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- Lovely Rita (4)
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Lovely Rita
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Lovely Rita" | ||
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| Song by The Beatles | ||
| from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band |
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| Released | June 1, 1967 | |
| Recorded | December 6, 1966 – April 21, 1967 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 2:36 | |
| Label | Parlophone | |
| Writer(s) | Lennon-McCartney | |
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |
| Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing | ||
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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 (writing credits: Lennon/McCartney). It is about a female traffic warden and the narrator's affection for her.
Ringo Starr's instrumentation in this song is very progressive. The snare sound used here is two large cymbals being held together tightly while Ringo strikes the cymbals very hard with his drumstick, giving the illusion of a snare drum[citation needed].
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 John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison playing the comb-and-paper.[1]
The song plays an important role in the Paul is Dead hoax that occurred during The Beatles' fame. The song figures in to the hoax apparently because McCartney was distracted by her while driving, which led to the car crash that ended his life. In truth, the song emanates from when McCartney was issued with a parking ticket outside Abbey Road Studios, by a female Traffic warden. Instead of becoming angry, he accepted it with good grace and expressed his feelings (sarcastically) in song. When asked why he had called her "Rita", McCartney replied: "Well, she looked like a Rita to me".
The term "meter-maid," American slang for a female traffic officer, was largely unknown in the UK prior to the song's release.
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One of the recording sessions for "Lovely Rita" is famous for an incident involving Lennon. During the March 21, 1967 session in which producer George Martin added a piano solo, Lennon complained that he didn't feel well and couldn't focus. Lennon had accidentally taken LSD when he meant to take an upper. Martin took him up to the roof of Abbey Road Studio, and returned to Studio Two where McCartney and Harrison were waiting. They knew why Lennon wasn't well and rushed up to the roof to retrieve him and prevent an accident.[1][2][3]
In 1976, Roy Wood of ELO and Wizzard recorded the song for the evanescent musical documentary All This and World War II. The song was also recorded by Fats Domino.
- ^ a b Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, p. 100-101, 104
- ^ The Beatles, Anthology, p. 242
- ^ Geoff Emerick, Here, There, and Everywhere, p. 172-173