The Official Frank Sinatra Appreciation Thread

[The Chairman]

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb299/LadiesMan217_bucket/Frankie.jpg?t=1195098366 (javascript:void(0);)
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb299/LadiesMan217_bucket/1950sFrank.jpg?t=1195098461 (javascript:void(0);)
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb299/LadiesMan217_bucket/1960sFrank.jpg?t=1195098489 (javascript:void(0);)
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb299/LadiesMan217_bucket/1970sFrank.jpg?t=1195098521 (javascript:void(0);)


Okay, I wasn't going to make this thread, but if Trent Reznor and Michael Jackson can get their own threads, than this man definitely has the honor.

The most gifted and prolific performer of the 20th century, Frank Sinatra, officially has his own thread. Talk about his music, his movies, his lifestyle, his alleged but ultimately falsified mob connections, and the various old time actresses he had sex with.

Enjoy.

[terry78]

He's also dead. :o



No, but seriously...he was a stand up guy.

[Steve Rogers]

I love Sinatra. I work at a college. All these kids and their gangsta rap...I tell them I listen to hardcore gangsta ***** too, and then I start playing Sinatra. They get mad and leave. It's funny.

[Two-Face]

"I did it my way" he sure did.

[rdh007]

Sinatra = Pimp

[Darthphere]

I have the same birthday as he did.

[The Chairman]

I have the same birthday as he did.

I was born the day after he turned 75.

[The Chairman]

I love Sinatra. I work at a college. All these kids and their gangsta rap...I tell them I listen to hardcore gangsta ***** too, and then I start playing Sinatra. They get mad and leave. It's funny.

Tell me about it. I'm 16, and have the deal with the same crap from kids my age. Frank performs circles around today's so called "talents".

[Yurka]

Tell me about it. I'm 16, and have the deal with the same crap from kids my age. Frank performs circles around today's so called "talents".

Indeed, there is no one like him in our day and age.
Great man :up:

[The Chairman]

Indeed, there is no one like him in our day and age.
Great man :up:

Indeed. No one carries themselves with the dignity or class that he did. His artistry is underrated as well. Few people realize that he revolutionized music in many ways. He was the first artist to gain complete artistic control of his recordings, the first to head to head up his own label, and he invented the concept album.

Hopefully tonight I can post some links to my favorite Frank recordings.

[signalman]

I am fan of Frank.
My favorite Five songs he recorded are:

Come Fly Away with Me.
The Coffee Song.
Strangers in the Night.
Chicago.
Style with Dean Martin.


How many songs did Frank record with Nancy?
And what are the names of the songs?

[The Chairman]

I am fan of Frank.
My favorite Five songs he recorded are:

Come Fly Away with Me.
The Coffee Song.
Strangers in the Night.
Chicago.
Style with Dean Martin.


How many songs did Frank record with Nancy?
And what are the names of the songs?

"Somethin' Stupid" is the most popular one with Nancy. There was also a one-off collab called "Life Is A Trippy Thing" or something along those lines. They did a tv special together in the 1960s' as well.

Oh, and "The Coffee Song" is awesome.

[The Chairman]

This is the only Frank recording I could find that's among my favorites. Here's his great version of "Soliloquy" from the show "Carousel". It's one of the many excellent performances from his 1963 album The Concert Sinatra.

Soliloquy (http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=83adba13b5&msgs=11650ebf901c2ddf&attid=0.1&view=audio)

The way Frank gets into the song and phrases the lyrics is nothing short of astounding.

EDIT: Got a good bit more:

All Or Nothing At All (http://h1.ripway.com/SinatraFan90/FrankSinatra-AllOrNothingAtAll61.mp3) (from Sinatra & Strings) (Take a listen to the note Frank hits at the end, it astounds).

Fly Me To The Moon (http://h1.ripway.com/SinatraFan90/franksinatra-flymetothemoon.mp3) (from It Might As Well Be Swing) (Quincy Jones did the arrangement and this is the song that turned me on to Frank. One of his best as well as most popular.

I've Got You Under My Skin (http://h1.ripway.com/SinatraFan90/FrankSinatra-IveGotYouUnderMySkin.mp3) (from Songs From Swingin' Lovers) (His best recording. Nelson Riddle's arrangement is one of the most inventive compositions in American music, and Frank's phrasing and breath control has never been stronger.)

Wave (http://h1.ripway.com/SinatraFan90/FrankSinatra-SinatraCompany-Wave.mp3) (from Sinatra & Company) (One of his most underrated and atmospheric recordings. Done with Bossa Nova legend Antonio Carlos Jobim, this is Ol' Blue Eyes at his most sensual. He nails the richly textured bass notes perfectly.)

Prisoner Of Love (http://h1.ripway.com/SinatraFan90/Franksinatra-SinatraStrings-PrisonerofLove.mp3) (from Sinatra & Strings) (Not many know this one, but this one of his most powerful performances. His phrasing is incredible here. He sounds like he's actually crying at the end of the second chorus)

[The Chairman]

Finally managed to locate this one. This is Frank's 1980 cover of The Beatles' "Something", which is for my money the best Beatles cover ever, and every bit as good if not slightly better than the original.

Something (http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=83adba13b5&msgs=116084138d95f542&attid=0.1&view=audio)

[Arcturus]

Frank Sinatra is truly a legend.

:up:

[The Chairman]

For anyone interested, the new boxed set A Voice In Time (http://sinatrafamily.com/news/news.php) was recently released. It covers his early career from 1939 to 1952. A lot of the stuff is either previously unreleased or hasn't been heard for over 50 years, so I urge most Frank fans to check it out.

[Mr Jide]

Sinatra is a legend. Without him, we wouldn't have had the likes of the equally talented, Matt Munroe.

[The Chairman]

Sinatra is a legend. Without him, we wouldn't have had the likes of the equally talented, Matt Munroe.

Munroe's good, but I wouldn't put him as equally talented as Sinatra. The only singer who comes close to Ol' Blue Eyes IMO is Bobby Darin.

[The Chairman]

Bumping this thread because of major news on the Frank front.

