Song of the Day 4/3: Little Richard, “I Saw Her Standing There”

The only difficulty in picking a theme song for Matt Gaetz is that rock ‘n’ roll, especially the early stuff, is full of songs that traffic in misogyny and ephebophilia, often at the same time. But when a song starts out, “She was just 17,” you know you’re in Matt Gaetz territory. Yes, it’s a Lennon-McCartney composition — almost entirely the latter’s — but those “wooo-ooos” sound even better performed by the master of the form.

This was the B-side to the Beatles’ first stateside single, “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” Like most of their early singles, both tracks made the charts, with “I Saw Her Standing There” topping out at No. 14.