Born in Syracuse, New York, in 1932, Murphy was raised in a musical family, his parents having met as members of the local Methodist Church choir. He grew up in the nearby small town of Fulton, New York, where his grandmother and then his aunt were the church organists. Opera was also a presence in the Murphy home. He started piano lessons at the age of seven.
Murphy joined his brother's jazz dance band as the singer when a teenager, citing influences from Nat "King" Cole, June Christy, Anita O'Day, and Ella Fitzgerald. The Jazz pianist Art Tatum was also an influence.
Murphy graduated from Syracuse University in 1953, majoring in Music and Drama. University life included performing on campus and also in a club – playing piano and singing.
In 1954, Murphy moved to New York City, working part-time as an actor and singer. He appeared in productions for the Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company and a musical version for television of Casey at the Bat. Also, he twice took second place at the Apollo Theatre amateur contests.
Murphy was eventually introduced to record producer Milt Gabler, who was an artist and repertoire director (A & R) for Decca. His resulting debut recording was Meet Mark Murphy (1956), followed closely by Let Yourself Go (1957).
In 1958 Murphy moved to Los Angeles and recorded for Capitol, but returned to New York in the early '60s and recorded the album Rah! (1961) on Riverside Records, performing "Angel Eyes", a version of Horace Silver's "Doodlin'", and "Green Dolphin Street", featuring Bill Evans, Clark Terry, Urbie Green, Blue Mitchell and Wynton Kelly as accompanists. His favorite recording to date, That's How I Love the Blues, soon followed. In 1963, Murphy hit the charts across the country with his single of "Fly Me to the Moon" and was voted New Star of the Year in Down Beat Magazine's Reader's Poll.[citation needed]
In the late 1960s Murphy moved to London, England, where he worked primarily as an actor. He continued however, to cultivate his jazz audiences in Europe. He returned to the States in 1972 and began recording an average of an album a year for more than fourteen years on the Muse label. These projects - including the albums Nat King Cole Songbook Vol. I and II, Bop for Kerouac, Kerouac Then And Now, Living Room, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Beauty And the Beast and, Stolen Moments - gained numerous Grammy nominations.[citation needed] This last album contains Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments" with lyrics by Murphy.
In 1984 together with Viva Brasil he recorded the album Brazil Song (Cancões do Brasil), which featured original material written by Brazilian songwriters including work by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Milton Nascimento.
In 1987, Murphy recorded Night Mood, an album of songs by Brazilian composer Ivan Lins, followed by the Grammy-nominated September Ballads on Milestone Records. Murphy has also appeared on U.F.O.'s last two releases (for Polydor Records), in which he wrote and rapped lyrics on songs composed with the group. This collaboration opened up further new audiences in the acid-jazz and hip-hop genres, demonstrating jazz's timelessness while transcending generations and styles.
In August 1997, BMG/RCA Victor released Song For The Geese, for which he has received his sixth Grammy nomination. Also in August 1997, the 32 Records label Joel Dorn and Michael Bourne released a double CD anthology Stolen and Other Moments, which features some of his recordings for the now defunct Muse label. The CD features material from the two "Kerouac" albums and a selection of "the best of Mark Murphy".
Murphy’s release Once to Every Heart (2005), on the Verve label, features sensuous ballads, where the listener can capture him singing in top form, with superb musicians and sounding better than ever. In 2007 Love is What Stays was released on Verve. Both albums were produced by German trumpeter Till Brönner.
Murphy has also collaborated with Five Corners Quintet, a modern Finnish jazz band. He appears on their albums Chasin' the Jazz Gone By (2005) and Hot Corner (2008).
In 2010 he released the independently produced CD, Never Let Me Go, on which he is supported by pianist Misha Piatigorsky, bassist Danton Boller and drummer Chris Wabich. A limited edition EP/MP3, "Beautiful Friendship: Remembering Shirley Horn" on Gearbox Records was released in 2013.
Murphy continued to tour internationally into his 80s, appearing at festivals, concerts, in jazz clubs and on television programs, throughout the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan, as well as other places. John Bush at AllMusic.com described Murphy as "a major name in vocal jazz." A longtime resident of the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey, he died there on October 22, 2015.
Eleanor Rigby
Mark Murphy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ah! Look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice in a church
Where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face
That she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people,
Where do they all belong?
Father McKenzie, writing the words
Of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working, darning his socks
In the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?
All the lonely people,
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people,
Where do they all belong?