In the Casinos: Frank Sinatra's son also rises
BY PHIL ROURA
Saturday, November 17th 2007, 2:05 AM
Crooning his way, Frank Sinatra Jr. is at Harrah's in A.C. on Saturday.
It is the day before Halloween and nearly 10 years after Frank Sinatra's death, his shadow still hovers over his son. It's something Frank Jr. will never, ever escape.
Still called "the boy" by some of the musicians in his orchestra who also played for his dad, music is what still connects the 63-year-old Sinatra to the father he hardly knew as a child - and was not close to until later in life.
Since the elder Sinatra's death on May 14, 1998, "Sinatra Sings Sinatra" has been the bond. But even as Frank Jr. brings the show to Harrah's in Atlantic City on Saturday night, the Chairman of the Board's spirit is about to take on yet another form.
"I conducted for my father only last week," says Sinatra, pausing for the anticipated, "How so?"
Recently, a bunch of recordings Ol' Blue Eyes made decades ago were found in a vault in Los Angeles. Apparently, he didn't like how they sounded and stashed them away.
"They're tracks the public has never heard," says the son.
"Through the means of modern technology, we've been able to erase all of the old music, write some new orchestrations and begin recording them with a live orchestra and Frank's original voice.
"They sound as if they were made yesterday."
The results will be a new Frank Sinatra CD that should be out by the time the U.S. Postal Service issues a new F.S. stamp around the 10th anniversary of his death. But unlike what Natalie Cole did so famously with her father, Nat King Cole, Sinatra will not sing with Sinatra.
"I will not presume to do that," he adds. Nevertheless, he considers the project "exciting."
That's not an adjective easily applied to Junior, whose mother was Frank's first wife, Nancy.
Like his father, Frank Jr. is not shy about expressing his views. But unlike the old man, they revolve around topics other than just music - the nation's economic ills, the declining number of nightclubs, the 1990s genocide in Serbia (his wife, Cynthia, was a defense advocate with the World Court at the trials in The Hague, which he attended) and the public's insatiable appetite for faux stars such as Paris Hilton -"I don't understand the fascination with her."
"The Rat Pack may've played hard but they also worked hard," says Sinatra, comparing his father's famous posse to today's celebrities. "They never ended up in jail or lost custody of their children."

A new Frank album is nothing short of exciting. I will definitely pick it up.

Also, Frank's family has finally been able to cut a deal with Reprise Records (the company Frank founded 50 years ago and now sponsors some of rock's biggest acts) and they hold joint ownerships on all of Frank's music, film and stage work.

Next year is the 10th anniversary of his passing, so expect a good amount of new Frank material on the horizon.

[signalman]

Bought the Frank Sinatra Christmas Album the other day.
Lots of goodies on this CD.

Loved the whimsy songs he did with Nancy, Frank Jr., and Tina.
12 Days of Christmas and I wouldn't Trade Christmas.

Also Loved the duets with Bing Crosby backed by Fred Waring & His Pennslyvanians and Nelson Riddle.

I always thought Frank and Bing sang well together.
"Well do you Evah" is a favorite from "High Society".
Plus they appear on many radio shows together.

[The Chairman]

Bought the Frank Sinatra Christmas Album the other day.
Lots of goodies on this CD.

Loved the whimsy songs he did with Nancy, Frank Jr., and Tina.
12 Days of Christmas and I wouldn't Trade Christmas.

Also Loved the duets with Bing Crosby backed by Fred Waring & His Pennslyvanians and Nelson Riddle.

I always thought Frank and Bing sang well together.
"Well do you Evah" is a favorite from "High Society".
Plus they appear on many radio shows together.

I need to get that one. I love the version of "Silent Night" on that album. Best version of the song anywhere.

[terry78]

Not a massive Sinatra fan in his own right, but I do have a thing for the Rat Pack. Got a framed picture of Sammy, Dean and Sinatra in my living room on the wall of them playing pool, with a framed pool cue encased in glass in the same frame.

[The Chairman]

Not a massive Sinatra fan in his own right, but I do have a thing for the Rat Pack. Got a framed picture of Sammy, Dean and Sinatra in my living room on the wall of them playing pool, with a framed pool cue encased in glass in the same frame.

I have that exact same photo in my basement. They were the coolest.

[Kel]

I need to get that one. I love the version of "Silent Night" on that album. Best version of the song anywhere.


Agreed....

[The Joker]

Sinatra was an a**hole, by all accounts, and a mobster...also, he was incredibly bland...the Sex Pistols cover of My Way on the other hand, rocks.

[The Chairman]

Sinatra was an a**hole, by all accounts, and a mobster...also, he was incredibly bland...the Sex Pistols cover of My Way on the other hand, rocks.

I hope you're joking, because if you're not, you know nothing about the man. His mob relations are either falsified or exaggerated beyond belief, he was a civil rights activist, and his music was extremely ahead of its time. Oh, and The Sex Pistols' covers of "My Way" sucks. Hard.

[The Chairman]

Agreed....

It's lovely, isn't it? It's a bit hard to listen to at the first because how frail he sounds, but at the same time it brings a whole new level of depth and emotion to the song, and his phrasing was still second to none.

Silent Night (http://h1.ripway.com/SinatraFan90/26SilentNight(Take2).m4a)

[Dwarf lord]

I hope you're joking, because if you're not, you know nothing about the man. His mob relations are either falsified or exaggerated beyond belief, he was a civil rights activist, and his music was extremely ahead of its time. Oh, and The Sex Pistols' covers of "My Way" sucks. Hard.

I wouldn't call it ahead of its time because his music is an object of the time. A strong portion of his work was covering the hits of Broadway from the 20s, 30s and 40s. I love Sinatra, but he wasn't really ahead of his time (not that that's a bad thing at all)

[The Chairman]

I wouldn't call it ahead of its time because his music is an object of the time. A strong portion of his work was covering the hits of Broadway from the 20s, 30s and 40s. I love Sinatra, but he wasn't really ahead of his time (not that that's a bad thing at all)

Yes it was. Not the music itself maybe, but his recording techniques were lightyears ahead of what others were doing at the time. He was the first to use a live orchestra when recording vocals, he was the first to put emphasis on albums rather than singles, and he invented the concept album lightyears before The Beatles took credit. He also was the first to have complete control over his material, refusing to bow to pressure and add rock music to his repetoire. Even his phrasing and breath control techniques were nothing short of ingenius And his arrangements, done by geniuses by Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, Don Costa, Billy May etc., were far more complex than what most artists sang against around that time period (listen to "I've Got You Under My Skin," for example). He was the first musical figure I'd consider an artist.

[Dwarf lord]

Yes it was. Not the music itself maybe, but his recording techniques were lightyears ahead of what others were doing at the time. He was the first to use a live orchestra when recording vocals, he was the first to put emphasis on albums rather than singles, and he invented the concept album lightyears before The Beatles took credit. He also was the first to have complete control over his material, refusing to bow to pressure and add rock music to his repetoire. Even his phrasing and breath control techniques were nothing short of ingenius And his arrangements, done by geniuses by Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, Don Costa, Billy May etc., were far more complex than what most artists sang against around that time period (listen to "I've Got You Under My Skin," for example). He was the first musical figure I'd consider an artist.

