Beauty Queen?

September 18, 1962

One of the rare days off for the Beatles, so let's assume they spent the day working up a new song.  There's pretty good evidence that "I Saw Her Standing There" is put into performance shape at around this time.  And wonder of wonders, there is a photograph that supports it.

"With John and me on a song, if I come up with some lines which I know aren't really very good and I'm just hoping to fool him, I know I won't. 'I Saw Her Standing There' was the best example of it. I thought of the idea driving home from a concert in Southport. I had 'She was just seventeen,' and then, 'Beauty queen.' I knew this was rubbish, and that I'd put it down just because it rhymed. When I showed it to John, he screamed with laughter, and said 'You're joking about that line, aren't you?' And I realized that, in fact, I was, and we changed it."  Paul McCartney.

The song was finished in the McCartney living room at Forthlin Road in September 1962.  The photo was taken by Paul's photography minded brother, Mike.  The tune very soon became a prominent feature of their live shows.  It is interesting that Paul is playing a standard guitar, not a bass and John is using his new J-160e.  (They are both fingering B7th chords.)

I recall seeing a high-res version of this and the lyrics on the page are for ISHST

Lennon and McCartney are just taking their first giant leaps on the way to songwriting super-stardom.  (Hey, we can do this!)