Ann-Margret was a screen siren in the 1960s, starring opposite marquee names like Elvis Presley in Viva Las Vegas, Steve McQueen in The Cincinnati Kid, and Dean Martin in Murderer’s Row. But before she became Hollywood’s It girl, she was climbing the Billboard charts with a proto-classic rock hit called “I Just Don’t Understand.”
Written by Marijohn Wilkin and Kent Westberry, the track, which appears on Ann-Margret’s second studio album, On the Way Up, is an embarrassment of star power. It features not only The Jordanaires, Presley’s famous backup vocalists, but is especially notable for its early use of fuzz guitar, courtesy of studio guitar ace Billy Strange, and polished production by way of the “Country Gentleman” himself, Chet Atkins.
View this post on InstagramOn the track, Ann-Margret delivers lyrics about mixed messages and toxic love. At the same time, a gritty, driving rhythm propels the song forward, and Strange’s handmade distortion lends the tune a sound that was revolutionary for the Sixties. And fans loved it.
In August 1961, the song cracked the Billboard Top 40, eventually peaking at No. 17 and spending six weeks there. The song would become Ann-Margret’s only Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The only song to ever come close to repeating its success was “Love Rush,” a dance hit produced by Paul Sabu that climbed to No. 8 on Billboard’s disco chart in 1979.
“I knew that I had something to offer,” she told Interview magazine last December. “I just kept going no matter what people said.”
More than three decades later, the song gained an even bigger classic rock footprint when The Beatles released it as part of their compilation album Live at the BBC. The Fab Four famously recorded the track in 1963 during a BBC radio session, with John Lennon delivering the tender vocal lead and Paul McCartney backing. The performance aired on Aug. 20 that same year on the radio program Pop Goes the Beatles, but the song wasn’t formally released until 33 years later in 1994.
Shortly after she released “I Just Don’t Understand,” Ann-Margret sang the Oscar-nominated theme song from Bachelor in Paradise at the 34th Academy Awards. The dynamite performance lit up her calendar, sending her acting career into overdrive and making her one of the biggest stars of the 1960s and beyond.
But she never stopped rocking.
Speaking with Interview about something legendary comedian George Burns told her—that she should get back on the stage—she said, “He was right! He was right. I could do both, so I did.”
In 2023, more than 60 years after “I Just Don’t Understand” made her a Billboard Top 20 hitmaker, Ann-Margret returned to her rock ’n’ roll roots with Born to Be Wild, her first album in more than a decade. The rock album featured legends Pete Townshend, Joe Perry, and Steve Cropper, and reached No. 93 on Billboard’s Top Albums Sales chart.
To this day, Ann-Margret, 85, still rocks.
Related: 1961 Song, Which Saw a Resurgence 51 Years Later on ‘Mad Men,’ Became a 17-Year-Old’s Signature Hit
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