The Great Pretender

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"The Great Pretender" was a popular song by The Platters. The words and music were created by Buck Ram, the Platters' manager who doubled as a songwriter. The Great Pretender reached the #1 position in 1956. It is one of three Platters records included on the "American Graffiti" soundtrack."

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...

It was covered in 1984 by Dolly Parton, who made it the title song of an album of covers from the 1950s and '60s (The Great Pretender), was covered by Roy Orbison; and was also repopularized in 1987 by Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock band Queen. Perhaps most radically, it was tackled by Lester Bowie and extended to nearly seventeen minutes of improvisation on his album of the same name. The song was also covered by The Band.

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.

Preceded by "Memories Are Made of This" by Dean Martin

Billboard Hot 100 number-one single February 18-25, 1956

Succeeded by "Rock and Roll Waltz" by Kay Starr