The Originals: Songs The Beatles Covered: “Act Naturally”- Buck Owens. “Act Naturally” was written by songwriter Johnny Russell and first recorded by county music superstar Buck Owens in 1963 where as a single it went to #1 on the Country Singles chart. The Beatles general practice was to give Ringo a song to sing on each album- early on it was usually a cover, in the later years it generally be a song that they wrote for Ringo the most famous ones being “Yellow Submarine” and “With A Little Help From My Friends.” “Act Naturally is the first song on side 2 of Help! and it is a song which fits Ringo perfectly. The Beatles covering it also gave Buck Owens [one of my favorites} a lot of street cred outside of country music. The Beatles released “Act Naturally” was the b-side to the classic “Yesterday” and as a b-side it peaked at #47 on the Pop Singles chart. In 1989 Ringo and Buck would do a duet on the song and it would be a hit on the country charts peaking at #27. It wasn’t a Beatles first appearance on the country singles chart though- Paul -with Wings had a country chart appearance with “Sally G” in 1974-75.