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
Well, she looked at me, and I, I could see,
that before too long, I’d fall in love with her.
She wouldn’t dance with another, ooh,
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
Oh, we danced through the night, and we held each other tight,
and before too long, I fell in love with her.
Now I’ll never dance with another, ooh,
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
Well, my heart went, “boom”, when I crossed that room,
and I held her hand in mine.
Verse 4
Oh, we danced through the night, and we held each other tight,
and before too long, I fell in love with her.
Now I’ll never dance with another, ooh,
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 Chords: Decoding the Blues Progressions
This song combines two major blues progressions with one borrowed chord from a minor blues progression. Let’s break it down section by section, and you’ll see exactly what I mean.
The verse is a 16-bar progression that starts like an 8-bar blues:
| E7 | E7 | A | E7 |
| E7 | E7 | B7 | B7 |
Then comes the more experimental signature section:
| E | E/G# | A | C |
| E7 | B7 | E7 | E7 |
Here, we build towards the IV chord with E – E/G# – A. After this A, we get a C chord—the “wacky” outside chord. If you compare it to The Thrill Is Gone (where G serves a similar function), you’ll notice it sits a semitone above the dominant: the V in major or IIIx in minor.
To round off the verse, we return to I – V – I.
Now, let’s look at the bridge, which follows a blues structure that starts on IV (as Crossroads do).
| A | A | A | A |
| A | A | B7 | B7 | A7 | A7 |
This ten-bar section begins on IV, as many bridges do, then moves up to V before resolving back to IV, maintaining the tension.
The IV – V movement ranks #2 on my top 10 chord progressions list—and for good reason. This bridge perfectly showcases its power.
One final progression worth mentioning (though you’ll probably never play it) is the solo section:
| E7 | E7 | E7 | E7 |
| E7 | E7 | B7 | B7 |
| E7 | E7 | A7 | A7 |
| E7 | B7 | E7 | E7 |
It follows a 16-bar blues structure, but here’s the thing: in 30 years, after playing this song with at least 100 different bands, I’ve never once heard anyone stick to this progression during the solo. Every band just defaults to the verse progression instead!
A super pro guitarist listens carefully in bar three—waiting to see if that C chord is going to appear in bar 12. Or, even more shockingly, find out how the band members have done the unthinkable—actually listened to the original recording!
Here’s a chord chart.
I Saw Her Standing There Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
If you share my chord chart with your band members in advance, you’ll ensure the solo chords are played correctly!
If you chose to download in the iReal Pro format, you could change the key and alter my layout.
I Saw Her Standing There – A Cover Band Essential
The Beatles wrote so many great songs that charted so well, they could afford to release some as B-sides in one country and A-sides in another!
That was the case with I Saw Her Standing There, which was a B-side to I Want to Hold Your Hand in the U.S. but an A-side in Australia.
As the opening track on Please Please Me (U.K.) and Introducing… The Beatles (U.S.), it became one of the band’s many signature songs. Its legacy as a must-know tune for every cover band since 1963 is staggering.
I’d put I Saw Her Standing There 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!
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