The first track on the first Beatles album (though Love Me Do was the first to be recorded, and the first John/Paul demo was called "In Spite Of All The Danger"), the 1-2-3-4 line was decided to stay as this added to the feeling that it was a live performance by a raw Liverpool beat group.
Originally known as "17", this track tells the time-tested story of boy meets girl (in a local ballroom) and decides to dance with no other, after realising that her looks are "way beyond compare".
Paul started composing this song driving back to his Allerton home in 1962. The idea of writing about a 17 year old girl was no coincidence. It was the age he was at at the time, and was an age when most of the audience could relate. Originally, the first two lines were "she was just 17 | Never been a beauty queen". When played to John, Paul thought it was a useless line.
The lyrics were first written either inside or on the back of a Liverpool Institute exercise book. The bassline was used on this track and taken from Chuck Berry's 1961 track "I'm talking about you". "Even", Paul says, "up to today, when I tell people about it, I find few of them believe me." Ergo... "Therefore," he says, "I maintain that a bass riff doesn't have to be original." Then there's the section about Iris Caldwell, sister of Rory Storm (and the Hurricanes). She was 17 at the time of authoring this piece. She was dancing the twist, in New Brighton's Tower Ballroom. "Paul and I dated for a couple of years, it was never meant to be serious, I went out with lots of people."
This song went on to be part of many live sets in 1962.
Good one, Bobo. It should be mentioned that in changing the line from "Never been a beauty queen" to "You know what I mean", Paul was including one of the all-time great subliminal messages to the Beatles' male fans. If one teen guy says to another teen guy, "She was just seventeen...you know what I mean?", what it really means is, "Hey, this chick is hot and ready for sex." Guys get the line. They know exactly what Paul means.
Good one, Bobo. It should be mentioned that in changing the line from "Never been a beauty queen" to "You know what I mean", Paul was including one of the all-time great subliminal messages to the Beatles' male fans. If one teen guy says to another teen guy, "She was just seventeen...you know what I mean?", what it really means is, "Hey, this chick is hot and ready for sex." Guys get the line. They know exactly what Paul means.
The first track on the first Beatles album (though Love Me Do was the first to be recorded, and the first John/Paul demo was called "In Spite Of All The Danger"), the 1-2-3-4 line was decided to stay as this added to the feeling that it was a live performance by a raw Liverpool beat group.
Originally known as "17", this track tells the time-tested story of boy meets girl (in a local ballroom) and decides to dance with no other, after realising that her looks are "way beyond compare".
Paul started composing this song driving back to his Allerton home in 1962. The idea of writing about a 17 year old girl was no coincidence. It was the age he was at at the time, and was an age when most of the audience could relate. Originally, the first two lines were "she was just 17 | Never been a beauty queen". When played to John, Paul thought it was a useless line.
The lyrics were first written either inside or on the back of a Liverpool Institute exercise book. The bassline was used on this track and taken from Chuck Berry's 1961 track "I'm talking about you". "Even", Paul says, "up to today, when I tell people about it, I find few of them believe me." Ergo... "Therefore," he says, "I maintain that a bass riff doesn't have to be original." Then there's the section about Iris Caldwell, sister of Rory Storm (and the Hurricanes). She was 17 at the time of authoring this piece. She was dancing the twist, in New Brighton's Tower Ballroom. "Paul and I dated for a couple of years, it was never meant to be serious, I went out with lots of people."
This song went on to be part of many live sets in 1962.
Good one, Bobo. It should be mentioned that in changing the line from "Never been a beauty queen" to "You know what I mean", Paul was including one of the all-time great subliminal messages to the Beatles' male fans. If one teen guy says to another teen guy, "She was just seventeen...you know what I mean?", what it really means is, "Hey, this chick is hot and ready for sex." Guys get the line. They know exactly what Paul means.
Good one, Bobo. It should be mentioned that in changing the line from "Never been a beauty queen" to "You know what I mean", Paul was including one of the all-time great subliminal messages to the Beatles' male fans. If one teen guy says to another teen guy, "She was just seventeen...you know what I mean?", what it really means is, "Hey, this chick is hot and ready for sex." Guys get the line. They know exactly what Paul means.