I Saw Her Standing There

I Saw Her Standing There is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and is the opening track on the Beatles' debut album, Please Please Me, the United Kingdom by Parlophone on March 22, 1963.

In December 1963, Capitol Records released the song in the United States as the B-side on the label's first single by the Beatles, "I Want to Hold Your Hand". While the A-side topped the US Billboard charts for seven weeks starting January 18, 1964, "I Saw Her Standing There" entered the Billboard Hot 100 on February 8, 1964, remaining there for 11 weeks, peaking at #14. The song placed on the Cashbox charts for only one week at #100 on the same day of its Billboard debut. In 2004, "I Saw Her Standing There" was ranked #139 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Composition
The song was a Lennon and McCartney collaboration based on McCartney's initial idea. Originally titled "Seventeen", the song was apparently conceived by McCartney while driving home from a Beatles' concert in Southport, Lancashire as a modern take on the traditional song As I Roved Out, a version of Seventeen Come Sunday that he had heard in Liverpool in 1960. The song was later completed at his Forthlin Road home with Lennon. McCartney later described in Beat Instrumental how he went about the song's composition: "Here’s one example of a bit I pinched from someone: I used the bass riff from 'Talkin’ About You' by Chuck Berry in 'I Saw Her Standing There'. I played exactly the same notes as he did and it fitted our number perfectly. Even now, when I tell people, I find few of them believe me; therefore, I maintain that a bass riff hasn’t got to be original". The lyrics were written on a Liverpool Institute exercise book. Remember, a book by McCartney's brother Mike McCartney, includes a photograph of Lennon and McCartney writing the song while strumming guitars and reading the exercise book. It was typical of how Lennon and McCartney would work in partnership, as McCartney later commented: "I had 'She was just seventeen,' and then 'never been a beauty queen'. When I showed it to John, he screamed with laughter, and said 'You're joking about that line, aren't you?'" "We came up with, 'You know what I mean.' Which was good, because you don't know what I mean" (Barry Miles. Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now), "It was one of the first times he ever went 'What? Must change that...'" Lennon said: "That's Paul doing his usual good job of producing what George Martin used to call a 'potboiler'. I helped with a couple of the lyrics." (David Sheff. John Lennon: All We Are Saying). The songwriting credit on the Please Please Me liner notes is "McCartney–Lennon" which differs from the more familiar "Lennon–McCartney" that appears on subsequent releases.

Recordings
The first live recording (a slow version of the song) was made at the Cavern Club at the end of 1962. Lennon didn't play rhythm guitar; he played harmonica in the introduction and during the verses. Lennon and McCartney laughed when they sing "Well we danced all night/And I held her tight/And I held her in mine" second time.

The song was recorded at EMI Studios on February 1963 and engineered by Norman Smith, as part of the marathon recording session that produced 10 of the 14 songs on Please Please Me. The Beatles were not present for the mixing session on February 25, 1963. It was not common for band to present at such sessions at the time.

On the album, the song starts with the rousing "One, two, three, four!" count-in by McCartney. Usually, these count-ins are edited off the final audio mix. However, record producer George Martin wanted to create the effect that the album was a live performance: "I have been up to the Cavern and I've seen what they could do, I knew their repertoire, and I said 'Let's record every song you've got, come down to the studios and we'll just whistle through them in a day.'" Martin took the count-in from take 9, which was considered 'especially spirited' and spliced it onto Take 1. Music journalist Richard Williams suggested that this dramatic introduction to their debut album was just as stirring as Elvis Presley's "Well it's one for the money, two for the show..." on his opening track, "Blue Suede Shoes", for his debut album seven years earlier. In addition it also made the point that the Beatles were a performing band as, at the time, they opened their live set with this song. One the first American release of the song, issued on Vee-Jay Records, the count was edited out-but the "Four!" is still audible.

The full take 9 version of the song appears on the Free as a Bird CD single as a B side, released for the first time.

Release

 * British LP: Please Please Me
 * British EP: The Beatles (No.1)
 * American LP: Introducing... The Beatles
 * American Single: "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
 * American LP: Meet the Beatles!

Personnel

 * Paul McCartney – lead vocal, bass guitar, handclaps
 * John Lennon – background vocal, rhythm guitar, handclaps
 * George Harrison – lead guitar, handclaps
 * Ringo Starr – drums, handclaps

Critical acclaim
Carr and Tyler in the Beatles: An Illustrated Record, claimed it was only the third all-British rock classic up to that time, the previous two being Cliff Richard's "Move It" and Johnny Kidd's "Shakin All Over".

Later performance by the Beatles

 * A 1974 liver version was recorded by the Elton John Band with John Lennon and released as the B-side to the former's "Philadelphia Freedom" single. The song is available on the Lennon box set, and on Elton John's To Be Continued... box set as well as the expanded CD edition of his 1976 live album Here and There. Lennon's introduction:

"I'd like to thank Elton and the boys for having me on tonight. We tried to think of a number to finish off with so I can get out of here and be sick, and we thought we'd do a number of an old, estranged fiance of mine, called Paul. This is one I never sang, it's an old Beatle number, and we just about know it."

This was the last major live performance by John Lennon. After Lennon's death the track was released as single and reached #40 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1981, making the first time that any version of the song had entered the UK charts.

McCartney included "I Saw Her Standing There" on this live albums Tripping the Live Fantastic (1990), Back in the US (2002) and Back in the World (2003). In 1987, he recorded a new version for the album CHOBA B CCCP, but it let to outtakes. The song has become a mainstay of McCartney's live sets, and a special version was played when McCartney and his band returned to Liverpool in June 2008. It featured special guest drummer Dave Grohl, the lead singer of the Foo Fighters.

McCartney performed "I Saw Her Standing There" at the 1986 Prince's Trust Rock Gala, as part of the 10th anniversary celebration of HRH Prince Charles' charity. He was supported by an all-star band featuring Elton John, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, and Ray King. Interviewed at the time, McCartney said: "It is a good thrill playing with musicians of this calibre... since it was a birthday thing, they wanted to do something silly at the end, and that's me!!" This performance was released to iTunes Stores in October 2009 as part of the Digital Video Singles label. Paul McCartney also performed a duet of this song with Billy Joel during the inaugural concert at the Citi Field in Flushing, New York.