What Paul McCartney Thought of Tiffany’s ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ Cover
TL;DR:
- Tiffany covered The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There.”
- Ringo Starr was friendly with her and Paul McCartney enjoyed the cover.
- Tiffany’s cover became a top 10 single in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Tiffany covered The Beatles‘ “I Saw Her Standing There” in the 1980s under the name “I Saw Him Standing There.” Subsequently, she met Ringo Starr. Tiffany also learned what Paul McCartney thought about her cover.
Why Tiffany covered The Beatles’ ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ when she didn’t want to
During a 2017 interview with SongFacts, Tiffany revealed she didn’t want to cover The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There” because she was such a fan of the group. She said her manager talked her into recording the song.
“The Beatles are so sacred to a lot of people, and you’re really playing with fire if you go out there and it’s not well received,” she said. “But I think that we did a great version of it. The mentality was just exposing my age group to The Beatles in a different way.” Like when she covered Tommy James and the Shondells’ “I Think We’re Alone Now,” Tiffany was concerned about redoing a song her generation’s parents knew so well.
Tiffany met The Beatles’ Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney embraced her cover
Tiffany revealed her feelings about her gender-flipped cover of “I Saw Her Standing There.” “I was very, very proud,” she said. “I actually hung out with Ringo Starr quite a bit when I was in London for different things. I would seem to always bump into him, and he was always wonderful and just fun. I hope I didn’t dork out too much. But, it was a big honor.”
Paul enjoyed the cover too. “Paul McCartney was asked in an interview one time about that, and he gave the thumbs-up,” Tiffany recalled. “He said, ‘I think they did a good version.’ So, that was awesome. You don’t know what the other artists or the writers of the song are going to think.”
How Tiffany’s ‘I Saw Him Standing There’ performed on the charts
Tiffany’s “I Saw Him Standing There” became the only Beatles cover by a female artist to reach the top 10 in the United States. Not even Aretha Franklin’s recording of “Eleanor Rigby” accomplished that feat. “I Saw Him Standing There” reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for 14 weeks.
The tune appeared on the album Tiffany. That album peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for two weeks, staying on the chart for 69 weeks. None of Tiffany’s subsequent albums performed nearly as well on the chart.
According to The Official Charts Company, “I Saw Him Standing There” peaked at No. 8 in the United Kingdom. It lasted on the chart for eight weeks. Meanwhile, the album Tiffany reached No. 5 in the U.K. and lasted on the chart for 21 weeks.
Tiffany’s “I Saw Him Standing There” impressed the public and Paul.
