On This Day in 1965, The Beatles Recorded the Song That Gave Buck Owens His First Country No. 1

June 17, 2026, 10:12am

On this day (June 17) in 1965, The Beatles recorded “Act Naturally” at what would later become Abbey Road Studios in London. Two years earlier, it was a landmark hit for Buck Owens, giving him the first of 14 consecutive No. 1 singles. After the members of the Fab Four started their solo careers, it became a concert staple for Ringo Starr, who sang lead on the recording.

“Act Naturally” initially appeared on the UK version of Help!. In the United States, the album only contained songs featured in the film of the same name. As a result, American fans first heard it as the B-side of “Yesterday,” which was released on September 13, 1965, a month after the LP hit shelves in the band’s home country.

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According to Beatles Bible, “If You’ve Got Trouble” was originally recorded as Starr’s showcase on Help!. They were unsatisfied with the recording, though. So, they chose to cover this country hit.

Starr is a longtime fan of country music. So, it should come as no surprise that he brought “Act Naturally” to the band. “I found it on a Buck Owens record and said, ‘This is the one I’m going to be doing,’ and they said, ‘Okay.’ We were listening to all kinds of things,” he recalled.

The Beatles Took Their Time with “Act Naturally”

The Beatles didn’t rush their recording of “Act Naturally.” It took them 13 takes to get what they wanted out of the song. The first 12 takes were akin to rehearsals, as they refined their arrangement. None of those discarded recordings included Starr’s vocals. He sang on the 13^th take, which became the master.

Their arrangement stuck as closely as possible to Buck Owens’ original. George Harrison’s lead guitar work took clear inspiration from Don Rich, lead guitarist for Owens’ backing band, the Buckaroos.

A little more than two decades later, Starr got much closer to the original version. He joined Owens for a duet version of the song on his 1989 album Act Naturally. Their duet reached No. 27 on the Hot Country Songs chart, making Starr the second former member of The Beatles to appear on the survey. Paul McCartney became the first when the Wings song “Sally G” reached No. 57 in 1974.