Revolver · 7 seconds · four shotsThe chorus arrives, and so does the summer of 1966. Mike steps into a midday sun that is almost straight down the lens, in bottle-green velvet and a black-and-white swirl-print shirt. His face, backlit, singing. On the church steps beside the crossing an old woman in black sweeps up after a wedding, alone. And his face again, in velvet and a spotted scarf, singing.

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The Story

Revolver came out on 5 August 1966, the week after England won the World Cup, and it is the record where the studio up the road became the instrument: tape run backwards, a string octet with no band at all on “Eleanor Rigby”. Its cover is pen and ink, black against white with almost nothing in between, which is why this scene is shot into the sun: everything in it is either dazzle or silhouette.

Shot by Shot

  1. 1 · Velvet in the midday sun · 1:30–1:32He comes out from behind a plane tree in bottle-green velvet and a swirl-print shirt, the sun blazing behind him.
  2. 2 · His face, backlit · 1:32–1:34Close, singing, a rim of white light on his hair.
  3. 3 · Eleanor Rigby · 1:34–1:36An old woman in a black hat sweeps confetti from the church steps beside the crossing, in no hurry and with nobody waiting.
  4. 4 · Velvet and a spotted scarf · 1:36–1:37Close again, singing, the green velvet collar and a spotted scarf, the guitar at the bottom of the frame.

What to Look For

You can’t miss itThe old woman in black on the church steps, sweeping up after somebody else’s wedding. If you know the song, you know her name.

Look closerThe flags in the upstairs windows: it is the World Cup summer. And his clothes have turned to pattern, velvet and op-art, the moment London went from tailored to loud.

All 21 scenes