Who was ''Lovely Rita, Meter Maid'?
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| "But that isn't my car!" Paul McCartney |
Lovely Rita meter maid
Nothing can come between us
Agreed facts
Even in 1967, parking spaces in central London were at a premium. Paul McCartney often parked his distinctive Mini Cooper in illegal spots while dashing about town
One afternoon, his luck ran out. Returning to his vehicle near Portland Square, McCartney found a young woman standing next to it:
Filling in a ticket in her little white book
In a cap she looked much older
And the bag across her shoulder
Made her look a little like a military man
The traffic warden handed the Beatle a parking ticket. McCartney responded with good humour, evidently deciding 'it'd be better to love her', as the song puts it. After a brief, friendly exchange, they both went on with their days.
Version 1. " A Meter maid named Meta?
In The Revolution in the Head, Ian MacDonald names the lovely 'meter maid' as Meta Davies.
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| Meta Davies - London's first female traffic warden |
This appears correct as Meta, then the only female traffic warden/parking attendant working in London, and her patch included the area close to Abbey Road.
Her recollection is that
"...in the spring of 1967, ticketed Paul’s car/ I’d just put it on the windscreen when Paul came along and took it off. He looked at it and read my signature.‘Oh, is your name really Meta? That would be a good name for a song. Would you mind if I use it?’
Then, a few months later, I heard ‘Lovely Rita’ on the radio
Version 2: 'I invented Rita!'
Paul McCartney has refuted attempts to link the song to a real person. "I didn't know her name," he insists. 'I just thought she looked like a Rita.'
In 1984 he pointed out that he regularly invented characters, including in some of his most famous songs
“It was claimed by a girl called Rita who was a traffic warden who apparently did give me a ticket, but I think it was more a question of coincidence. I didn’t think, Wow, that woman gave me a ticket, I’ll write a song about her – never happened like that.”
Version 3: A subconscious link
In Many Years From Now, Barry Miles suggests that “the combination of Meta (Davies) and ‘meter’ may have provided an unconscious spark of an idea. There is also the possibility that the song was already written and Paul was just being friendly.”
This would help explain the factual errors that appear in both accounts. The song was recorded in February, so 'early spring' would mean it was already written.
Paul, for his part, refers to Rita rather than Meta - suggesting that he has 'subconsciously' merged them.
A Meta, who looked like a Rita standing by a parking meter? It sounds like a wisely discarded early draft of the lyric.
