The Modernist wrote:I really like both. But 'Doctor Robert' would be an 8/10 while Rita would be 7.5 ..or something.
The strengths of 'Rita' are in the production and arrangement, I love that bouncy piano, but also its ghostly intro and fade. But "Doctor Robert" is, for me, the more interesting song -lyrically it's fascinating, the idea of this doctor being a drug peddler (and Lennon's attitude within the song towards this is tantalisingly ambiguous). Musically it's got more elements I love - that great countryish riff, the high harmonies, the wonderful contrast of the hymnal middle eight, Lennon's sarcastic vocal. But look I can see why one might prefer one to the other, it's just in your original post you made it sound like an obvious choice and it really isn't.
I’m sure you know this, they didn’t make it up:
Dr. Robert Freymann (c. 1906–1987) was a German-born Manhattan physician known to New York's artists and wealthier citizens for his vitamin B-12 injections, which also featured liberal doses of amphetamine. Freymann bragged that he could rattle off 100 names of his celebrity patients (reportedly including Jackie Kennedy) "in 10 minutes." Freymann, who authored a 1983 autobiography called What's So Bad About Feeling Good?, lost his medical license in 1975. The US government began cracking down on amphetamine distribution in the early 1970s after a series of deaths and an increasing number of addicts. Freymann said he thought speed was "a good drug" that had its reputation ruined by addicts. He died in 1987.[1]