The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There” includes one of the band’s most iconic lines: “She was just 17/If you know what I mean.” However, Paul McCartney’s original opening lines of the song were very different. Here’s what The Beatles originally wrote — and why they decided that 17 was the right age for the girl in the song. Show
The original version of the line ‘She was just 17/If you know what I mean’ from The Beatles’ ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ was much differentAccording to the book The Beatles: A Hard Day’s Write — The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song, Paul McCartney started writing “I Saw Her Standing There” one night in 1962. He wanted the song to appeal to The Beatles’ fans, who were mostly female. “I didn’t think a lot about it as I sang it to myself,” he said. “Originally the first two lines were ‘She was just 17/Never been a beauty queen’. It sounded like a good rhyme to me at the time. But when I played it through to John the next day, I realized that it was a useless line and so did John. So we both sat down and tried to come up with another line which rhymed with 17 but which meant something.” The Beatles’ ” I Saw Her Standing There”John came up with the lyric “She was just 17/If you know what I mean.” Paul said the new line could be seen as innocuous or provocative. After all, 16 was the age of consent in England at the time. Even years later, the song still provoked controversy. According to the BBC, Jerry Seinfeld once told Paul “‘Just Seventeen, you know what I mean’? I’m not sure we do know what you mean!” Why ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ became the first song on The Beatles first album“I Saw Her Standing There” became the first song on The Beatles’ first album, Please Please Me. During an interview with Clash Magazine, Paul explained why this was the case. “Actually, what we used to do is we’d cut up the list and then play with it like a little jigsaw, and then go, ‘Oh, that looks good, what about that?’” he said. “So yeah, it was just a last minute thing with the group and George Martin… I think that’s kind of how most people do this stuff.” How the public reacted to The Beatles’ ‘I Saw Her Standing There’Tiffany’s “I Saw Him Standing There”Related John Lennon Liked 1 Elvis Presley Hit Better Than All The Beatles’ Songs The final version of “I Saw Her Standing There” was a hit. It reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 11 weeks. In addition, a gender-swapped cover of the song by Tiffany called “I Saw Him Standing There” also reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the chart for 14 weeks. “I Saw Her Standing There” remains one of the most famous songs from The Beatles’ bubblegum period — and it wouldn’t be the same without that iconic line. “I Saw Her Standing There” has the distinction of being one of the very first Beatles songs heard in the United States, thanks to being chosen by Capitol records as the flip side to their first charted single, “I Want To Hold Your Hand” (released December 26th, 1963). It was also a very good representation of what The Beatles' music was all about. The Beatles worked hard to absorb, as well as create, the “beat” music craze which swept Liverpool, London and even Hamburg, Germany in the early sixties. This song, unlike most others recorded this early on in their career, is an accurate reflection of the swinging dance sound they were known for at the Cavern Club and other dance halls around their home town. So, while American youth snapped their fingers and sang along to “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, when they heard “I Saw Her Standing There”, they got up and danced! Songwriting History The history of the song, as can be determined by deciphering interviews throughout the years, dates back to 1962. "I thought of the idea driving home from a concert in Southport," says McCartney. The Beatles played various times in 1962 in Southport, such as July 23rd or July 26th, but recollections that are related in Mark Lewisohn's book "Tune In" suggest that Paul had to have been remembering the trip back from a performance at Queens Hall in Widnes on October 22nd, 1962. But was there a girl in mind that Paul was singing about? Many suggest girlfriend Iris Caldwell, but Celia feels differently. "I felt like the song was about us, but it wasn't said. It was implicit, but difficult to state openly because it would have made things terribly intimate. But I was very flattered, and it became for me an abiding memory of our trip to London." The reader should know that Celia was indeed "seventeen" at the time and they actually did "dance through the night." Coincidence? This was the first Beatles song released that features a high falsetto “ooh.” This feature became a staple of the earlier catalog of hits, as they closed their eyes, shook their heads, and reached up for the falsetto notes during their performances, which created a frenzied reaction especially from admiring teen girls. Such was the impact on US audiences as they caught their first glimpse of the band on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. The Beatles in the EMI studio control room, 1963 Recording History Finally, in their repeat of the third verse, they both get the lyrics right but Paul, probably figuring that they messed up the song too badly, ended the song with a falling note on his bass guitar while John commented to Paul about their mistakes. Having accomplished this edit piece acceptably, George Martin’s next idea was to have the Beatles perform an edit piece for the guitar solo, but this time without