The “Golden Hits Of The 60s” 

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ANN-MARGRET

“I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND”

(Wilkin, Westberry)

RCA Victor 7894

No. 17   September 11, 1961

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Considering her “sex kitten” image, one would have expected Ann-Margret on vinyl to come on like gang­

busters, penetrate the charts, and leave American male teens smoldering in her wake. RCA Victor

certainly expected it, dishing her up as a curvaceous female Elvis who was going to make the label mucho

dinero.  On her early recordings, they garbed her in the dark soulfulness of Willie Dixon and Lincoln

Chase, and subjected her to the teen vibrations of Gerry Goffin and Carole King.

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Ann-Margret’s lone Top 40 hit, “I Just Don’t Under­stand,” sported a mournful harmonica and possibly the

earliest example of fuzz-tone guitar ever to be heard on the airwaves.  It was a slinky, teasing number, and

the follow-up, “It Do Me So Good” (#97, 1961), was no dog, either.  Adolescent male listeners could easily

imagine little Annie on a zebra skin, .gyrating and pleading,

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“Close your lovin’ arms around me, it do me so good.”   So much for a recording career: two fine rock’n’roll

platters, and Ann-Margret was off to Hollywood, never to return to the charts again; nor suggestive rock

music.

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She was born Ann-Margret Olsson, the only child of an electrician, on April 28, 1941, in Valsjobyn,

Sweden.  At the age of five, she was brought to the U.S. and raised in various towns in Illinois.  After a year

attending Northwestern University and a well-noted spot on Ted Mack’s ”Amateur Hour,” Olsson joined a

combo and began making appearances at nightclubs.

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In 1961, at the peak of her chart success, Ann was making her screen debut as Bette Davis’ daughter in

Frank Capra’s A Pocketful of Miracles (1961).   Following in rapid succession were Bye, Bye Birdie (1963)

with Dick Van Dyke and Bobby Rydell, the Elvis flick Viva Las Vegas (1964), and the sleazy but

sensational Kitten With a Whip (1964).   She was nominated for an Oscar for both Carnal Knowledge

(1971) with Art Garfunkel and Jack Nicholson and rock-extravaganza Tommy (1975).

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She continues to sizzle, sing, dance, and makes movies such as Middle-Aged Crazy (1979) and 52 Pick-up

(1986)–she just doesn’t do it on vinyl anymore.