There are tons of musicians who could be considered an artist before 1935. The biggest I can think of would be Louis Armstrong one of the "Gods" of music (along with Sinatra). Actually now that I think about it, a lot of intrumentalists of the Jazz age could be considered artists. Some of the solos they crafted were breath taking.

And I would probably say that a lot of Sinatra's real innovation was not in the hands of him, but in the people like Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, ect.

Also as far as I'm concerned, his first 15 years or so, he was a swing musician. He had a big band and played with them in and out of the studio. He really wasn't different from any of the other big bands and swing singers at the time. It wasn't until the 50s when he started doing kind of different things.

And I would consider Dust Bowl Ballads by Woodie Guthrie to be the first real concept album.

[The Chairman]

There are tons of musicians who could be considered an artist before 1935. The biggest I can think of would be Louis Armstrong one of the "Gods" of music (along with Sinatra). Actually now that I think about it, a lot of intrumentalists of the Jazz age could be considered artists. Some of the solos they crafted were breath taking.

And I would probably say that a lot of Sinatra's real innovation was not in the hands of him, but in the people like Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, ect.

Not necessarily true at all. Frank still invented the concept album. To build albums based around certain themes was entirely unique. And as I said he rarely released singles and never bowed to company pressure, both something many successful artists around that time wouldn't dare do. He was the first musician to have complete control of his material, and cemented that when he formed Reprise.

Furthermore, the way he completely immersed himself in the material was incredible. He didn't just emit words from his throat, he poured from his heart and soul. There has no other singer past or present who sold a song like him.

[Dwarf lord]

Not necessarily true at all. Frank still invented the concept album. To build albums based around certain themes was entirely unique. And as I said he rarely released singles and never bowed to company pressure, both something many successful artists around that time wouldn't dare do. He was the first musician to have complete control of his material, and cemented that when he formed Reprise.

Furthermore, the way he completely immersed himself in the material was incredible. He didn't just emit words from his throat, he poured from his heart and soul. There has no other singer past or present who sold a song like him.

Billie Holiday. She came around a few years before Sinatra.

[The Chairman]

And I would probably say that a lot of Sinatra's real innovation was not in the hands of him, but in the people like Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins, ect.

Also as far as I'm concerned, his first 15 years or so, he was a swing musician. He had a big band and played with them in and out of the studio. He really wasn't different from any of the other big bands and swing singers at the time. It wasn't until the 50s when he started doing kind of different things.

And I would consider Dust Bowl Ballads by Woodie Guthrie to be the first real concept album.

He was still, as far as I'm concerned, very unique in his early times. While he couldn't read music, he was from the very beginning involved with every aspect of the recording process. He knew what worked and what didn't and had a great ear. Also, in addition to his phrasing and breath control, his synchopation and timing in which he sang were and still are hard to beat.

And I still say he revolutionized if not invented the concept album.

[Kel]

Billie Holiday was an artists artist......beautiful voice...

[The Chairman]

Billie Holiday. She came around a few years before Sinatra.

I'd put her as Frank's female equivalent. Neither one was better than the other. Amongst male vocalist, Frank towered over the others.

[The Chairman]

Billie Holiday was an artists artist......beautiful voice...

I prefer Lady Ella, but you're right, Bille was amazing, and a good friend and major influence on Frank. Frank supported her towards the end of her life when she had finanicial woes, and even reluctantly hired someone to feed her substance addiction, just because he didn't like seeing her miserable. The only male vocalist who came close to Frank was Bobby Darin, and maybe Sammy Davis.

[Kel]

I saw Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin, different nights but same weekend when I was a little girl at the Venecian Room at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas....

My favorite show there was Engelbert Humperdink.....but probably because he came to our table and sang to me....lol


My parents favorite singer was Frankie Laine.......he had a beautiful voice....

[The Chairman]

I saw Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin, different nights but same weekend when I was a little girl at the Venecian Room at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas....

My favorite show there was Engelbert Humperdink.....but probably because he came to our table and sang to me....lol


My parents favorite singer was Frankie Laine.......he had a beautiful voice....

Are you that old? You're so lucky to have witnessed such talent. I'd imagine it was some time in the late 1960s' considering Frank (briefly) retired in 1971 and Bobby died in 1973 (a tragic loss). Englebert Humperdink was okay, but he was more of just an entertainer than an artist. He didn't have the soul or nuance that Frank or Bobby did. Frankie Laine had a nice voice. I've only heard "Mule Train", I think.

I have a couple of tracks from Frank's Only The Lonely Album on right now. This and September Of My Years are his best are albums, though my personal favorite is his first album with Count Basie.

[Kel]

Are you that old? You're so lucky to have witnessed such talent. I'd imagine it was some time in the late 1960s' considering Frank (briefly) retired in 1971 and Bobby died in 1973 (a tragic loss). Englebert Humperdink was okay, but he was more of just an entertainer than an artist. He didn't have the soul or nuance that Frank or Bobby did. Frankie Laine had a nice voice. I've only heard "Mule Train", I think.

I have a couple of tracks from Frank's Only The Lonely Album on right now. This and September Of My Years are his best are albums, though my personal favorite is his first album with Count Basie.

lol...no early 70's.....I was a mere toddler....Englebert was a few years later as was Frankie Laine, we also saw Frankie Avalon a few years after that.....the Lettermen were regulars there, etc...etc....my step father was a big travel agent in the area, and knew the management of the hotel....I just knew we got to see alot of singers there.....honestly I never knew who it was we were seeing....I just liked the music. Most of what I remember of this time is what my parents and sister talked about....she's 7 years older than me.

Edit: My mistake, it wasn't Bobby Darin, it was Bobby Vinton......

[The Chairman]

Edit: My mistake, it wasn't Bobby Darin, it was Bobby Vinton......

The "Blue Velvet" guy? Heh, can't win 'em all. Nah, I dig Vinton. But Darin would've been something if he lived longer. Aside from Frank, he had the best pure talent I've ever heard.

[Kel]

The "Blue Velvet" guy? Heh, can't win 'em all. Nah, I dig Vinton. But Darin would've been something if he lived longer. Aside from Frank, he had the best pure talent I've ever heard.

Yep.....I started thinking......wait...............we saw the Bobby guy again a few years later....that couldn't have been Darin....lol My sisters favorite was ..... oh crap I just forgot his name....I'll think of it in a minute...

I wanted to be a part of the Lennon Sisters family.....


OMG, these memories are making me feel really old.......but honestly they aren't my memories....I remember very little of it...:csad:

[The Chairman]

Yep.....I started thinking......wait...............we saw the Bobby guy again a few years later....that couldn't have been Darin....lol My sisters favorite was ..... oh crap I just forgot his name....I'll think of it in a minute...

I wanted to be a part of the Lennon Sisters family.....


