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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Michael Hann

Everyday people: the parking wardens, estate agents and more who inspired classic songs

‘It makes me blush’ … traffic warden Meta Davis, who inspired the Beatles song Lovely Rita.
‘It makes me blush’ … traffic warden Meta Davis, who inspired the Beatles song Lovely Rita. Photograph: Mike Forster/ANL/Shutterstock

Bruce Springsteen – Last Man Standing (teen bandmate George Theiss)

Last week Joe DePugh, a star high school baseball player from Freehold, New Jersey, died aged 75. It made headlines because he was the guy who “could throw that speedball by you / Make you look like a fool, boy” in Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 hit Glory Days – one of the numerous ordinary people that have proved inspirational in pop.

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