"The Great Pretender" is a popular song recorded by The Platters and released as a single on November 3, 1955. The Platters were a successful vocal group of the early Rock and roll era Events 644 - Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim Caliph, is killed by a Persian slave in Medina. Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) The words and music were created by Buck Ram, the Platters' manager and producer who was a successful songwriter before moving into producing and management. Buck Ram ( November 21, 1907 Chicago Illinois - January 1, 1991 Las Vegas Nevada) was an American songwriter The Great Pretender reached the #1 position in 1956. Events The Malt Shop Era Begins With Love Is Strange By Mickey & Sylvia January 1 - Blue Suede Shoes It is one of three Platters records included on the American Graffiti soundtrack. American Graffiti is a period Coming of age film directed by George Lucas, and written by Lucas Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck

Oh yes, I'm the Great Pretender, pretending that I'm doing well.

My need is such, I pretend too much. I'm lonely, but no one can tell. . .

Cover versions

• It was covered in 1984 by Dolly Parton, who made it the title song of an album of covers from the 1950s and 1960s (The Great Pretender)
• There is also a cover by Roy Orbison
• The song was also repopularized in 1987 by Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock band Queen, reaching #4 on the UK Singles Chart. Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American Country music Singer / Songwriter, Author, actress The Great Pretender is a Dolly Parton album released in January 1984 and comprised of covers of hits from the 1950s and 1960s Roy Kelton Orbison ( April 23 1936 &ndash December 6 1988) nicknamed "The Big O" was an influential Grammy Award -winning See also Musical groups established in 1987 Record labels established in 1987 Events Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991 was a Zanzibar -born British Musician, best known as the lead A musical ensemble is a group of two or more Musicians who perform instrumental or vocal Music. Queen were an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company (OCC on behalf of the British record industry
• The Band covered it on Moondog Matinee, an album of covers. The Band was a rock group active from 1967 to 1976 and again from 1983 to 1999 Moondog Matinee is the sixth long player by Canadian - American rockers The Band.
• Perhaps most radically, it was tackled by Lester Bowie and extended to nearly seventeen minutes of improvisation on his album of the same name. Lester Bowie ( 11 October 1941 &ndash 8 November 1999) was an American Jazz Trumpet player and Composer. The Great Pretender is the first album by Lester Bowie recorded for ECM and released in 1981
• E of the Eels covered it during a 1992-94 tour
• Gene Summers included "The Great Pretender" on his 1997 CD "The Ultimate School Of Rock & Roll". Gene Summers (born 1939 in Dallas Texas) is a rock / Rockabilly singer and entertainer The Ultimate School Of Rock & Roll is a 32-track CD by Gene Summers.
• It was covered by the all-star blue grass ensemble Old and in the Way, which included Jerry Garcia, and was released on their 1996 album, "That High Lonesome Sound". Old and in the Way was a bluegrass supergroup in the 1970s. The group performed traditional tunes such as "Pig in a Pen" as well as bluegrass-flavoured That High Lonesome Sound is the second live release of bluegrass music by Old and in the Way.

Popular culture

• In 1999, National Public Radio included the song in the "NPR 100," in which NPR's music editors sought to compile the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century.

• The song makes an anachronistic appearance in Günter Grass's novel, The Tin Drum, during a sequence on the beaches of Normandy just before D-Day. An anachronism (from the Greek "ana" " ανά " "against anti-" and "chronos" " χρόνος " Günter Wilhelm Grass (born 16 October 1927 is a Nobel Prize -winning German Author and Playwright. The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel is a 1959 Novel by Günter Grass. Normandy (Normandie Norman: Normaundie) is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. D-Day may also refer to Decimal Day in the United Kingdom. D-Day is a term often used in Military parlance to denote

• The song has also been used in early 2007 as the soundtrack for a new advert featuring Daniel Lapaine for the Volkswagen Golf - a special version of the track was recorded by Adrian Sutton, with the caption saying "The Power Of The Understatement". Daniel Lapaine (born April 16, 1970) is an Australian Actor. Lapaine was born in Sydney Australia The Volkswagen Golf or VW Golf ( Mk1 and Mk5 badged as Volkswagen Rabbit in the United States and Canada, Mk1 badged as Volkswagen

• Stan Freberg parodied the song, with a pianist who was more accustomed to jazz and kept going off onto other musical tangents. Stanley Victor Freberg (b August 7, 1926, Los Angeles, California) is an American author recording artist Animation Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States

PIANIST: Don't bug me, man, I ain't gonna play that pling-pling-pling jazz.

FREBERG: You play that pling-pling-pling jazz or you don't get paid tonight!

(pianist resumes accompaniment)

At another point, where Freberg does the "Wo-oh-ho" at the start of a verse, the pianist slams on the keys and says, "Man, you scared me! Don't do that!" The pianist starts playing the accompaniment too fast, at the end, and Freberg says, "He ruined the ending--one of the loveliest parts of the whole piece!" Then the back-up singers intone in harmony, "THE WHOLE PIECE!" The Platters were not amused.

• The original Platters version was used in the 1985 movie Mischief. Year 1985 ( MCMLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar) Mischief is a 1985 teen comedy film starring Doug McKeon, Chris Nash, Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelly Preston.

External links

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6596196/the_great_pretender