OMG, these memories are making me feel really old.......but honestly they aren't my memories....I remember very little of it...:csad:

At least you got to experience it. I have to relive the magic through various cds and dvds. It's okay, but it doesn't beat seeing the real deal.

[Kel]

At least you got to experience it. I have to relive the magic through various cds and dvds. It's okay, but it doesn't beat seeing the real deal.


Well I get to say I did......lol

Personally, I wanted to grow up and be Carol Burnett......:cwink: But sing and do comedy on Broadway, not a TV show....


Just remembered my sisters favorite....Tom Jones....

[The Chairman]

Well I get to say I did......lol

Personally, I wanted to grow up and be Carol Burnett......:cwink: But sing and do comedy on Broadway, not a TV show....

I wanted to be Frank. Still admire him greatly. When I was 4, I was thrown onstage at parties and would sing "Love And Marriage". Then they'd play "Fly Me To The Moon" and I'd sing it to my grandmother (R.I.P. :csad: ) and we'd dance. Ah, memories.

[The Chairman]

I have 10 or so Frank videos that I'm uploading from my computer that I hope to post soon. I could've ripped them straight from Youtube if Frank's business handlers weren't such *******s when it comes to copywright. A lot of people complain that Frank's music isn't reaching the younger generations, when in fact Youtube is the perfect medium for that to happen.

[The Chairman]

Just remembered my sisters favorite....Tom Jones....

My bus driver was singing "It's Not Unusual" over the bus radio the other day. It was frightening.

[Kel]

LOL, thats funny.


This wasn't the music that I listened to privately in my room. I was listening to The Monkeys....lmao.

[The Chairman]

LOL, thats funny.


This wasn't the music that I listened to privately in my room. I was listening to The Monkeys....lmao.

Well, The Monkees did leave a legacy.

Of laughter.

[Kel]

Well, The Monkees did leave a legacy.

Of laughter.


Yeah, later.........it was Kansas, Foreigner, Styx....

[The Chairman]

Yeah, later.........it was Kansas, Foreigner, Styx....

Ah, Styx brings back memories. I remember one day in art class our art teacher let us bring in music, and someone brought in "Mr. Roboto," and well started dancing around the art room. We later came up with our dance to it called The Robonga, a combination of The Robot and The Conga.

[The Chairman]

Edit

[Kel]

LOL,

What is kind of funny is how alot of the rock out there is moving back to that era.....

Incubus' latest CD, sounds like a Kansas throw back......which I love btw...

[The Chairman]

Second attempt at uploading videos:

Frank performing All Or Nothing At All In Japan in 1985

http://www.mediafire.com/?4dnq0teyt0f

Frank and Dean Martin in the early 1970s'

http://www.mediafire.com/?fz2ussu4dng

Frank and Dean on Dino's 1967 Christmas Special

http://www.mediafire.com/?8bsbbefc41l

Frank singing My Kind Of Town with Tony Bennett in the mid 1970s'

http://www.mediafire.com/?3mtxlcm1bqj

Frank singing Pennies From Heaven in Japan in 1985

http://www.mediafire.com/?czcbenclzjn

Frank performing Quiet Night Of Quiet Stars and I Won't Dance in South America in 1982

http://www.mediafire.com/?6ybnmo1jj1y

A three part clip with Sammy Davis Jr. and Liza Minnelli in the late 1980s'

http://www.mediafire.com/?5pyy1eipbku

http://www.mediafire.com/?5uml4jystjh

http://www.mediafire.com/?3t0v9bijtbn

This video's a bit hard to watch, and I cry every time I watch it, but here's the last time Frank ever sang My Way, in Japan in December of 1994

http://www.mediafire.com/?9xn0jmtxtt2

You'll have to save them to view them, but they're worth it.

[The Chairman]

Found some clips on Youtube:

A vintage 1943 clip (complete with annoying cigarette commercial to start things off) of Frank performing "Stardust" on Your Hit Parade:

NlujPZ64ZvI&feature=related

Frank performing my personal favorite, "Witchcraft," on a 1965 tv special entitled A Man And His Music (available on dvd):

_B_FNYMuhVI

Frank performing "Going Out Of My Head" on a 1969 special titled Sinatra:

tnvbLF6TB4o&feature=related

Frank performing the classic "September Song" with John Denver in 1976:

FFP3UmMQgLA&feature=related

And my personal favorite, Frank and Bing Crosby singing "Did You Ever?" in the 1956 musical High Society:

kKhi4BfDNZE

[Dwarf lord]

And my personal favorite, Frank and Bing Crosby singing "Did You Ever?" in the 1956 musical High Society:

kKhi4BfDNZE

Ah yes, an old Cole Porter number. Cole Porter is probably my favorite songwriter of all time. The man could get anything to rhyme behind a charming little melody. He also wrote one of the best standards of all time, "Night and Day." Check him out if you haven't.

Also, Bing Crosby is probably my favorite singer of all time hands down. The only problem is that he didn't have a great library of songs. He had some great songs (His version of White Christmas is the best selling song of all time, beating out everything), but nothing was as stand out as Frank's. It's really a pity.

That can really be said for a lot of people. Dean Martin and Sammy Davis were every bit as good as Frank, but they couldn't pick songs like him. That's where Frank shined. The other two really shined when it came to acting. Frank was a fantastic actor, but Sammy and Dean were in a class all their own. Two of the funniest people of all time.

[The Chairman]

Ah yes, an old Cole Porter number. Cole Porter is probably my favorite songwriter of all time. The man could get anything to rhyme behind a charming little melody. He also wrote one of the best standards of all time, "Night and Day." Check him out if you haven't.

Also, Bing Crosby is probably my favorite singer of all time hands down. The only problem is that he didn't have a great library of songs. He had some great songs (His version of White Christmas is the best selling song of all time, beating out everything), but nothing was as stand out as Frank's. It's really a pity.

That can really be said for a lot of people. Dean Martin and Sammy Davis were every bit as good as Frank, but they couldn't pick songs like him. That's where Frank shined. The other two really shined when it came to acting. Frank was a fantastic actor, but Sammy and Dean were in a class all their own. Two of the funniest people of all time.

I find Bing Crosby to me the worst of the old time singers. He put absolutely no passion into what he sang as far as I'm concerned. No matter what he sang, he sounded very bored as if he were waiting for a bus or something. He put no soul into it. When Frank sang, he always sounded like he was truly enjoying his craft. Let's hear Bing sing "The Coffee Song" or anything off of "Ring-A-Ding Ding" with the same energy Frank put into it. He also was a beast in his personal life, an alcoholic who regularly beat his kids. Frank had a few demons (such as a notoriously short temper), but he never mistreated his kids (though he hardly saw them).

