Lovely Rita

Paul McCartney wrote Lovely Rita and sang the lead vocals on the recording, which came out as part of the album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In England, a "meter maid" was called a "traffic warden." (Today in the US the sexist "Meter Maid" has given way to gender-neutral terms like "Meter Attendant.") Though Rita was an authority figure (handing out parking tickets), Paul wrote a song about the singer-narrator's affections for her. Though unconfirmed by Paul, a Ms. Meta Davis, traffic warden, said she issued a parking fine to Paul when he was over-parked in St. John's Wood.

Recording took place in the "Sgt. Pepper" sessions at Abbey Road in February of 1967. The rhythm track had McCartney's piano, Ringo's drums, and guitars from John and George. Then bass, lead vocals and backing vocals were added, together with a George Martin piano line that was processed to be slightly out of tune at times during the solo section (hence yielding an old-fashioned, honky-tonk piano effect). Each member of the group also played elementary kazoos (comb and paper) at one point in the song. The studio registry records that members of Pink Floyd were present for the recording session.