I Saw Her Standing There by The Beatles – ****

First released: 1963

For England, the lead off track of their first LP "Please Please Me". For Americans, the b-side of the "I Want to Hold Your Hand" 45 RPM single. Either way, a very strong track. I probably first heard it on the b-side or quite possibly the "Meet The Beatles" album and felt it was leaps and bounds ahead of what was on "Please Please Me" and it felt more at home on "Meet".

Later on, this song appeared on the "Rock and Roll Music" compilation and in a 1963 radio versions on "The Beatles Live at the BBC" that appeared in 1994. In any case, it has always been a great early rocker. A demo version appeared on the b-side of the "Free As a Bird" CD single.

Possibly the most amusing version over the years has got to be the 1974 version John Lennon played live on stage with Elton John as this was a McCartney original. Lennon’s comments beforehand about McCartney being his fiancé are quite funny. It originally appeared as the b-side of Elton’s "Philadelphia Freedom" and later was released to CD on 1990’s "Lennon". Different live versions were performed by Paul on 1990’s "Tripping the Live Fantastic", 2002/3's "Back in the US/World", the "Amoeba’s Secret" 12” and CD from 2007 and on 2009’s "Good Evening New York City". The Beatles also performed it live on "Live at the Star-Club, Hamburg 1962" from 1977. A different live version from 1963 appears on "Anthology 1" in 1995.