I agree on Cole Porter, though. He was an absolutely fantastic composer. His gift of rhyme scheme impresses me the most. The bridge on "Anything Goes" is fantastic, for example.

And I wouldn't put Dean quite on level with Frank. Dean did not have a great voice, and he would be, and usually was, the first to tell me that. Dean was an performer rather than an artist. He sang because he loved doing it. He didn't view it as an artform the way Frank did. Sammy was a legend. He could do it all, and he had some great stuff. Bobby Darin is also criminally underrated.

[Dwarf lord]

I find Bing Crosby to me the worst of the old time singers. He put absolutely no passion into what he sang as far as I'm concerned. No matter what he sang, he sounded very bored as if he were waiting for a bus or something. He put no soul into it


It wasn't about the soul, especially at the time (World War II) America. It was about the charm. He also had one of the purest voice of all time. And if there was no Bing, there would be no Frank. Frank used to list Bing Crosby as his biggest influence.

That and I very much disagree with you about no passion. Listen to I'll Be Seeing You. Best interpretation of the song ever right there.

[The Chairman]

It wasn't about the soul, especially at the time (World War II) America. It was about the charm. He also had one of the purest voice of all time. And if there was no Bing, there would be no Frank. Frank used to list Bing Crosby as his biggest influence.

Frank had at least twice the charm Bing did. Frank took everything good about Bing and took it to the highest level. Bing had nothing on Frank in terms of phrasing, diction, timing, breath control and range. Both Frank's top and bottom ranges were incredible. His voice ascended to operatic points at some points (his phrasing techniques were close in style to the bel canto operatic style). Listen to the 1961 versions of "All Or Nothing At All" and "Night And Day" or even "The Tender Trap". Frank hits notes most singers dream of hitting. I put a link to the 1961 "All Or Nothing At All". Listen to the last note Frank hits, it's one of the most breathtaking musical experiences ever.

That and I very much disagree with you about no passion. Listen to I'll Be Seeing You. Best interpretation of the song ever right there.

Then you haven't heard Frank's 1961 version from the Point Of No Return album.

[Dwarf lord]

Frank had at least twice the charm Bing did. Frank took everything good about Bing and took it to the highest level. Bing had nothing on Frank in terms of phrasing, diction, timing, breath control and range. Both Frank's top and bottom ranges were incredible. His voice ascended to operatic points at some points (his phrasing techniques were close in style to the bel canto operatic style). Listen to the 1961 versions of "All Or Nothing At All" and "Night And Day" or even "The Tender Trap". Frank hits notes most singers dream of hitting. I put a link to the 1961 "All Or Nothing At All". Listen to the last note Frank hits, it's one of the most breathtaking musical experiences ever.



Then you haven't heard Frank's 1961 version from the Point Of No Return album.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

And I have heard Frank's version. I've probably heard most everything he's ever released through my Grandfather.

[The Chairman]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

And I have heard Frank's version. I've probably heard most everything he's ever released through my Grandfather.

Fair enough.

Oh, and after Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer was probably my favorite old time composer. Between those two, The Gershwins, Rogers & Hart, Hammerstein, Berlin, Jerome Kern, etc., you probably had the greatets era of American songwriting ever.

[Dwarf lord]

Fair enough.

Oh, and after Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer was probably my favorite old time composer. Between those two, The Gershwins, Rogers & Hart, Hammerstein, Berlin, Jerome Kern, etc., you probably had the greatets era of American songwriting ever.

And you can't neglect the true jazz composers from that era too. Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, and the like. As much as I do like rock, I don't think there's as much melodic and lyrical cleverness in the songs. Of course there are exceptions (Bob Dylan), but otherwise a lot of rock can't hold a candle to the compsers and songwriters of the day.

[The Chairman]

And you can't neglect the true jazz composers from that era too. Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, and the like. As much as I do like rock, I don't think there's as much melodic and lyrical cleverness in the songs. Of course there are exceptions (Bob Dylan), but otherwise a lot of rock can't hold a candle to the compsers and songwriters of the day.

Agreed. My favorite Sinatra album is actually the first Basie album.

http://www.sinatraalbumcovers.com/Classics/images/1962%20-%20Sinatra-Basie.jpg

This is by far Frank's most entertaining album, as him and Basie were perfect for each other. "Pennies From Heaven", "Please Be Kind", "My Kind Of Girl", "I Only Have Eyes For You" and "I Won't Dance" are standouts, but the whole album is excellent.

[Dwarf lord]

Agreed. My favorite Sinatra album is actually the first Basie album.

http://www.sinatraalbumcovers.com/Classics/images/1962%20-%20Sinatra-Basie.jpg

This is by far Frank's most entertaining album, as him and Basie were perfect for each other. "Pennies From Heaven", "Please Be Kind", "My Kind Of Girl", "I Only Have Eyes For You" and "I Won't Dance" are standouts, but the whole album is excellent.

Yeah, Basie's great. I'm taking a history of Jazz course and Basie's easily my favorite older Jazz bandleader. I'm a bigger fan of the Bebop and Modern Jazz people like Charlie Parker, Miles David, Sonny Rollins and The Trane, but it really doesn't get better than Basie in the Big Band Era.

[The Chairman]

Yeah, Basie's great. I'm taking a history of Jazz course and Basie's easily my favorite older Jazz bandleader. I'm a bigger fan of the Bebop and Modern Jazz people like Charlie Parker, Miles David, Sonny Rollins and The Trane, but it really doesn't get better than Basie in the Big Band Era.

Basie is indeed probably my favorite as well. Him and Frank were the perfect team musically, and they had deep personal as well as professional admiration. It really shows on the live album they did together. The chemistry and energy between the two is almost frightening.

[Dwarf lord]

Basie is indeed probably my favorite as well. Him and Frank were the perfect team musically, and they had deep personal as well as professional admiration. It really shows on the live album they did together. The chemistry and energy between the two is almost frightening.

Basie and Sinatra were good together, but it wasn't his orchestra's golden age. No Walter Page, Jo Jones, Freddie Green, Lester Young, ect. They were the greatest players of the age (Page, Jones, and Green made up the greatest rhythm section of all time, not just Jazz). But they still had Basie and that's where the charm in the album was. I can just imagine Sinatra working with them back in the early 40s when they were all in it. Billie Holiday was the featured vocalist of the time.

[The Chairman]

Basie and Sinatra were good together, but it wasn't his orchestra's golden age. No Walter Page, Jo Jones, Freddie Green, Lester Young, ect. They were the greatest players of the age (Page, Jones, and Green made up the greatest rhythm section of all time, not just Jazz). But they still had Basie and that's where the charm in the album was. I can just imagine Sinatra working with them back in the early 40s when they were all in it. Billie Holiday was the featured vocalist of the time.

