"I Saw Her Standing There"

Song: “I Saw Her Standing There”
Album: Please Please Me (1963)

“I Saw Her Standing There” is the first track on the Beatles’ debut LP, Please Please Me.” It was also released as a B-side in the U.S. (A-sided by “I Want To Hold Your Hand”). The song originated with McCartney (in fact, the Please Please Me liner notes credit the tune to McCartney-Lennon, instead of the more familiar Lennon-McCartney), but John and he collaborated in its completion.  It was first titled “Seventeen” and included the lyric, “She was just seventeen, never been a beauty queen,” which evidently induced howling laughter in John, who insisted the beauty queen bit be changed.   It was, as was the title.

The track was recorded at EMI in February of 1963, during the marathon recording session that included 10 of the 14 songs on the  Please Please Me LP.  Producer George Martin hoped to capture the energy of a Beatles’ concert by giving the album a live performance vibe. One of his techniques to this end was to include Paul’s “One, two, three, four! count-in at the beginning of this song (something that was usually removed during mixing).  Apparently The Ramones began most songs during their live sets with the same count-in, paying homage to the Beatles and “I Saw Her Standing There.”