Eleanor Rigby, died in the church
And was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt
From his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved
All the lonely people,
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people,
Where do they all belong?
The lyrics to Mark Murphy's song "Eleanor Rigby" convey a sense of loneliness and isolation that can pervade modern society. The song begins with the singer addressing the listener, asking them to look at all the lonely people around them. The name "Eleanor Rigby" is introduced as someone who does menial work, picking up rice after a wedding in a church. The song suggests that Eleanor Rigby has retreated into a dream world, and that the face she presents to the world is a mask that she keeps in a jar by the door. The singer asks, "Who is it for?" implying that Eleanor's façade might not be fooling anyone.
The second half of the song introduces Father McKenzie, a clergyman who is also lonely. He is writing a sermon that no one will hear, and darning his socks in the night when no one else is around. When Eleanor Rigby dies, she is buried alone, and no one comes to mourn her passing. Father McKenzie is left alone to bury her, wiping the dirt from his hands as he leaves the grave, knowing that no one was saved. Throughout the song, the refrain "All the lonely people, where do they all come from? Where do they all belong?" is repeated, emphasizing that the sense of loneliness and isolation is pervasive and universal.
Line by Line Meaning
Ah! Look at all the lonely people
Expressing sympathy for people who feel alone or are lonely
Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice in a church
Describing a person who is often present but unnoticed, doing mundane work after a ceremony has ended
Where a wedding has been
The church context doesn't change whether it is for a wedding or funeral
Lives in a dream
Escaping harsh and depressing reality by staying in a dream world
Waits at the window, wearing the face
A person who wears a mask or hides their true emotions while waiting for someone or something to arrive
That she keeps in a jar by the door
Referring to an imaginary jar with a mask or a facade placed by the door as a reminder to keep that mask/facade
Who is it for?
The mask/facade is to ensure that people don't see the true emotions
All the lonely people,
Repeating the opening line to remind readers of the theme
Where do they all come from?
Questioning why so many people feel isolated and unconnected to others
Father McKenzie, writing the words
A man of the cloth, who prepares and preaches sermons in an empty church
Of a sermon that no one will hear
Despite putting in so much effort to prepare the service, no one is available to receive the message
No one comes near
People avoiding religion or not connecting with the message without any human interaction
Look at him working, darning his socks
Showing someone who appears content being alone and doing tasks for himself
In the night when there's nobody there
Being alone doesn't bother him as he is learning to enjoy his own company
What does he care?
Indifference towards being alone
Eleanor Rigby, died in the church
Describing the lonely woman's death in the place where she always works
And was buried along with her name
The woman left behind nothing but her name as nobody else knew her personally
Nobody came
No one cared enough about her to attend her funeral
Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt
A lonely priest who is emotionally drained and fatigued
From his hands as he walks from the grave
Experiencing sadness and remorse as he reflects on the sad state of affairs
No one was saved
Nobody followed the priest's sermon and all people remained lonely
All the lonely people,
Repeating for the third time to highlight the problem of loneliness
Where do they all belong?
Pondering about the place of each lonely person and how they might find happiness and companionship
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Riccardo Mei
Mark was and IS simply the greatest jazz singer the wordl has ever heard. He turned every song into somethig' different, all of his own, thanks to his jazz artistry and with the help of the best of the jazz cats around. I've been lucky to know him and follow his classes. He was just terrific, a great singer, one of a kind. His music will live on.
Skype Savage
agreed
nathan churchill
This rendition of Eleanor Rigby not only redefined the song, but turned it into a virtual passion play. This is an example of the dramatic power and poetic quality of Mark Murphy's singing at its best. And this arrangement is astonishing. No other male
jazz singer has gone here before.
Jezz
True dat
DrDomich
Yeah, I don't like it
But then again, I guess I'm not a jazz fan
San Eckelhöfer
you are so fckn right nathan churchill!!!!
Riccardo Mei
What a masterpiece. The only version of this marvellous Paul McCartney's song that is absolutely beautiful and hearthbreaking, still being completely different from the source. What a great singer....
Maria João Couceiro
I've said already - he has rithm in his veins.
He is one of the BEST jazz singers.
AlliKatt Chica
Wow...I thought Ray Charles' version was great [and it is] but the arrangement is just POWERFUL AND AWESOME!!!! Now and Mark and Ray are trading composition notes! RIP to two great artists!
Norm Hall
Great song in a wonderful arrangement. Mark is my all-time favorite male jazz singer. He turns everything into a dramatic play.