He still had guys like Sonny Payne and Frank Wess who were brilliant musicians. And Frank solidified himself as a jazz vocalist on that album. There was always debate, despite being the undisputed favorite of Miles Davis, Basie, The Duke, etc.

[Dwarf lord]

He still had guys like Sonny Payne and Frank Wess who were brilliant musicians. And Frank solidified himself as a jazz vocalist on that album. There was always debate, despite being the undisputed favorite of Miles Davis, Basie, The Duke, etc.

I don't consider Frank much of a jazz vocalist. He sang Jazz based standards, but not true Jazz. And I'm pretty sure Basie's favorite was always Lady Day.

Plus, you don't have to be a jazz act to be a favorite of jazz acts.

P.S. Frank Sinatra was not taught in my Jazz history class because he was a lounge act, which isn't Jazz technically.

[Superman79]

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb299/LadiesMan217_bucket/Frankie.jpg?t=1195098366 (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:void%280%29;)
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb299/LadiesMan217_bucket/1950sFrank.jpg?t=1195098461 (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:void%280%29;)
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb299/LadiesMan217_bucket/1960sFrank.jpg?t=1195098489 (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:void%280%29;)
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb299/LadiesMan217_bucket/1970sFrank.jpg?t=1195098521 (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:void%280%29;)


Okay, I wasn't going to make this thread, but if Trent Reznor and Michael Jackson can get their own threads, than this man definitely has the honor.

The most gifted and prolific performer of the 20th century, Frank Sinatra, officially has his own thread. Talk about his music, his movies, his lifestyle, his alleged but ultimately falsified mob connections, and the various old time actresses he had sex with.

Enjoy.


Curse you for beating me to making this thread,:cmad: but props to you for good taste and being a stand-up guy :up: :D

[Superman79]

I don't consider Frank much of a jazz vocalist. He sang Jazz based standards, but not true Jazz. And I'm pretty sure Basie's favorite was always Lady Day.

Plus, you don't have to be a jazz act to be a favorite of jazz acts.

P.S. Frank Sinatra was not taught in my Jazz history class because he was a lounge act, which isn't Jazz technically.

That's because he didin't stick strictly to jazz, that is often why he he's not taught in Jazz courses.

[Dwarf lord]

That's because he didin't stick strictly to jazz, that is often why he he's not taught in Jazz courses.

Even in his "Jazz" days he really wasn't the text book example of what Jazz is. The basic deffiniation is that it's a music that is based around swing and improv. Frank tended to stick very close to the beat and he wasn't known for improv. Not that any of this is bad. I love him,

[Superman79]

Even in his "Jazz" days he really wasn't the text book example of what Jazz is. The basic deffiniation is that it's a music that is based around swing and improv. Frank tended to stick very close to the beat and he wasn't known for improv. Not that any of this is bad. I love him,

True. Thing is, Frank never fit ANY category 100%...it's because his style was all his own. As for improv, check out some old live performance recordings...he improved constantly...in both rhythms and lyrics (its always fun to hear him do that)...I mean I have heard about 7 different versions of "The Way you look tonite"..just a thought ;)

[The Chairman]

Bumping this for The Man's birthday.

[Superman79]

Agreed. My favorite Sinatra album is actually the first Basie album.

http://www.sinatraalbumcovers.com/Classics/images/1962%20-%20Sinatra-Basie.jpg

This is by far Frank's most entertaining album, as him and Basie were perfect for each other. "Pennies From Heaven", "Please Be Kind", "My Kind Of Girl", "I Only Have Eyes For You" and "I Won't Dance" are standouts, but the whole album is excellent.

I actually kind of prefer the second Basie album...but who's complaining, I got both as a two CD set ;)

BTW- Great video posts...I had a lot of them, but there were a few I didn't so thanks C-man :up:

[Superman79]

Bumping this for The Man's birthday.

Make sure you reply to the official birthday thread in the Community forum ;)

[The Chairman]

I actually kind of prefer the second Basie album...but who's complaining, I got both as a two CD set ;)

BTW- Great video posts...I had a lot of them, but there were a few I didn't so thanks C-man :up:

I never liked It Might As Well Be Swing. "Fly Me To The Moon" and "The Best Is Yet To Come" are among his best, and I love "More," "I Wish You Love" and "I Believe In You," but the rest of the album is kind of meh for me.

For me his best album is September Of My Years. I played "It Was A Very Good Year" in class yesterday. Everyone loved it.

[Superman79]

I never liked It Might As Well Be Swing. "Fly Me To The Moon" and "The Best Is Yet To Come" are among his best, and I love "More," "I Wish You Love" and "I Believe In You," but the rest of the album is kind of meh for me.

For me his best album is September Of My Years. I played "It Was A Very Good Year" in class yesterday. Everyone loved it.

Nice.

Maybe it's the connection it has with a girl from my life, but "I wish You Love" has climbed into my favorites list...

[The Chairman]

Nice.

Maybe it's the connection it has with a girl from my life, but "I wish You Love" has climbed into my favorites list...

I have a live version of it and "That's Life" from 1986 saved on my computer.

QajjRYPlCYs

[The Chairman]

Two great performances from Ol' Blue Eyes' famed 1982 Concert For The Americas:

Searching

ESoXoniHAFM

Quiet Night Of Quiet Stars & I Won't Dance

H4FI3kqMoLU

[The Chairman]

The new 2008 Frank Sinatra stamp:

http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=83adba13b5&realattid=0.1.1&attid=0.1&disp=emb&view=att&th=116d0a99d63dca3b

[signalman]

I love listening to Frank on Old-Time Radio Shows.
Usually when he made a guest appearance he would sing a song or two.
Of course he had his own radio series thru the years.

Some of favorites are:

Frank and Gene Kelly recreating their screen roles from "Anchors Aweigh"
on "The Lux Radio Theater".

Frank on "Burns and Allen". "Jack Benny Program", "Bob Hope Show", "Bing Crosby Show", "Command Performance", "Screen Guild Theater", and "Suspense".

[The Chairman]

I've been listening to the 20 cd The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings boxed set like crazy lately. There's so much good music on there, it's scary.

[Superman79]

I've been listening to the 20 cd The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings boxed set like crazy lately. There's so much good music on there, it's scary.

I hate you for owning that :dry:

[The Chairman]

I hate you for owning that :dry:

Don't worry, you'll get your own copy one day.

[Superman79]

^ I know. I'm just not a patient man

[The Chairman]

^ I know. I'm just not a patient man

I know how you feel. I kept asking my mom every day, "Is it here? Is it here?". I also got the Francis Albert Does His Thing special on dvd.