as much reverb and with more excited screams from John and Paul. “Take four” was their first attempt at this edit piece, which began with the last four measures of the third verse as an introduction. George Harrison’s ad-lib guitar solo wasn’t quite as good, so they tried it again as “take five.” After practicing their “wooohs,” they started off “take five” too fast and, although they shouted more during the solo, the actual guitar solo was not very good at all, which rendered this edit piece useless as well. Little did they know at the time that they would return to the song later that day. At some point, George Martin thought having the group clap their hands throughout the song would create an excited atmosphere, so at about 4:45 pm, the Beatles gathered around a microphone to do just that. “Take ten” was a play back of “take nine” in order for them to perform this overdub but, upon listening to it, George Martin decided that he liked “take one” better after all. So the first take of the song was spooled up for the handclap overdub. Song Structure and Style The song then returns to repeat the climactic bridge and final “boy gets girl” verse, repeating the song's title three times to, inadvertently, drive home the title of the song in our heads. The chords take a surprise left turn at the end to switch things up a bit, before crashing down with a triumphant clang of a guitar chord coupled with a vocal accentuation from its lead singer. A conclusion like this can only encourage applause. American Releases "Live 1962, Hamburg Germany" was a double album released on the Hall Of Music record label in 1981. It contained a version of "I Saw Her Standing There" that was recorded during the 1962 Christmas season in Hamburg on a portable Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder. The first time the original British "Please Please Me" album was made available in the US was the "Original Master Recording" vinyl edition released through Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab in January of 1987. This album included "I Saw Her Standing There" as its opening track and was prepared utilizing half-speed mastering technology from the original master tape on loan from EMI. This version of the album was only available for a short time and is quite collectible today. On September 9th, 2009, the box set "The Beatles In Mono" was released, featuring an extremely clear remastered version of the mono "I Saw Her Standing There." Interestingly, two samplers for the above album were released at that time for promotional purposes, a five-song sampler and a fourteen-song sampler. Both included this newly available BBC recording of "I Saw Her Standing There." The Beatles performing in Hamburg, Germany Live Performances On June 20th, 1986, Paul returned to a concert stage after nearly a six-and-a-half year absence to perform for the 1986 Prince's Trust Rock Gala at Wembley Area in London. The first of three songs Paul performed with the band of All-Stars present on the stage was "I Saw Her Standing There," also featuring Elton John, Eric Clapton, Brian Adams, Phil Collins, Mark Knofler and many others. Paul twice performed "I Saw Her Standing There" as a duet with Billy Joel, once on July 16th, 2008 at Billy's Shea Stadium concert in New York City, which was a total impromptu performance that Paul flown in for at the last minute for the very last show ever performed at this legendary venue. He then performed the song again with Billy Joel on July 17th, 2009 at Citi Field in New York City. On January 27th, 2014, Paul and his band performed "I Saw Her Standing There" at the Los Angeles Convention Center for the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which was aired on CBS on February 9th of that year. Conclusion In retrospect, this song was a definitive representation of The Beatles' sound. The Beatles, with this song, set on vinyl the excitement created in Liverpool of the “beat music” craze, while we here in the states naturally recognized this as the epitome of good old “rock and roll”, but with a twist. We acknowledged the exotic young Liverpool accents as a British phenomenon unlike anything heard before, and saw in it a distinctiveness that we dubbed the “British Invasion.” But for The Beatles themselves, they were just that…themselves. They were only reflecting what was happening around them back home musically. They just liked the music that they liked, and played the music that they played. It finally became evident that the timing was NOW right for The Beatles to make an impact on the United States. And that they did, with the help of the irresistible “I Saw Her Standing There.” When did I Saw Her Standing There come out?I Saw Her Standing There. What was the last song the Beatles ever played?In 1996, the third live performance of "Get Back", which was the last song of the Beatles' final live performance, was included on Anthology 3.
What is John Lennon's favorite Beatles song?'Hey Jude'
“That's his best song,” John told Hit Parader in 1972. ” It started off as a song about my son Julian because Paul was going to see him. Then he turned it into 'Hey Jude. ' I always thought it was about me and Yoko but he said it was about him and his.”
What was the original title for the song I Saw Her Standing There?'I Saw Her Standing There' was recorded during the marathon session on 11 February 1963, which yielded the majority of tracks on the Please Please Me LP. It was recorded under its working title, 'Seventeen'. That's Paul doing his usual good job of producing what George Martin used to call a 'potboiler'.
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