Lovely Rita Painting

Paul McCartney's affectionate tale of a female traffic warden was originally written as an anti-authority satire. As McCartney later explained, "I was thinking it should be a hate song... but then I thought it would be better to love her." Traffic wardens were a relatively new feature of British life in 1967. In America they were colloquially known as meter maids, a term which caught the imagination of McCartney via a newspaper story. There was a story in the paper about 'Lovely Rita', the meter maid. She's just retired as a traffic warden. The phrase 'meter maid' was so American that it appealed, and to me a 'maid' was always a little sexy thing: 'Meter maid. Hey, come and check my meter, baby.' I saw a bit of that, and then I saw that she looked like a 'military man'. Paul McCartney Anthology Some time later, a traffic warden called Meta Davies claimed she had given McCartney a parking ticket in St John's Wood, London. His car was parked on a meter where the time had expired. I had to make out a ticket which, at the time, carried a 10 shilling fine. I'd just put it on the windscreen when Paul came along and took it off. He looked at it and read my signature which was in full, because there was another M Davies on the same unit. As he was walking away, he turned to me and said, 'Oh, is your name really Meta?' I told him that it was. We chatted for a few minutes and he said, 'That would be a good name for a song. Would you mind if I use it?' And that was that. Off he went. Meta Davies A Hard Day's Write, Steve Turner Paul McCartney wrote the words for Lovely Rita in the Wirral near Liverpool, while walking near his brother Michael's house in Gayton. I remember one night just going for a walk and working on the words as I walked... It wasn't based on a real person but, as often happened, it was claimed by a girl called Rita who was a traffic warden who apparently did give me a ticket, so that made the newspapers. I think it was more a question of coincidence: anyone called Rita who gave me a ticket would naturally think, 'It's me!' I didn't think, Wow, that woman gave me a ticket, I'll write a song about her - never happened like that. Paul McCartney Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

Painting:Acrylic on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:16 W x 20 H x 0.5 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.