[The Chairman]

Yesterday, I spent the day listening to the six Frank albums I received for Christmas:

Close To You And More
Where Are You?
No One Cares
Sinatra's Swingin' Sessions!!! And More
Come Swing With Me!
Point Of No Return

Each one is an experience to listen to. Guys like Tony Bennett and Bing Crosby were fabulous entertainers, but they had something Frank lacked. Frank had a way of getting into the soul of the music and taking it to new levels. No one got into the song the way he did.

[Superman79]

You're preaching to the choir bro.

[The Chairman]

You're preaching to the choir bro.

Is that good or bad? :huh:

[The Chairman]

I also compiled a list of what I feel Frank's 10 Greatest Recordings (setting aside personal favorites and going on what are his most technically impressive):

1) I've Got You Under My Skin (From Songs From Swingin' Lovers)
2) Ol' Man River (From The Concert Sinatra)
3) I Have Dreamed (From The Concert Sinatra)
4) Night And Day (From Sinatra & Strings)
5) One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) (From Frank Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely)
6) Lonely Town (From Where Are You?)
7) April In Paris (From Come Fly With Me)
8) Prisoner Of Love (From Sinatra & Strings)
9) All Or Nothing At All (From Sinatra & Strings)
10) Autumn Leaves (From Where Are You?)

[signalman]

Watch "On the Town" with Frank and Gene. Great Movie. A+
Love the opening "New York, New York" number.
Cute sceens with Frank and Betty Garrett.
Gene's dancing is always Fun to Watch.

Wish Rhino would put out the soundtracks for the Sinatra-Kelly movies on CD.

[The Chairman]

Watch "On the Town" with Frank and Gene. Great Movie. A+
Love the opening "New York, New York" number.
Cute sceens with Frank and Betty Garrett.
Gene's dancing is always Fun to Watch.

Wish Rhino would put out the soundtracks for the Sinatra-Kelly movies on CD.

I need to see some of his movies. I've only seen The Manchurian Candidate, which is excellent.

[signalman]

"Sinatra" the mini-series is coming to DVD.
Produce by Tina Sinatra in 1992.
Philip Casnoff as Frank.


I have never seen it.
Has anyone here?


http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/sinatra-DVDs-Planned/8840

[Damiean Dark]

I always prefered Nat King Cole he was not as famous as sinatra but had a far better natural voice Mona Lisa is an al time classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxEmnxiUz8w

[Damiean Dark]

"Sinatra" the mini-series is coming to DVD.
Produce by Tina Sinatra in 1992.
Philip Casnoff as Frank.


I have never seen it.
Has anyone here?


http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/sinatra-DVDs-Planned/8840

No anyone remember that great TV drama on the ratpack with ray liotta as sinatra, don cheadle as sammy davis, and Joe magtena as dean martin? great acting in that particularly from cheadle and Bobby Slayton who does a great Joey bishop.

[The Chairman]

No anyone remember that great TV drama on the ratpack with ray liotta as sinatra, don cheadle as sammy davis, and Joe magtena as dean martin? great acting in that particularly from cheadle and Bobby Slayton who does a great Joey bishop.

That film was a terrible. Cheadle was the only saving grace. Liotta in particular was terrible.

[The Chairman]

I always prefered Nat King Cole he was not as famous as sinatra but had a far better natural voice Mona Lisa is an al time classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxEmnxiUz8w

I disagree. I love Nat King Cole, Sinatra's voice was far more natural than Cole's. His phrasing and breath control were far stronger than Nat and his timing was far more accurate. I've been listening to both singers since I was toddler.

[\S/JcDc\S/]

Didn't know if this was posted or not.

hAHDqmYLdPE

Elvis and Frank :up:

2 legends and Elvis looking in his prime :up:

This one I never saw during that show... Elvis, Frank, Sammy at end of video :eek:

[\S/JcDc\S/]

Sinatra's voice was far more natural than Sinatra.

LOL WHAT? :D

[The Chairman]

LOL WHAT? :D

I meant Nat King Cole. That video I've seen a lot.

[kedrell]

2 reasons I love Sinatra:

the song When I was Seventeen is one of my favorites,

and

The original Manchurian Candidate was one of the best movies ever.

[The Chairman]

2 reasons I love Sinatra:

the song When I was Seventeen is one of my favorites,

and

The original Manchurian Candidate was one of the best movies ever.

That song is actually called "It Was A Very Good Year."

And yes, the original is excellent.

[The Chairman]

Bumping this in light of Frank's appearance at the Grammys last night.

fAPVd2Ta8Vc

Even in death, he owned Alicia and everyone else that night.

[The Chairman]

Some great videos of Frank in concert. Get 'em before they get removed:

Frank sings "I've Got You Under My Skin" live in 1965 (available on the cd / dvd Live And Swingin'):

ISrTkwjrdSY

"The Lady Is A Tramp" in 1970 (available on dvd as Live At The Royal Festival Hall):

cI57bwWDito&feature=related

"Angel Eyes" from his 1971 retirement concert:

Uge-WZ8aWGc&feature=user

"New York, New York" and "Pennies From Heaven" in Argentina in 1982

lc7twYAXcIw

[The Chairman]

"Without A Song" in Italy in 1986 (listen to the note Frank hits at 2:31):

ng32i0IT7Do

"L.A. Is My Lady" from the same show:

lrdF4M_wDEk&feature=user

"Summer Wind" in Germany in 1991:

VkwU5obw6js&feature=user

"One For My Baby" from the same show:

ZWeG025n4sw

"New York, New York" from the same show:

y0l9iHt6x2M&feature=related

Frank's final performance of "My Way" in Japan in 1994:

5otNjizazMg&feature=related

[signalman]

A whole slew of Sinatra movies is being release on May 13th.

http://www.classicflix.com/sinatra-boom-a-193.html?osCsid=e6qjsccads8nn3d5jorf5vv9d0

[The Chairman]

A whole slew of Sinatra movies is being release on May 23rd.

http://www.classicflix.com/sinatra-boom-a-193.html?osCsid=e6qjsccads8nn3d5jorf5vv9d0

I'll be definitely be getting some of them. Frank made some great musicals.

The thing that pisses me off is that the new album of unreleased material has been scrapped and instead yet another compilation of previously released material called Nothing But The Best featuring one new song, the never before released 1984 version of "Body And Soul." It's shameful that they have so many great unreleased performances and instead we have to pay $ 25.00 to hear "Strangers In The Night" for the 10,000th time in exchange for one new recording.

[The Chairman]

Giving this thread a bit of a bump.

