{"id":4455,"date":"2006-03-26T20:42:25","date_gmt":"2006-03-27T00:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2006\/03\/26\/actin-naturally-buck-owens-is"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:54:03","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:54:03","slug":"actin-naturally-buck-owens-is-still-picking-and-smiling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2006\/03\/26\/actin-naturally-buck-owens-is-still-picking-and-smiling\/","title":{"rendered":"actin’ naturally: buck owens is still picking and smiling"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

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I was a Buck Owens<\/A> fan long before I knew it.   In my sheltered, urban, <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Northeast childhood, “Act Naturally<\/A><\/EM>” was a Beatles song, released in <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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1965, when I was fifteen — the flip <\/FONT>side to the most covered song in record <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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history, “<\/FONT>Yesterday<\/EM><\/FONT><\/A>” <\/FONT>— and the <\/FONT>anthem, sung along with Ringo Starr, for my <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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youthful (and not-so-youthful) romantic <\/FONT>failures.  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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                                                                        <\/FONT>record cover<\/FONT><\/A> \"ActNaturallyLabel\" <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Act Naturally<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A> (J. Russell – V. Morrison)<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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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<\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/FONT><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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The biggest star in country music in the 1960s made not the slightest <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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dent on my psyche.  Not when he achieved 15 #1 hits in a row, nor <\/FONT>when <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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he adopted the red, white and blue <\/FONT>guitar, that became his trademark at the <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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end of that decade, to show <\/FONT>his patriotism, while I concentrated on <\/FONT>Viet Nam <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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War protestation.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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“bucLegend”  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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 “<\/FONT>catch a legend<\/FONT><\/A>“<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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It took me a few decades to realize that Buck Owens had his first #1 <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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country <\/FONT>hit<\/FONT><\/A> with “<\/FONT>Act Naturally<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A>” in 1963 (click here<\/FONT><\/A> to hear Buck and Ringo <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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sing the <\/FONT>tune together<\/EM><\/FONT>).   My ignorance was due in part to city-folk bias <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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against country music, which also kept me from becoming a fan of the <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Hee-Haw<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A> <\/FONT>tv show, where <\/FONT>Buck<\/FONT><\/A> was a co-host from 1969 to 1986.  (see <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Washington <\/EM><\/FONT><\/FONT>Post<\/EM> Buck Owens <\/FONT><\/FONT>obituary<\/FONT><\/A>, March 26, 2006)<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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                                                                                 \"BucLogoN\" crystal palace<\/FONT><\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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I missed out on a lot of fun and good honky-tonk music — even after <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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I became a big country music fan in the late ’70s (thanks to a few friends <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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who played in country-rock bands).  Buck went into a vol<\/FONT>untary retirement, <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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just when I would have most appreciated his brand <\/FONT>of guitar-driven, pared-<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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down, strong beat, “American music”.  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Streets of Bakersfield Lyrics<\/EM><\/FONT><\/A>
(Homer Joy)

Chorus:
<\/FONT>You don’t know me but you don’t like me
You say you care less how I feel
But how many of you that sit and judge me
Have ever walked the streets of Bakersfield?<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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\"BucGlitter\" owens<\/FONT>                                                             <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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It wasn’t <\/FONT>until he recorded “Streets of Bakersfield,” in 1988, with country star <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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(and <\/FONT>actor) Dwight Yokam (on the Buenas Noches<\/EM> ..” album<\/A>), that I finally <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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focused on this remarkable man and <\/FONT>musician, who seemed to enjoy himself <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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so much, even when singing about <\/FONT>mean streets and broken hearts — and <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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even though he had to buck the sappy trend in Nashville country music, to create <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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his own “Bakersfield sound” in blue-collar California.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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                                                                                                       \"DYoakam\" yoakam<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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In 2000, newer generations got to hear Buck Owens sing “Act Natur<\/FONT>ally” again,<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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on the <\/FONT>soundtrack<\/FONT><\/A> of Denzel Washington’s <\/FONT>Remember the Titans<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A> (2000).  It <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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is sadly ironic that it took his death yesterday, to get millions of us to <\/FONT>cue up <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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one of Buck’s albums and enjoy his music today.  Buck Owens deserves to <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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be remembered far beyond the Country Music community.  He is surely <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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still doing what comes most naturally to him — plucking that patriotic guitar, <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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tapping his foot, and smiling.  My foot is tapping, too.  Seventy-six years is <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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not enough for us, Buck, but thank you for taking us along your journey.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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 \"BucOwensMug\"  You can find a 27-page, multimedia bio<\/A>, at Buck’s official <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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website. <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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p.s. This site<\/A> with “Act Naturally” lyrics, has this sad link:   <\/FONT><\/FONT>
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Discounted Concert Tickets for Buck Owens<\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/DIV><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/FONT><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was a Buck Owens fan long before I knew it.   In my sheltered, urban, Northeast childhood, “Act Naturally” was a Beatles song, released in  1965, when I was fifteen — the flip side to the most covered song in record history, “Yesterday” — and the anthem, sung along with Ringo Starr, for my youthful (and not-so-youthful) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-19R","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12716,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4455\/revisions\/12716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}