Lovely Rita

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"Lovely Rita" is a song by the Beatles performed on the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, written and sung by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon-McCartney. It is about a female traffic warden and the narrator's affection for her.

Video Lovely Rita

Inspiration

The term "meter-maid", largely unknown in the UK prior to the song's release, is American slang for a female traffic warden. According to some sources, the song originates from when a female traffic warden named Meta Davies issued a parking ticket to McCartney outside Abbey Road Studios. Instead of becoming angry, he accepted it with good grace and expressed his feelings in song. When asked why he had called her "Rita," McCartney replied, "Well, she looked like a Rita to me".

Maps Lovely Rita

Recording

Recording began on 23 February 1967. Using a four-track recorder, this first performance featured George Harrison's guitar on track 1, John Lennon's guitar on track 2, Ringo Starr's drums on track 3, and McCartney's piano set on track 4. Once those tracks were "bounced", the band later added lead vocals, bass, and a three-part backing vocal section. Engineer Geoff Emerick has said that McCartney's vocal arrangement was directly inspired by Brian Wilson's work for the Beach Boys. A second piano, played by George Martin and processed electromechanically to wobble in and out of tune was added for the distinctive solo. By 21 March, the final mono mix was completed and a month later, the stereo mix was done. During mixdown the tape machine ran at 48.75 Hz instead of the standard 50 Hz, so that the pitch on the released recording is nearly a quarter-tone flat from the key of E in which the song was performed.

The unusual noises during the song after the lines "and the bag across her shoulder/ made her look a little like a military man" were Lennon, McCartney and Harrison playing comb and paper.

Pink Floyd watched the Beatles recording "Lovely Rita". Later, Pink Floyd used effects inspired by "Lovely Rita" for recording their instrumental composition "Pow R. Toc H." from their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

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Personnel

• Paul McCartney - lead and backing vocal, bass guitar, piano, comb and tissue paper kazoo
• John Lennon - backing vocal, vocal percussion, acoustic rhythm guitar, comb and tissue paper kazoo
• George Harrison - backing vocal, acoustic rhythm guitar, comb and tissue paper kazoo
• Ringo Starr - drums, spoken vocals
• George Martin - producer, piano
• Geoff Emerick - engineer

Personnel per Ian MacDonald

According to some sources George Harrison played slide guitar on the recording. However, this has not been confirmed by either MacDonald nor Lewisohn.

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Live performances

Paul McCartney performed the song live for the first time by any Beatle on 4 May 2013 at the Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte, Brazil and throughout his 2013-2015 Out There! Tour.

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Other versions

• Fats Domino included a cover of this song in his 1968 album Fats is back. He also released it as a single, with "Wait 'Till It Happens to You" on B side.
• In 1976, Roy Wood of ELO and Wizzard recorded the song for the musical documentary All This and World War II.
• In 2007, Travis recorded the song for It Was 40 Years Ago Today, a television film with contemporary acts recording the album's songs using the same studio, technicians and recording techniques as the original.
• Les Fradkin has an instrumental version on his 2007 release Pepper Front to Back.
• Joan Osborne sings the song on the 2009 Cheap Trick release, Sgt. Pepper Live.
• The Easy Star All-Stars recorded a version of the song with guest vocalists Bunny Rugs and U-Roy for their 2009 tribute to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band.
• Andy Timmons recorded an instrumental version of the song on his 2011 album Andy Timmons Band Plays Sgt. Pepper.
• The Flaming Lips

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Notes

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References

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External links

Source of article : Wikipedia