Talk:Lovely Rita

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[edit] Regarding Ringo's "Progressive" Drumming

I can clearly hear a snare drum. Though the hi-hat is the most driving, loudest percussive feature, I can definitely hear a snare drum. I completely disagree with the statement.

The traffic warden's name was "Meta" Davies - is this someone's little joke? Vera, Chuck & Dave 16:55, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree, the cymbal thing seems to have been completely fabricated - I've never ever heard that they used two cymbals instead of a snare. The fact that it's not cited tells me that someone is just speculating. I think it ought to be removed.

And I've never heard this explanation for the song before, either. In the Anthology Paul says he read a newspaper article about a meter maid named Rita, and was amused that Americans called traffic wardens "meter maids", so he wrote a song. The sources for the current explanation of "Meta Davis" seem questionable. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.114.164.91 (talk) 16:54, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Fair question. One good resource for confirmation would be the Book A Hard Day's Write by Steve Turner. It's a well researched text that explains the origin behind every one of the Beatles' songs. I wish I had a copy handy... -Verdatum (talk) 22:26, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

In Bob Spitz's book it says that McCartney got the idea during a night-time walk with his brother, Mike McCartney, on the Wirral, which is where McCartney's father had a house.--andreasegde (talk) 13:34, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

.....Then, he moves the goalposts again, as usual, and tells Alan Clayson it was because he was ticketed outside of Abbey Rd. studios. Vera, Chuck & Dave (talk) 13:45, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

In Barry Miles' book (with McCartney) Macca says that he read about Meter-maids in America, and finished the words in his head on the walk with Mike near Gayton, on the Wirral. Game set and match, methinks. The magazine, and the walk, in two books.--andreasegde (talk) 13:49, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Miles also says that a traffic warden called Meta Davies did once give him a ticket near his house, and signed her full name on it (we've talked about this before, I think) but Macca says it was written after the magazine and the walk.--andreasegde (talk) 14:03, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, Less Heard Van Winkle confirmed the "Meta Davies" bit about a year ago, mark my words, this is another: "I thought up the name The Beatles job!" Vera, Chuck & Dave (talk) 14:19, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Could be a mixture of all of 'em. He probably read the article, got a ticket and asked her name (hold on, was he actually there when she put the ticket on his car?) and then put it all together. Harison said that he [Harrison] could never write anything that wasn't in the first person, and that Macca always wrote about imaginary people, so maybe Macca is being true to form by denying it was about this Meta Davies person. The two stories should be in this article, BTW. --andreasegde (talk) 17:01, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Yeah mixture of both makes sense, and both stories are from very reliable sources Vera, Chuck & Dave (talk) 21:19, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

In the Beatles anthology, Paul says he got the idea for Lovely Rita out of the newspaper.76.114.164.91 (talk) 21:33, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

"Revolution in the Head", which I haven't found to be wrong on any other point, reads "Based on a friendly encounter with a traffic warden called Meta Davis in Garden Road, St John's Wood, the lyric began as a satire on authority with its heroine a hate-figure -- until, in keeping with the warm mood of the time, McCartney decided 'it'd be better to love her'.)" Take yer pick, eh? 67.180.48.127 (talk) 05:59, 25 April 2008 (UTC)