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 Was Only Kidding
Ann-Margret Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But not today
I want to sit down and cry
Wait along
Don′t you know I need you
Wait along
I was only kidding last night
Just how much you really mean to me
Oh, I know
I haven't got the right to
To change my mind, honey
But oh
If you love me really love me
Oh, I know
You′ll understand
I didn't really want to part
My pride was talking
When it should have been my heart.
Ann-Margret's song "I Was Only Kidding" is a ballad about the singer's regret over expressing her desire to end a relationship. The first verse begins with the regretful declaration that "yesterday I said goodbye, but not today", indicating that the singer has changed her mind about ending the relationship. She is now overcome with a desire to cry and wants her lover to wait for her. The refrain repeats the line "don't you know I need you, wait along, I was only kidding last night", revealing the truth behind her previous statement.
In the second verse, the singer reflects on her feelings during a day alone, realizing just how much her lover means to her. She admits that she doesn't have the right to change her mind after saying goodbye, but hopes that her lover can forgive her if they truly love each other. She explains that it was her pride that made her say goodbye, not her heart, and that she truly wants to remain in the relationship.
Overall, the song is a heartfelt appeal to a lover to give the singer another chance, and an exploration of the complex emotions that can lead to a breakup.
Line by Line Meaning
Yesterday I said goodbye
I told you goodbye yesterday
But not today
But today I'm changing my mind
I want to sit down and cry
I feel like crying because I miss you
Wait along
Please wait for me
Don't you know I need you
I need you by my side
Wait along
Please wait for me
I was only kidding last night
I didn't really mean what I said last night
A day alone and I can see
Being alone made me realize
Just how much you really mean to me
How much I truly care about you
Oh, I know
I understand
I haven't got the right to
It's not fair for me to
To change my mind, honey
Change my mind again
But oh
But
If you love me really love me
If you truly love me
Oh, I know
I understand
You'll understand
You'll forgive me
I didn't really want to part
I didn't really want to break up
My pride was talking
I was letting my pride control me
When it should have been my heart
Instead of listening to my heart
Writer(s): Carole King, Gerry Goffin
Contributed by Dylan B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.