Comments on: Lovely Rita

By: Pedro

Pedro — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 09:29:42 +0000

“never believe it”

By: joe

joe — Sun, 14 Jan 2018 03:54:42 +0000

spot on !! its a varispeed hybrid

By: Man-ley

Man-ley — Thu, 08 Jun 2017 04:13:09 +0000

Maybe the speeding up from 41 and a bit to nearly 49 accounts for the fact that the guitars sound like a mandolin at the beginning. I guess if one acoustic is playing an open chord (whatever you people may think it is), and a 2nd guitar is on a high capo with the same chord, that may account for the mandolin-like effect. Whatever it is it’s yet another great arrangement idea from the 5 of them!

By: BeatleKen

BeatleKen — Sat, 03 Jun 2017 21:21:19 +0000

i ve heard so much about Nicky Hopkins playin on several sessions uncredited. Nothing against George M’s playing but the solo sounds so much like Nicky.

By: Monasmee

Monasmee — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 04:03:54 +0000

“Does John say “leave it” on the fade?”

My ears hear John saying “I don’t believe it” at the end of the song. Because his comment can also be heard on outtakes of the basic tracks (pre-vocals), my guess is that John’s words were those of relief that, as a group, The Beatles were able to work through a good rhythm take considering all of the song’s complex chord changes.

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 17:03:34 +0000

Maybe but if “Paul” is the interested one/pursuer he would initiate the tow using a method that Lovely Rita would understand and relate to.

By: Grant Porter

Grant Porter — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 04:22:04 +0000

I love that Paul has included this song in his concerts over the past couple of years. I think his bass playing is very good on this song and he plays bass and sings at the same time very well. As a bass player, this was the first album I ever learned to play along with and I especially liked Lovely Rita. While it’s pretty much a normal walking bass line, Paul has a way of making the ordinary extraordinary.

By: Grant Porter

Grant Porter — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 04:12:27 +0000

Yes, that’s a good sound effect, along with the middle part of A Day in the Life when I believe there is the sound of an alarm clock just before Paul sings “Woke up, fell out of bed…”

By: Graham Paterson

Graham Paterson — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 10:41:33 +0000

From the moment I obtained my first copy of”Sgt Pepper”, I loved this song. Another great Paul McCartney melody and composition. Love John and George’s playing on acoustic rhythm guitars and George Martin on piano is wonderful.

By: BeatleKen

BeatleKen — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 03:24:01 +0000

Hey Joe, the type of instruments they used on most of these songs are easily obtained. Ive done it. Bet u could too, most are in the Beatles Gear book. They didnt use too many different guitars thru the years.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 11:44:12 +0000

Hi Molly. Thanks for the kind words. I’m reluctant to move this conversation much further from Lovely Rita, but since you asked nicely…

Quite often I get asked why I don’t include detailed information on instruments used on songs (eg “Gibson J-160E acoustic guitar” rather than just “acoustic guitar”). I would love this site to be all things to all people, but I’m pushing 40 and might well have more years behind me than ahead of me. It would take many, many months to track down detailed information on all instruments, if it could even be done thoroughly, and it might realistically be appreciated – or even noticed – by less than 1% of this site’s visitors.

I’m fairly sure even fewer people care about tape speeds during a Sgt Pepper session, though I do try to help out where I can. In-depth recording information might even turn off some casual fans from visiting, so there’s a balance to be struck. Other sites such as the excellent Steve Hoffman forum are better for those sorts of discussion. I wanted this site to be accessible to the many, and appreciated by those with a little extra knowledge, but I never wanted it to be exclusive, elitist or full of industry jargon.

Time, or lack of it, really is the deciding factor in what I do write (I have a day job and young kids, so very little time for this at the moment). I’d like to write more about Paul, George and Ringo’s solo works, and expand the history section so it goes from 1970 to the present day. I’d like to write more features on interesting aspects of their careers (Beatles and beyond), because there’s a lot of stuff that lives in my head but could make nice little articles. I’m also midway writing a Beatles book, subject to be announced at a later date. One day I hope to work on this website full time, and if it happens I would publish something new every day. But that’s still some way off.

(NB This comments template doesn’t allow any replies beyond a certain number, which is why nobody else can respond. Sorry about that.)

By: Molly

Molly — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 22:14:55 +0000

Hi Joe,
I am really grateful for this site, whenever I have a Beatles question it’s the only place that actually answers my question without smothering it with speculations about the lives of the band members (Yoko is Satan, Paul is dead, George lost it and went Hindu, etc.) and I appreciate it so much.
I know it’s absolutely none of my business BUT…”I have to strike a balance between writing about things people might want to read and pursuing my own interests.” now I’m insanely curious. Don’t reply if you don’t feel like it, but since I respect your writing as much as I do, I am interested to know what you would write about if you had a crowd that would read about it.
In any case, have a fabulous life 🙂

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 14:37:37 +0000

does John say “leave it” on the fade?

By: BL

BL — Sat, 23 May 2015 13:02:49 +0000

Now, shouldn’t the lyric be “When it gets dark YOU tow my heart away” since it’s Rita who would initiate that process?

By: Mitch

Mitch — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 17:45:18 +0000

I think all you girls should quick clucking. Listen to the music and enjoy it!

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 16:03:30 +0000

Do any of you know what an”ear-worm”is? It’s a song that you just can’t get out of your head,sometimes for days.Well I’ve had Lovely Rita as an ear-worm for at least 10 years that I can remember. Standing on line at the bank,during the commercials on TV,even just falling asleep at night- it’s almost continuously in my mind when I’m not thinking of anything else in particular. Now don’t get me wrong,I love The Beatles,I have about 50 songs that are tied for”favorite” including Lovely Rita,but because of this long-time ear-worm effect it continues to have on me I suspect that there might also be some subliminal things going on in the song.
Any opinions on this?

By: john

john — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 21:32:26 +0000

how ’bout this: by most accounts it was recorded in D and sped up a little over half a step to just sharp of Eb–but, when you listen to the guitar track it’s definitely an open E chord being played when they are at the Eb, not a D chord. THEREFORE, john and george tuned down their guitars a whole note–and if you listen, the guitars do sound somewhat slackened. thank you.

By: Keith Shaw

Keith Shaw — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 01:18:22 +0000

What about the climactic ending?

By: Julian

Julian — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 14:51:50 +0000

I think that the organ sound you hear is just the echo from the piano.

By: lillo78

lillo78 — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 10:21:37 +0000

I also hear the pop sound after the word ‘dinner’… And also a kind of ‘hammond’ or another organ can be heard in the background while the piano solo thing is going on. Who did play that organ?