Eleanor Rigby

The Forevers had two undaunted children: Strawberry
            and Fields
 
                                                Red and green was a perfect
                                                mania for the whole family
 
                        The children bounced a ball against a
                        shed; they called the game Ringo
 
When they were older, they played another game
they called Eleanor Rigby
 
                                                The game consisted of
                                                proposing a cover
                                                version, naming both
                                                band and song, the
                                                name of the game came
                                                from the practice of
                                                beginning the game
                                                with a proposed cover
                                                            of Eleanor
                                                Rigby
 
                        The second player would then
                                    announce a link between the
                                    Eleanor Rigby cover and a
                        new cover: options included songs
                        with two word titles; songs titled with
                        women’s names; songs whose titles
                        began with E
 
            After each turn, there would be a pause to
            imagine the cover, while the next player
followed the established link, which changed as the
game progressed
 
                                                            If a player
                                                wished to pass, they
                                                would say switch, and
                                                the next player would
                                                            announce a new
                                                rule that their proposed
                                                cover followed, and
                                                while, theoretically
                                                this could be any song
                                                            a Beatles song
                                                was favoured; cheeky
                                                participants had been
                                                known however to
                                                pervert this rule by
                                                restarting with a song
                                                by the Rolling Stones
                                                John Lennon, or even
                                                Bob Dylan
 
                        Hypothetical game: Eleanor Rigby by
                        Cheap Trick
 
Two word song: Master Blaster, ELO
 
                                                Night Fever, Little
                                                River Band
 
                        Hot Stuff, Rihanna
 
Cheap Thrills, M.I.A.
 
                                                Paper Planes, Usher
 
                        Lucy Forever watches her children
                                    and friends play; she’s a little
                        deaf, and not so interested in the game
                                    anyway, or at least, she’s
                                    interested in her children
                        rather than the answers, and notices
                        how Strawberry and Fields have their
                                    own game within a game of
                                    indicating which colour vinyl
                                    each record would be if it
                                    existed: green or red?
 
Switch
 
                                                Songs with women’s
                                                names: Veronica, Paul
                                                Simon
 
                                    Angie Baby, Carly Simon
 
Layla, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
 
                                                Desirée, Kings of Leon
 
                        Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
                                    Architecture in Helsinki
 
That was Strawberry’s turn, saying hello to her mum
who was reading about loneliness, hoping she could
prevent it in her children
 
                                                            Okay, says
                                                Fields, let’s sing the
                                                songs in the styles of
                                                who’s covering them
 
                        The others didn’t know that this new
                        game was not Eleanor Rigby at all
                        but a game called Taylor Swift
                        conventionally begun with a song
                        sung in imitation of Taylor Swift, then
                        moving on, inevitably they ended up
                        singing Beatles’ songs, or at least the
                        words, like Yellow Submarine to the
                        tune of We Are Never Getting Back
                        Together
 
            I think we just invented Flaming Lips they
cried, looking around the room to find Maxwell the
cat absorbed in watching his hammer float out of
Lucy’s reach; she, meanwhile, has dropped her book
            and is playing cards on the ceiling, and
looking down at a green-haired, Sinead
            O’Connoresque Strawberry, and Fields, who
resembled a red and white boiled radiohead
 
                                                            Or was it her
that said, I think we need a bit more air in here