On the one hand, I do like this song. I do think it's meant to be somewhat humorous and self-deprecating on John's part and I'm not one who is really into his self-indulgence usually but I like this song. Though I guess in some ways it does seem more like a B-side. On the other hand, I do think a lot of my favorite things about the song are what Paul is doing on it, like that backing vocal on the last verse, etc.
I agree about Paul. I know that he can and just usually chooses not to,
I thought she said he just chooses not to do so in as obvious a way, not that he chooses not to. I think there are a lot of personal things in Paul's songs, they just aren't obvious and even when he sings about other people, we are finding out about him, how he thinks, what sorts of things catch his attention and make him feel and inspire him.
If he's singing about Eleanor Rigby - it shows he's someone who thinks about people who end up lonely and invisible and how they feel and live and how the world views them(or ignores them as the case may be)--and it's a topic that seems kind of close to his heart, he wrote a number songs dealing with disaffection and/or loneliness--so what that tells me is that even in the midst of his 20's, living high and rich and avante garde, he thought about the people who weren't. He's telling us about himself just by choosing that as a song topic.