Lovely Rita

From BeatlesWiki

Jump to: navigation, search

Lovely Rita is a song off The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon/McCartney.

Contents

[edit] Writing

Despite the fact that the lyrics of Lovely Rita sound like a love song about a "meter maid," it was actually originally written as a satirical anti-authority song. Paul McCartney later explained, "I was thinking it should be a hate song... but then I thought it would be better to love her." In 1967, traffic wardens were a relatively new idea in the UK. These traffic wardens were known by the term "meter maids" is America, which, upon hearing about this in a newspaper story, captured McCartney's imagination. McCartney explained, "There was a story in the paper about 'Lovely Rita', the meter maid. She's just retired as a traffic warden. The phrase 'meter maid' was so American that it appealed, and to me a 'maid' was always a little sexy thing: 'Meter maid. Hey, come and check my meter, baby.' I saw a bit of that, and then I saw that she looked like a 'military man'." Shortly after, a traffic warden by the name of Meta Davies gave Paul McCartney a ticket in St. John's Wood in London. Davies recalled in A Hard Day's Write, "His car was parked on a meter where the time had expired. I had to make out a ticket which, at the time, carried a 10 shilling fine. I'd just put it on the windscreen when Paul came along and took it off. He looked at it and read my signature which was in full, because there was another M Davies on the same unit. As he was walking away, he turned to me and said, 'Oh, is your name really Meta?' I told him that it was. We chatted for a few minutes and he said, 'That would be a good name for a song. Would you mind if I use it?' And that was that. Off he went." McCartney wrote the lyrics to Lovely Rita in Wirral, near Liverpool, while walking to his brother Michael's house. McCartney later said, "I remember one night just going for a walk and working on the words as I walked... It wasn't based on a real person but, as often happened, it was claimed by a girl called Rita [sic] who was a traffic warden who apparently did give me a ticket, so that made the newspapers. I think it was more a question of coincidence: anyone called Rita who gave me a ticket would naturally think, 'It's me!' I didn't think, Wow, that woman gave me a ticket, I'll write a song about her - never happened like that."

[edit] Recording

Recording for Lovely Rita began on February 23, 1967 in Studio Two of Abbey Road Studios, when eight takes of the basic track were recorded. This rhythm track included acoustic guitars by John Lennon and George Harrison, drums by Ringo Starr, and piano by Paul McCartney. Out of these, Take 8 was the best, leading Paul to overdub his bass onto that take. The next day, the lead vocals were taped. The song would be left alone until March 7, when the backing vocals and sound effects were recorded. The Beatles, led by John Lennon, recorded various groaning, sighing, and screaming noises, as well as some cha-cha-cha's. They also played paper and combs. Mal Evans had been sent to Abbey Road Studios' bathroom to get bits of paper. This paper, with the words "Property of EMI" stamped across them, was threaded into combs and blown, making a kazoo-like sound. On March 21, George Martin recorded his piano solo for the song. This solo was taped at a slower speed to make it sound faster than he actually played it on the final version. Just like the vocals, the piano solo was havily echoed. It was also varispeeded to make it sound like a honky-tonk.

[edit] Recording Sessions

  • March 21, 1967: Recording Session. Songs Recorded: Lovely Rita. Songs Mixed: Getting Better. This was the infamous night where John took LSD when trying to record. →


[edit] Personnel

[edit] The Beatles

[edit] Guest Musicians

[edit] Production

[edit] Available Versions

[edit] Available On

[edit] Cover Versions

[edit] Source

Retrieved from "http://www.beatleswiki.org/wiki/Lovely_Rita"
Personal tools