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Act Naturally
(Voni Morrison/John Russell)
Ringo
Starr: Vocals, drums, sticks
John Lennon: Acoustic guitar
Paul McCartney: Bass guitar, vocals
George Harrison: Electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Recorded
June 17 1965.
Available
on:
Help!
Anthology 2
By mid-June
1965, The Beatles had completed most of the Help! album,
but there was one problem: Ringo didn't have a song. It
was a Beatles tradition to let Ringo sing lead vocal on
one song for each record, but the problem was that Lennon/McCartney
had not written a suitable song for him to sing. The only
song they could offer him was You've Got Trouble, which
was recorded in February 1965, but this song wasn't considered
good enough for the album. (You've Got Trouble can be heard
on Anthology 2.)
Instead,
the Beatles decided to do a cover song, and the choice fell
on Act Naturally, which was a hit with Buck Owens &
The Buckaroos in 1963. The song was perfect for Ringo who
was (and still is) a fan of country and western music. Ringo
also saw the funny side of the song, and performed it in
a humoristic way. The song is about a man who's been left
by his lover and who thinks about his own life as a movie:
"We'll make a film about a man that's sad and lonely,
and all I gotta do is act naturally." The song also
fitted in well since the Beatles had featured in two movies
by this stage, A Hard Day's Night and Help!
Act Naturally
was the last cover song to feature on a Beatles record until
Maggie Mae
(trad.) on Let
It Be. It was recorded in 13 takes and Ringo's vocal
wasn't added before on the last take.
But the song only just made it to the album. Engineer Norman
Smith says in Mark Lewisohn's book The
Complete Beatles Recording Sessions that he had written
a song with John Lennon in mind. When Norman heard that
the Beatles needed one more song for the Help! album he
told producer George Martin that he had a song that could
be suitable. Martin convinced him to play it to Paul McCartney.
McCartney was impressed by what he heard and said: "That's
really good, I can hear John sing that!" He then asked
Norman to do a demo version of the song.
Music publisher Dick James offered 15,000 British Pounds
for the song, but Martin convinced Norman it was worth more,
so he decided to wait until the next day before talking
about a fee.
Norman finished a demo of the song by the following day,
but by then the Beatles had decided to record Act Naturally
instead. They said they would do Norman's song "another
time" - but that never happened.
Act Naturally
(Voni Morrison/John Russell)
They're
gonna put me in the movies
they're gonna make a big star out of me
We'll make a film about a man that's sad and lonely
and all I gotta do is act naturally
Well,
I'll bet you I'm gonna be a big star
might win an Oscar you can never tell
the movies gonna make me a big star
'Cause I can play the part so well
Well I
hope you come and see me in the movies
then I know that you will plainly see
The biggest fool that ever hit the big time
and all I gotta do is act naturally
We'll
make the scene about a man that's sad and lonely
and beggin down upon his bended knee
I'll play the part but I won't need rehearsal
all I gotta do is act naturally
Well,
I'll bet you I'm gonna be a big star
might win an Oscar you can never tell
the movies gonna make me a big star
'Cause I can play the part so well
Well I
hope you come and see me in the movies
then I know that you will plainly see
The biggest fool that ever hit the big time
and all I gotta do is act naturally
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