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Act Naturally

ACT NATURALLY
 
 
“Act Naturally”  is a song written by Johnny Russell and Voni Morrison, originally recorded by Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, whose version reached number 1 on the Billboard Country Singles chart in 1963, his first chart-topper.  The song tells the tale of someone who has been jilted and because of that, can play a film part of someone sad and lonely without knowing anything about acting.  The most well-known other version is from the Beatles in 1965.  Featuring Ringo Starr taking the lead vocal, it became a featured performance number of his in concert, both with the Beatles and later with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
Capitol Records did release “Yesterday” b/w “Act Naturally” as a 45 in the U.S. on September 13, 1965, and it was a major hit.  “Yesterday” topped the Billboard Music Charts for 4 weeks – with one million sold within 5 weeks of its release – and was the fifth Number One single among six in a row for the Beatles – a record at that time.  Still, in the Capitol Records files, “Act Naturally” was always considered to be the “A” side of this single. 
 
Ringo Starr would typically have a lead vocal performance on each Beatles album – examples include “Yellow Submarine”, “Act Naturally”, “Boys”, and the terrific Carl Perkins cover, “Honey, Don’t” – but hardly any of his songwriting made it onto the Beatles’ disks.  
 
(June 2015)