THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

515-Barry Ryan with The Majority-Eloise.

1968-Number 2 single.

Best Bit-At 3.34. File this one under ‘Baroque Pop.’

‘Baroque Pop,’ which is also sometimes called ‘Baroque Rock’ is the fusing together of ‘Classical Music,’ and ‘Rock Music,’ which emerged in the mid 1960’s as artists experimented with new sounds. Harpsichords figured prominently, as did Oboes, French Horns, and String Quartets. Harpsichords had been in common use on a number of ‘Pop’ hits since the 1940’s, but by the 1960’s, some music producers were increasingly placing the instrument in the foreground of their arrangements. Inspired partly by the Beatles’ song ‘In My Life,’ (see also best songs 218) in 1965, various groups were soon jumping on the bandwagon, and incorporating ‘Baroque,’ and ‘Classical’ instrumentation by early 1966. The term ‘Baroque Rock’ was coined in the promotional material for the American group the ‘Left Banke,’ who used harpsichords and violins in their arrangements, and whose 1966 song ‘Walk Away Renée,’ exemplified the style. In ‘Classical Music,’ the term ‘Baroque’ is used to describe the ‘art music’ of Europe, approximately between the years 1600-1750, with some of its most prominent composers being J. S. Bach (1685-1750) and Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741.)

Barry Ryan was born Barry Sapherson, on October 24th, 1948, in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, he died on September 28th, 2021, after complications from a lung disorder at the age of 72. Barry Ryan achieved his initial success in the mid 1960’s in a duo with his twin brother Paul, who died on November 29th, 1992, of lung cancer, at the age of 44. Barry and Paul were both the sons of the English ‘Pop’ singer Marion Ryan, (1931-1999) who had a 1958 UK Number 5 hit single with ‘Love Me Forever.’ Prior to his solo career, Barry Ryan had released two studio Albums in 1967, and 1968, with his brother Paul, as ‘Paul and Barry Ryan,’ and 10 singles between 1965-1968, of which five reached the UK top 40, with their 1965 debut single ‘Don’t Bring Me Your Heartaches,’ peaking the highest at Number 13. Due to the pressures of performing, Paul took a backseat in order to concentrate on songwriting, and apart from ‘Eloise,’ he is best remembered for writing ‘Who Put the Lights Out?’ a 1972 UK Number 14 hit for the Irish singer Dana, and ‘I Will Drink the Wine,’ which Frank Sinatra recorded for his 1971 Album ‘Sinatra & Company.’ As a solo artist Barry Ryan released six studio Albums between 1969-2003, and 30 singles between 1968-2020, there are also 10 official compilation Albums available. In the UK, he has had five solo top 40 hit singles, with ‘Eloise’ peaking the highest at Number 2, while in America on the Billboard Hot 100, ‘Eloise’ is his only charting song, reaching Number 86.

‘Eloise’ was the first of two singles released from ‘Barry Ryan Sings Paul Ryan,’ which was the debut solo studio Album by Barry Ryan, from April 1969, the song was written by Paul Ryan, with the production being by Bill Landis, and was arranged and conducted by Johnny Arthey (1930-2007.) ‘Eloise’ is credited to ‘Barry Ryan with The Majority,’ ‘The Majority’ were a ‘Pop’ group who for a period, were the backing band for Barry Ryan, and who, after renaming themselves ‘Majority One,’ had some success in Europe. Two notable musicians who played on the track were Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones, (see also best songs 135 and 67) who would later go on to form Led Zeppelin.

‘Eloise’ was written by Paul Ryan, soon after stepping out of the limelight, in order to concentrate on his song writing. Paul Ryan has said that his inspiration for ‘Eloise’ came after he had heard a ‘demo’ version of ‘MacArthur Park’ by Richard Harris (see also best songs 119.) Ryan locked himself away and wrote ‘Eloise’ in three days. The song went on to sell in excess of 3 million copies worldwide, and has topped the charts in 17 different countries. According to Barry Ryan, ‘Eloise’ influenced Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) of Queen, Ryan has said, ‘I remember reading Freddie’s memoirs. He was influenced by it. He really, really liked it and also he used it as an argument to release ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (see also best songs 3) because his record company didn’t want to release it but he said “That Barry Ryan had a big five and half minute hit. Why can’t we do it too?’

‘Eloise’ has been covered on many occasions. In 1986 the English ‘Punk Rock’ group the ‘Damned’ (see also best songs 833 and 273) took their version to Number 3 in the UK, and in 1988 a ‘Techno-Pop’ recording by the Spanish singer Tino Casal, (1950-1991) reached Number 1 in Spain for several weeks. The song has also been an international hit for the French singer Claude François, (1939-1978) whose French language version made the top 10 in France, and Belgium in 1968, and in 1969 the Finnish singer Tapani Kansa released a Finnish-language version, which went to Number 3 in the Finnish charts.

‘Eloise’ is probably a song with dark subject matter. It appears unclear whether Eloise is a real person who has left the narrator, or it could be possible that she is a figment of his imagination, that he fantasies over.

‘My Eloise I’d love to please her, I’d love to care, but she’s not there, and when I find you, I’d be so kind, you’d want to stay, I know you’d stay.’