How Paul McCartney Reacted When Neil Young Sang The Beatles’ ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ With the Removed Lyrics

TL;DR:

• The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There” once had lyrics Paul McCartney and John Lennon disliked.
• Paul told Neil Young about the original lyrics.
• Young performed “I Saw Her Standing There” with the lines that were removed.

The Beatles‘ “I Saw Her Standing There” was the opening track on their debut album, meaning it was likely the first song millions of fans heard when they invited the band into their homes. So it’s unsurprising to hear that co-writers Paul McCartney and John Lennon went back and forth over the lyrics given the song’s importance. It’s also no shock that “I Saw Her Standing There” ended up as one of the best songs in the band’s catalog and was covered by the likes of music icons such as Neil Young.

In fact, Young decided to pay homage to the original version of “I Saw Her Standing There” after hearing about the lyric debate between McCartney and Lennon.

Paul McCartney gave John Lennon ‘that look’ after writing a line from The Beatles’ ‘I Saw Her Standing There’

During a 2021 interview with Rolling Stone, Paul discussed the evolution of “I Saw Her Standing There.” “‘I Saw Her Standing There,’ my line was, ‘She was just 17 and she’d never been a beauty queen,'” he recalled. “And I gave that look to John, like, ‘Beauty queen?'” McCartney didn’t love the line and sensed his partner felt the same way about the shaky rhyme.

“And he sort of gave me a ‘Beauty queen?’ look back,” Paul remembered. Lennon’s amusement at the line encouraged McCartney to figure out something new. “So we just said, ‘Let’s do something different.’ Then ‘You know what I mean’ came up, which is much more satisfying.”

Paul McCartney explained why Neil Young ‘had’ to sing the song with the original lines

Young later learned about the original lyrics of “I Saw Her Standing There.” “I was telling Neil Young this story once,” McCartney said. “We were doing something — the Hollywood Pavement of Fame, or whatever you call it. I said to him, ‘It was ‘beauty queen’ originally.’ He said, ‘Oh, great,’ then I thought he’d just forgotten it.”

Young didn’t forget it. “But that evening we were playing, I think it was MusiCares, and he did ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ with the original lyrics,” Paul added. “‘Just 17 and she’d never been a beauty queen.’ That’s Neil. He had to do that. Sounded good, I must say. But I like the revised lyric better.”

As an accomplished songwriter himself, Young may have wanted to pay homage to McCartney’s original vision for The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There.” Or perhaps Young thought McCartney would get a kick out of finally hearing “never been a beauty queen” finally sung in front of an audience. Whatever Young’s reasoning, it made a lasting impression on McCartney.

How The Beatles’ ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ performed on the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom

“I Saw Her Standing There” became a modest hit for The Beatles in the United States. The song reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 11 weeks.

“I Saw Her Standing There” was far less popular in the United Kingdom. According to The Official Charts Company, the song reached No. 90 there for one week. Meanwhile, 1962-1966 became a huge hit in the U.K. There, the album reached No. 3 and lasted 167 weeks on the chart.

The original lyrics of “I Saw Her Standing There” are mostly forgotten — but Young brought them back to life.