The Great Beatles Songs: I Saw Her Standing There

#1. This is it. Here it comes. #1. In my humble opinion, this is the greatest Beatles song of all time. I Saw Her Standing There from the Please, Please Me album. It is a breathless, all-out rocker that they had performing to great acclaim for years.

The Beatles had this in their live repertoire in Hamburg in 1962. It's original title was simply "17." It is a Paul song with some touch up from John. John helped Paul change the line "Well, she was just seventeen and she'd never been a beauty queen" (which he wrote down in a van one night in early 62) to a complete throwaway since they deemed the original line worthless. It would become "you know what I mean." It would become the heart of the song and the cornerstone of the album. Nothing before (or since) would pack as much excitement into a song, with A Hard Day's Night and Helter Skelter coming close. The song soars from the opening, Paul's count-in intro. The Beatles would record the entire album in one day and this would be the song that they would pour everything into (with a raspy John tearing his throat up for the finale one take brilliance of Twist and Shout) this song: raspy, suggestive vocals; twangy, rhythmic guitars; hand claps; those famous falsetto ooohs and a running bass line Paul says he "borrowed" from a Chuck Berry song. For almost three minutes, the boys rock out.

This would be the main song to usher in Beatlemania. Many people credit songs like All My Loving and From Me to You as being the other two songs. But there is no denying the importance of this song and the Beatles fondness for it. It was a live mainstay and continues to be for Paul in his live performances. It is certainly a crowd favorite. It has been covered countless times.

The greatest tribute for this song, and some strong evidence for its greatness, comes in the mid 70's. John Lennon was out with Yoko for about a year in 1974. He called it his "lost weekend." While he was drinking and partying a year with Harry Nilsson, he cruised into the recording studio for a memorable session with Elton John. Elton gave Lennon the confidence to record a throwaway number John had written called Whatever Gets You Through the Night. In return John asked Elton to cover one of his own Beatles songs. When Elton asked which song, John asked him to record Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, seeing as how he wasn't that pleased with the original recording. They recorded both. Elton guaranteed Whatever... would be a #1. Lennon was not so sure. They made a deal. If it DID top the charts, John Lennon would join Elton John LIVE on stage in NYC during the tour Elton would use to support the album he was recording. Long story semi-shortened: the song did go #1 and Lennon kept his bet. He appeared live during a Thanksgiving concert to perform three songs. Of course they would do Whatever and include Lucy in the Sky as well. They wanted one more song to perform. A nice, tidy three song set. And there was one song John wanted to sing. He would intro the song by saying it was a song written by an "estranged fiance of mine called Paul." Then Lennon and Elton performed I Saw Her Standing There. It is captured on Elton's album Here There.

Even John Lennon recognized the simple, rocking brilliance of this song. It didn't matter that Paul wrote it. It was a great song. One of the greatest songs of all time, ever. And simply the greatest Beatles song ever. It may not carry the political message of All You Need is Love or Revolution. It may not be as beautiful as Something or Yesterday. It may not be as groundbreaking as Eleanor Rigby or Norwegian Wood. But it is a great, pure, energetic rocker. And everyone knows it, likes it and can recognize it from Paul's memorable count-in.

"One, two, three, FOUR!"