Ive always really loved 'I saw her standing there', for one, the energetic bass line is completely awesome, fast & fluid and it drives the song along at a great pace, pity imo that this wasnt theyre first single..(its a good exercise for budding bass players to play this and sing it as paul did, it takes a while to master)
Regarding the song itself, simplicity is the key, but simplicity in life is what life was in early 60's england, the words to the song are plainly obvious about fancying the pants off a girl, i believe it was lennon who suggested the 'you know what i mean ' line instead of 'never been a beauty queen', a BIG improvement and it gave the song and edge. I like the way the simple lyrics are met by the simplicity of the melody, i think the verse has only 4 notes, tonic, 2nd, 5th, 7th , curiously the 7th is flattened in the verses and the 2nd is only used once. Ive always thought the 'Ohh' at the end of the pentatonic upward surge 'I'll never dance with another' Ohhhhhhhhh.........thats a real beatles style hook just there imo
, the middle section, where his heart goes zoom, also has yet another melisma !! 'held her hand in mi-yine-----ine and this melisma brilliantly enters the falsetto which stands out and hooks you in.
I think the recording is quite perfect, even the handclaps
theres not really much for the boys to do, Ringo just has to keep the beat, Georges solo is erm............adeqaute
nothing flash, couldve been better of course. All in all a perfect example of brilliant pop songwriting 10/10