Ann-Margret started recording for RCA in 1961, but her recording career was not as successful as her concurrent movie career. She had a sexy, throaty singing voice comparable to Eartha Kitt or Nancy Sinatra, and RCA attempted to capitalize on her "Female Elvis" comparison by her recording a version of Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" and other songs stylistically similar to Presley. She scored one minor hit, "I Just Don't Understand" (which entered the Billboard Top 40 in the third week of August 1961 and stayed 6 weeks, peaking at #17.) Her only charting album is The Beauty and the Beard (1964), on which she was accompanied by trumpeter Al Hirt. The contract with RCA ended in 1966.
Years later, she returned to music at the end of Disco era. Her 1980 album, "Ann-Margret" became a success with both singles, "Midnight Message" and "Love Rush" reaching the Top 10 of the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. In the early 1980s, the album was followed up with the single, "Everybody Needs Somebody Sometimes" and the B-Side "Hold Me/Squeeze Me." Ann Margret has continued to record music sporatically since then.
[edit]Film career
In 1961 she also made her film début for in Pocketful of Miracles, starring Bette Davis, Glenn Ford, and Hope Lange, a remake of the Oscar-winning 1933 film Lady for a Day; both versions were directed by the great Frank Capra. She followed that role with the successful remake of Rodgers' and Hammerstein's musical State Fair in 1962. Her next starring role, as the all-American teenager in Bye Bye Birdie, made her a major star. When she filmed Viva Las Vegas with Elvis Presley the two began an affair that received considerable attention from the gossip columnists in various media. The reports led to a showdown with a very worried Priscilla Beaulieu, which she recounts in her 1985 book, Elvis and Me, including Ann-Margret's attempt to "cut her off at the pass" with a press announcement that Ann-Margret and Elvis were engaged to be married. Although he ended the affair, Presley remained a friend and continued to send her flowers at the opening of each of her stage appearances until he died. Of all the Hollywood starlets he had worked with or had a relationship with, Ann-Margret was the only one to attend his funeral.
In 1963, Ann-Margret was featured and guest-starred, in animated form, in an episode of Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones as "Ann-Margrock." Decades later, she recorded the theme song to the live-action film The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas in character as Ann-Margrock. The song she recorded was a modified version of the "Viva Las Vegas" theme.\
In March 1966, Ann-Margret and entertainers Chuck Day and Mickey Jones teamed up for a USO tour to entertain U.S. servicemen in remote parts of Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia. She still has great affection for the veterans and refers to them as "my gentlemen". [1] Ann-Margret, Day and Jones reunited for an encore of this tour for veterans and troops at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada in November 2005. [2]
In 1971, she starred in Mike Nichols's Carnal Knowledge, marking a change from her sex-kitten musical roles, garnering a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The following year, while performing at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, she fell 22 feet from the stage and suffered injuries that put her out of commission for several months. Throughout the 1970s, Ann-Margret balanced her live performances with a string of critically acclaimed dramatic film performances that played against her glamorous image, including Tommy in 1975, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In addition, she has been nominated for ten Golden Globe Awards, winning five times including Best Actress for Tommy. She also did a string of successful TV specials, starting with The Ann-Margret Show for NBC in 1968. Now in her mid-60s, she continues to act in movies.
In 1994, she published an autobiography titled Ann Margret: My Story (ISBN 0-399-13891-9). She has been married to actor Roger Smith since 1967. Smith suffers from myasthenia gravis, and Ann-Margret has devoted much of her life to caring for him.
In 2001 Ann-Margret made her first appearance in a stage musical, playing the character of Mona Stangley in a new touring production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
She has also filmed the movie "Mem-o-re", where she stars with Billy Zane and Dennis Hopper.
I Should Care
Ann-Margret Lyrics
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I should go around weeping
I should care
I should go without sleeping
Strangely enough, I sleep well
'Cept for a dream or two
But then I count my sheep well
So I should care
I should let it upset me
I should care
But it just doesn't get me
Maybe I won't find someone
As lovely as you
But I should care
And I do
But I should care
And I do
In Ann-Margret's song I Should Care, the lyrics present a situation in which the singer acknowledges a responsibility to be emotionally affected by a breakup, but nonetheless finds herself lacking the expected level of deep grief. She should be weeping, unable to sleep, and letting the pain of the breakup consume her, but instead she finds herself sleeping well and unconcerned. She recognizes that she may not find someone as lovely as the person who broke up with her, but still feels that she should care more than she actually does.
The lyrics of I Should Care convey a sense of detachment and a reluctance to let the pain of the breakup take hold. It's possible that the singer is in a state of shock, or that she is simply unwilling to give herself over to her emotions. The line "Maybe I won't find someone as lovely as you" suggests that the breakup was initiated by the other person, and that the singer is left to deal with the aftermath of a decision that was not her own.
Another interpretation of the song could be that the singer is trying to convince herself that she doesn't care, when in fact she does. Perhaps she is trying to mask her pain or appear strong in the face of the breakup. The repeated refrain of "I should care" could be interpreted as a manifestation of her inner turmoil, an acknowledgement of the emotional turmoil that she is not allowing herself to fully experience.
Line by Line Meaning
I should care
I should be concerned about it
I should go around weeping
I should be crying and expressing sorrow
I should care
I should be concerned about it
I should go without sleeping
I should be losing sleep over it
Strangely enough, I sleep well
Oddly, I sleep without any difficulty
'Cept for a dream or two
Except for a few dreams
But then I count my sheep well
I count my sheep effectively, which soothes me
Funny how sheep can lull you to sleep
It's amusing how sheep can make you sleepy
So I should care
I should be concerned about it
I should let it upset me
I should let it affect and disturb me emotionally
I should care
I should be concerned about it
But it just doesn't get me
But I'm not bothered by it
Maybe I won't find someone
Perhaps I will not find somebody
As lovely as you
As beautiful as you are
But I should care
I should be concerned about it
And I do
And I am
But I should care
I should be concerned about it
And I do
And I am
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, HANOVER MUSIC CORPORATION, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Paul Weston, Sammy Cahn, A Stordahl
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind