Act Naturally

One question that this blog raises is what, exactly, do I mean by “every Beatles song”?  Turns out I can’t put that question off since, in only my second post, I have to make a decision: do I include cover songs and learn “Act Naturally,” or do I just go with original Beatles compositions and learn “All I’ve Got to Do”?  If I do decide to learn “Act Naturally,” do I then have to learn every obscure cover song that the Beatles ever performed (or that, at the very least, we have record of)?

So my solution is this – I will learn any covers that The Beatles did on their studio releases.  So, since “Act Naturally” appears on Help!, Iwent ahead and learned it.

And, I must say, I’m happy I did.  It’s certainly not the most profound song I’ve ever heard, but it’s fun and gave me a good chance to practice playing fills rather than just sticking to chords.  Plus, it’s one of the rare songs featuring Ringo as the lead singer, and what could be better than that?

Johnny Russell and Voni Morisson wrote the song in the early sixties, and Buck Owens and the Buckaroos turned it into a #1 hit on the Country charts in 1963.  Buck Owens would continue to perform it throughout his career, including his years as the co-host of Hee-Haw.  The Beatles covered it on their 1965 album, Help!, and it appeared as the B-side of “Yesterday.”  Alas, they never appeared on Hee-Haw.

The lyrics are a little silly.  A person (presumably male) has been dumped by his significant other and he figures the resulting depression will launch his movie career since he can deliver perfect performances of depressed characters just by, well, acting naturally.  It’s not exactly poetry, but it’s entertaining enough in its way.  What makes the song work is that despite the absurdity of its premise it remains earnest and never tries to be tongue-in-cheek, which, in turn, makes it delightfully tongue-in-cheek.

Musically, things are pretty fun, too.  The rhythm is uncomplicated, and the fills have a lighthearted, even slightly silly feel to them that creates a good call-and-response with the silly and playful lyrics.

The song does, though, feature two guitar parts so I had to figure out how to negotiate that on a single guitar.  This was particularly difficult because the lead guitarist tunes the bottom “e” string down a full step, but the rhythm guitarist does not.  Fortunately, the rhythm guitarist really only has to play four chords (G, D7, C, and A7) and only one of those (G) uses the bottom “e” string.  So, if I just don’t play the root note on the G chords, I can still switch between the rhythm and lead parts without having to stop and re-tune my guitar mid song.  So that’s exactly what I did.

First I learned the rhythm and lead parts separately.  The rhythm part is extremely easy since, as I already mentioned, it consists of only four chords and all four of those chords are easy to play (no barre-chords this time!).

The lead took a bit longer.  Part of this was because I didn’t, at first, realize that George sometimes plays different riffs during repetitions of the verse and chorus sections of the song.  The sheet music that I’m using presented these riffs more or less on top of each other, rather than write out each repetition separately.  So, at first, I was trying to learn how to play two riffs at the same time – needless to say, this was impossibly difficult (literally, since, at one point, I was trying to play two notes on one string at the same time).  After a whole evening of frustration I re-listened to the recording of the song and realized what I was doing wrong.

From that point on it was just a matter of training my hands to move the way they needed to.  The short intro riff isn’t too hard except for a very fast hammer-on in the third measure.  The signature riff of the song (it appears for the first time at about 0:20 of the recording, then recurs throughout) is easy, although it does require hammering one string, so it was good practice in that regard.  The biggest problem for me is hammering a note while still playing in time – I tend to hammer too quickly then pause too long after, so I used this song (and my metronome) to really work on this.   The other riffs weren’t too difficult, I just took them one at a time and, with a little metronome and a lot of practice, eventually got them down.  Then, I practiced stringing them together as they appear in the song, which wasn’t too hard since there’s a two measure break between each riff during which I can get my fingers ready.

Then came the task of putting the rhythm and lead parts together.  The riffs are crucial to the song – without them the song is nothing more than strumming some standard chords.  So, I decided to play all of the riffs and just fill the spaces in-between with the rhythm.  This wasn’t that much harder than just playing the riffs alone, so it didn’t take too long, although most of the space in-between the riffs is just a “G” chord, so it does sound a bit “G” heavy.  Oh, well.  Maybe someday Paul and Ringo will want to play with me and we can do it right.  Until then, I’ll just have to make due with my one guitar.

All in all, I had a good time with this song, which is, in the end, what I think the song is really all about.  Amidst its silly gloom and doom lyrics is an up-beat tune that is somewhat charming in its cheesiness – just like Ringo himself.  Most importantly, the song worked as an intro to playing fills and using techniques like slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs.

Two down – now on to “All I’ve Got to Do”…

Lyrics – Act Naturally

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’ll 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 rehearsin’
All I have to 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’ll 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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