I Saw Her Standing There by Mark49

Mark49 - I Saw Her Standing There

Mark49

Aug 09, 2025 08:02am

"I Saw Her Standing There" is a song by the English rock band <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">the Beatles</a>, written by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCartney" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Paul McCartney</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">John Lennon</a>. It is the opening track on the band's 1963 debut UK album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Please_Please_Me" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Please Please Me</a> and their debut US album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introducing..._The_Beatles" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Introducing... The Beatles</a>.In December 1963, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Records" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Capitol Records</a> released the song in the United States as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-side_and_B-side" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">B-side</a> on the label's first single by the Beatles, "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Want_to_Hold_Your_Hand" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">I Want to Hold Your Hand</a>". While the A-side topped the US <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_(magazine)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Billboard</a> chart for seven weeks starting 1 February 1964, "I Saw Her Standing There" entered the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Hot_100" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Billboard Hot 100</a> on 8 February 1964, remaining there for 11 weeks, peaking at No. 14. The song placed on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashbox_(magazine)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Cashbox</a> chart for only one week at No. 100 on the same week of its Billboard debut. In 2004, "I Saw Her Standing There" was ranked No. 139 on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Stone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Rolling Stone</a>'s list of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Stone%27s_500_Greatest_Songs_of_All_Time" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time</a>.Originally titled "Seventeen", the song was conceived by McCartney when driving home from a Beatles' concert in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southport" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Southport</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merseyside" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Merseyside</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Saw_Her_Standing_There#cite_note-FOOTNOTEBadman200050-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[1]</a> as a modern take on the traditional song "As I Roved Out", a version of "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_Come_Sunday" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Seventeen Come Sunday</a>" that he had heard in Liverpool in 1960.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Saw_Her_Standing_There#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchofield2012395-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[2]</a> According to Beatles biographer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Lewisohn" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Mark Lewisohn</a>, McCartney first worked out the chords and arrangement on an acoustic guitar at the family home of his Liverpool friend and fellow musician <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rory_Storm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rory Storm</a> on the evening of 22 October 1962.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Saw_Her_Standing_There#cite_note-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[3]</a> Two days later, McCartney was writing lines for the song during a visit to London with his then-girlfriend Celia Mortimer, who was seventeen at the time herself.The first live recording (a slow version of the song) was made at the Cavern Club at the end of 1962. Lennon did not play rhythm guitar; he played harmonica in the introduction and during the verses. Lennon and McCartney laughed when they sang "Well we danced all night/And I held her tight/And I held her hand in mine" the second time.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Saw_Her_Standing_There#cite_note-BB-10" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[9]</a>The song was recorded at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Road_Studios" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">EMI Studios</a> on 11 February 1963 and engineered by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Smith_(record_producer)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Norman Smith</a>, as part of the marathon recording session that produced 10 of the 14 songs on Please Please Me.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Saw_Her_Standing_There#cite_note-FOOTNOTELewisohn198824-14" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[13]</a> The Beatles were not present for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_mixing_(recorded_music)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">mixing</a> session on 25 February 1963.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Saw_Her_Standing_There#cite_note-FOOTNOTELewisohn198828-15" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[14]</a> It was not common practice for bands to be present at such sessions at that time.On the album, the song starts with a rousing "One, two, three, four!" count-in by McCartney. Usually count-ins are edited off the final audio mix; however, record producer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Martin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">George Martin</a> wanted to create the effect that the album was a live performance: "I had been up to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cavern" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">the Cavern</a> and I'd 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'".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Saw_Her_Standing_There#cite_note-FOOTNOTEThe_Beatles200092-16" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[15]</a> Martin took the count-in from take 9, which was considered 'especially spirited'<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Saw_Her_Standing_There#cite_note-FOOTNOTELewisohn19889-11" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[10]</a> and spliced it onto take 1.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Saw_Her_Standing_There#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMacDonald200560-17" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[16]</a> Music journalist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Williams_(journalist)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Richard Williams</a> suggested that this dramatic introduction to their debut album was just as stirring as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Elvis Presley</a>'s "Well, it's one for the money, two for the show ..." on his opening track, "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Suede_Shoes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Blue Suede Shoes</a>", for his debut album seven years earlier.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Saw_Her_Standing_There#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMojo200240-18" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[17]</a> It also made the point that the Beatles were a live band as, at that time, they opened their set with this song.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Saw_Her_Standing_There#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMacDonald200568-19" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[18]</a> On the first American release of the song, issued on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vee_Jay_Records" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Vee Jay Records</a>, the count was edited out—but the "Four!" is still audible.<img src="https://singsnap-cdn.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/message-board/threads/XAZQ/16ec91757e_LE7Y_media.gif">