“I Saw Her Standing There”

• Published on 1963
• Author: Lennon/McCartney
• Track 1 on “Please Please Me“

JOHN 1980: “That’s Paul doing his usual job of producing what George Martin used to call a ‘potboiler.’ I helped with a couple of the lyrics.”

PAUL 1988: “I wrote it with John. We sagged off school and wrote it on guitars. I remember I had the lyrics, ‘Just seventeen/Never been a beauty queen,’ which John… it was one of the first times he ever went, ‘What? Must change that!’ And it became, ‘you know what I mean.’”

PAUL circa-1994: “Sometimes we would just start a song from scratch, but one of us would nearly always have a germ of an idea, a title, or a rough little thing they were thinking about and we’d do it. ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ was my original. I’d started it and I had the first verse, which therefore gave me the tune, the tempo, and the key. It gave you the subject matter, a lot of information, and then you had to fill in. So it was co-written… and we finished it that day.

About “I Saw Her Standing There”

“I Saw Her Standing There” is one of the most famous songs in the Beatles’ catalogue, as it opens both the band’s first UK album “Please Please Me” in 1963 as well as their debut American album “Introducing… The Beatles”. It was written primarily by Paul McCartney with some help from John Lennon.

In December 1963, Capitol Records released the song in the United States as the B-side to the label’s first single from the Beatles, “I Want to Hold Your Hand“, in the United States. Until 8 February 1964, “I Saw Her Standing There” remained at the top of the US Billboard chart for seven weeks, peaking at number 14 on the chart. The A-side topped the US Billboard chart for seven weeks starting on 1 February 1964. The song placed on the Cashbox chart for only one week at No. 100 on the same week of its Billboard debut. In 2004, “I Saw Her Standing There” was No. 139 on Rolling Stone’s rank of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Meaning of “I Saw Her Standing There”

The lyrics of “I Saw Her Standing There” narrate the excitement and thrill of seeing an attractive girl for the first time. It’s a song that captures the immediate infatuation and joy that can come from meeting someone who catches your eye.

The opening lines, “Well, she was just seventeen, you know what I mean,” have become iconic. They set the stage for a story of youthful infatuation and the exuberance of young love.

“I Saw Her Standing There” is a celebration of the joy and excitement that can come from the initial spark of attraction and the promise of a potential romantic connection. It’s considered one of the classic rock ‘n’ roll songs and remains a favorite among Beatles fans and music enthusiasts worldwide.

Personnel

• Paul McCartney – lead vocals, bass guitar, hand claps
• John Lennon – rhythm guitar, harmony vocals, hand claps
• George Harrison – lead guitar, hand claps
• Ringo Starr – drums, hand claps