I Saw Her Standing There | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: E7 | E7 :||
1, 2, 3, 4!
Verse 1
| E7 | E7 | A | E7 |
Well, she was just seventeen, you know what I mean,
| E7 | E7 | B7 | B7 |
and the way she looked, was way beyond compare.
| E | E/G# | A | C |
So how could I dance with another, ooh?
| E7 | B7 | E7 | E7 |
When I saw her standing there?
Verse 2
| E7 | E7 | A | E7 |
Well, she looked at me, and I, I could see,
| E7 | E7 | B7 | B7 |
that before too long, I’d fall in love with her.
| E | E/G# | A | C |
She wouldn’t dance with another, ooh,
| E7 | B7 | E7 | E7 |
when I saw her standing there.
Bridge 1
| A | A | A | A |
Well, my heart went “boom”, when I crossed that room,
| A | A | B7 | B7 | A7 | A7 |
and I held her hand in mine.
Verse 3
| E7 | E7 | A | E7 |
Oh, we danced through the night, and we held each other tight,
| E7 | E7 | B7 | B7 |
and before too long, I fell in love with her.
| E | E/G# | A | C |
Now I’ll never dance with another, ooh,
| E7 | B7 | E7 | E7 |
since I saw her standing there, aaah-ha-ha-ha!
Solo 1
| E7 | E7 | E7 | E7 |
| E7 | E7 | B7 | B7 |
| E7 | E7 | A7 | A7 |
| E7 | B7 | E7 | E7 |
Bridge 2
| A | A | A | A |
Well, my heart went, “boom”, when I crossed that room,
| A | A | B7 | B7 | A7 | A7 |
and I held her hand in mine.
Verse 4
| E7 | E7 | A | E7 |
Oh, we danced through the night, and we held each other tight,
| E7 | E7 | B7 | B7 |
and before too long, I fell in love with her.
| E | E/G# | A | C |
Now I’ll never dance with another, ooh,
| E7 | B7 | E7 | E7 |
since I saw her standing there.
Outro
| E7 | B7 | E7 | E7 |
Oh, since I saw her standing there.
| E7 | B7 | A7 | (E G G# E) E7 |
Yeah well since I saw her standing there.
I Saw Her Standing There’s chords and progressions
This is essentially two major blues progressions with one chord borrowed from a minor blues progression. Let’s look at each individual section and you’ll soon see what I mean.
The first section, the verse, is 16 bars long and starts off like an 8-bar blues, like this:
| E7 | E7 | A | E7 |
| E7 | E7 | B7 | B7 |
This is followed by the more experimental and I Saw her Standing There’s signature section:
| E | E/G# | A | C |
| E7 | B7 | E7 | E7 |
Here we build towards the IV chord by going E – E/G# – A.
After this A we get a C chord. This is the outside wacky chord. If you compare it to what you hear in The Thrill Is Gone as a G chord, you’ll see the similarities, it sits a semitone above the dominant, the V in major or IIIx in minor.
To round the verse off, we just go I – V – I.
Next, let’s look at the bridge, which is like a blues that start on chord IV, like Crossroads, for example.
| A | A | A | A |
| A | A | B7 | B7 | A7 | A7 |
This ten-bar section starts on chord IV, as most bridges do, then goes up to V, before it goes back to IV, maintaining the tension.
The IV – V movement is #2 on my top 10 chord progression list for good reason, perfectly showcased here in I Saw Her Standing There’s bridge chords.
One final progression we should look at, which you’ll probably never play, is the solo.
| E7 | E7 | E7 | E7 |
| E7 | E7 | B7 | B7 |
| E7 | E7 | A7 | A7 |
| E7 | B7 | E7 | E7 |
A 16-bar blues idea, the reason I say you’ll never play this is that during the last 30 years, I’ve heard/played in at least 100 bands performing this song, and not one of them has played this progression during the solo, it’s always the verse progression instead!
The super pro guitarist listens out for what the band does in bar three to find out if that C chord is gonna appear in bar 12 or if the band members have done the unthinkable – actually listened to the original recording!
I Saw Her Standing There – A standard for covers bands
The Beatles wrote and released so many great songs that charted so well, they released some of them as B-sides in one country and A-sides in another!
This is the case with I Saw Her Standing There, released as a B-side for I Want To Hold Your Hand in the U.S., but as an A-side in Australia.
As the opening track of their album Please Please Me (U.K.) and Introducing The Beatles (U.S.), the song has become one of the band’s (many!) signature songs.
Its legacy as a must-know song on every covers band’s repertoire since 1963 is staggering.
I’d say I Saw Her Standing There is up there with Sweet Home Alabama, Sex On Fire, Valerie, Respect, and Superstition – all songs you simply have to know if you want to play in bands for a living.
Using the chords and lyrics above, study this one carefully!
I Saw Her Standing There chords | Related pages
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The Beatles
The Beatles are the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed band in the history of popular music.
As the leaders of the so-called British Invasion, their catchy Rock & Roll infused pop songs took America by storm, creating hysteria everywhere they went.
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