Lovely Rita

Let's be honest - even the greatest albums by the Beatles each have that one track that you could easily live without.  For me, when it comes to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, that track would be Lovely Rita.  Not that there is anything wrong with the song.  It is a perfectly agreeable way to pass two minutes and forty-odd seconds, but it strikes me as the sort of track that those in the record business used to refer to as filler.  McCartney would continue to develop such meaningless, cheerful pop into more memorable songs such as Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da and Maxwell's Silver Hammer.  Lennon despised those songs, yet he seems to have thrown himself wholeheartedly into working on this number.

The group recorded eight takes of the basic track on February 23rd, 1967 with John and George playing acoustic guitars, Ringo on drums and Paul sitting at a piano.  Once satisfied with the final take, the others went home and Paul spent a good deal of time overdubbing his bass guitar part.  On the following evening, the entire session was devoted to Paul perfecting his lead vocal.  The 50th anniversary bonus editions of Sgt. Pepper allow us to hear take eight, minus the bass overdub, but with Paul's lead vocal.

The group did not return to the track until March 7th, at which time they all concentrated on the backing vocals.  Paul had already recorded some ad lib vocalizations during the long outro of the number when he did his lead vocal.  Now, encouraged by the heavy echo in his headphones, John added to the zaniness in that section.  Even Ringo got in on the fun when they all gathered around a microphone with combs and toilet paper to create a few brass-like moments in the body of the song.

The final overdub was added on March 21st at the same session as the infamous incident of John on the roof (see my entry for the song Getting Better for more details).  Something was still required for the brief instrumental break left open in the middle of the song.  In his book Here, There and Everywhere, engineer Geoff Emerick reports that a guitar solo by George was attempted but rejected.  Instead, a honkytonk piano solo was inserted by producer George Martin, played back at a slightly faster speed to fit in perfectly.

Of course, Lovely Rita has appeared on the many reissues of Sgt. Pepper over the years, but it has never surfaced on any other official compilations.