I've been home from school for the past few weeks and I've been listening to Frank a lot lately. I listened to all of the Columbia and Capitol era recoridng I've owned as well as his Reprise material, and I thought I'd ask everyone what they think Frank's best album is. I know there's not as great a deal of users with Sinatra albums as their are with Trent Reznor albums, but for those who own them, what do you think is his best? My personal choice would be his 1965 album September Of My Years.

http://www.sinatraalbumcovers.com/Classics/images/1965%20-%20September.jpg (http://www.sinatraalbumcovers.com/Classics/pages/1965%20-%20Sinatra%2065.html)

It's a fantastic album Frank recorded on the heels of his turning 50, and it boasts some of his best work. Obviously, "It Was A Very Good Year" is the song everyone knows, but it has a lot of toher songs that are just as good, such as "September Song" and "Last Night When We Were Young."

After this one comes Only The Lonely, Where Are You?, In The Wee Small Hours and The Concert Sinatra.

[The Chairman]

A great film about tolerance and anti-prejudice Frank made in the 1940s'. It won him an honorary Oscar.

iMM6BOPSNGc

[signalman]

The House I Live in. Excellent Song.
Just a couple of days ago I listen to the Radio Show version.

I only have 5 Sinatra CDs from the 50's/60's plus The Early Years CDS that came out last Fall.
And three Christmas CDs.
Plus two Nancy Sinatra CDs.

Of the CDs I do have, I like "Ring-a-Ding-Ding" the Best.
Lots of FUN Songs.

[The Chairman]

The House I Live in. Excellent Song.
Just a couple of days ago I listen to the Radio Show version.

I only have 5 Sinatra CDs from the 50's/60's plus The Early Years CDS that came out last Fall.
And three Christmas CDs.
Plus two Nancy Sinatra CDs.

Of the CDs I do have, I like "Ring-a-Ding-Ding" the Best.
Lots of FUN Songs.

Ring-A-Ding Ding is fantastic. It might be my favorite swing album on Reprise aside from the first Basie album. Between the title track (with that oh so exciting hron intro), "Let's Fall In Love" and "The Coffee Song," not to mention the beautifully phrased "A Fine Romance," the album is an absolute gem.

[signalman]

Last night I listen to COMMAND PERFORMACE from 8-21-1943.

Ginger Rogers is the MC with Frank, Alice Faye, Ed Gardner, and Elmer Fudd & Bugs Bunny.

Frank sings two songs, "Night and Day" and "Embracable You".
And he does a "Duffys Tarvern" skit with Ed(ARCHIE) Gardner.

Only disappointment was that Frank didn't have a duet with Alice.
Alice sings two songs also. Which I don't recall the names.

[The Chairman]

Last night I listen to COMMAND PERFORMACE from 8-21-1943.

Ginger Rogers is the MC with Frank, Alice Faye, Ed Gardner, and Elmer Fudd & Bugs Bunny.

Frank sings two songs, "Night and Day" and "Embracable You".
And he does a "Duffys Tarvern" skit with Ed(ARCHIE) Gardner.

Only disappointment was that Frank didn't have a duet with Alice.
Alice sings two songs also. Which I don't recall the names.

Wow, that's awesome.

Here's a great performance from Frank on his tv show in 1957

HBehMZZKhWg

Also, check out the website DailyMotion, which includes over 40 pages of rare Sinatra footage, including a great show (broken into 5 parts) with Tony Bennett in Atlantic City in 1988:

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/Frank%2BSinatra

[signalman]

Hey, that was some good stuff. :woot: :word:
Too bad his TV Series didn't last later.
I always enjoyed Franks guest appearances on The Dean Martin Show.
There was a special Christmas episode where Frank and Deans Families get together for a special sing-around.

[The Chairman]

Giving this thread a bit of a bump as this month marks the 10th anniversary of Frank's passing.

This week's USA Weekend Magazine published a great tribute to Frank, with great articles by Bill Clinton, Nancy Sinatra and Joe Torre, among others.

http://www.usaweekend.com/08_issues/080504/080504frank-sinatra.html

[The Chairman]

Two great performances from Frank's 1967 special:

"Day-In Day-Out"

lo6OKSnboas

"Ol' Man River"

zXWfz2Jw88s

The performance of "Ol' Man River" shows Frank at a the top of his game.

[signalman]

Ever visit the Sinatra Family Web site?
Nancy often post and answer questions on the message boards.

http://www.sinatrafamily.com

[The Chairman]

I used to. I didn't really like it there. Nancy can be very snide and was quick to jump on many for even the slightest thing. I also vehemently disagree with her anti-Youtube stance.

[raybia]

TCM pays tribute to Sinatra this month

Many influenced by singer-actor

BY LUAINE LEE
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

It will be 10 years on May 14 since Frank Sinatra closed his ol' blue eyes for the last time. The singer who started as the swoon king to bobby soxers of the '40s became the legendary entertainer with more than 70 movies and hundreds of evergreen songs to his credit.

Every Sunday and Wednesday though May, Turner Classic Movies is heralding Sinatra's contribution to the cinema with a marathon of his classic films and specials -- all uninterrupted by commercials. His children, Nancy, Tina and Frank Jr., host the event.

As an actor, the skinny kid from Hoboken ran the gamut, from the lighthearted original "Oceans 11" to dramatic coups in such films as "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Some Came Running."

Though he fractured the hearts of teens everywhere, he soon pushed his way beyond teen-idol status and went on to star in clubs, on radio and in lightweight musical films. But his vocal cords ruptured in the early '50s and Sinatra found himself without a song.

When he heard about the role of Maggio in "From Here to Eternity," he begged for a chance to audition. He won the part and captured the best supporting actor Oscar in the process. He was on his way.

Sinatra became an entertainment icon, exhibiting opposing facets of his personality. Generous to a fault, he was often testy and dismissive. Rumored to have connections with the underworld, Sinatra swung with the Rat Pack, hustled the world's most glamorous women (and married a few) and lived his life -- as he so succinctly put it -- HIS way.

Sinatra played a part in most people's lives, one way or another. He was a lasting inspiration to musician Jon Bon Jovi. "I looked to another guy from Jersey who was able to tour and make 60 movies," says Bon Jovi. "Frank Sinatra to me was a guy that really had the best of both worlds."

Don Rickles, who became a lifetime pal, recalls, "I had great help at a time with Frank Sinatra in my early years, who boosted my career tremendously by his endorsing what I do and so forth." But even Sinatra didn't blunt Rickles' prickly sense of humor. "Sinatra came into a lounge where I was performing," Rickles recalls. "I said, 'Make yourself at home, Frank, hit somebody.' He doubled over with laughter." From then on, Rickles was an in guy with Sinatra.

Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden was asked to play Ava Gardner, one of Sinatra's wives, in a TV biopic about the crooner. "I was afraid," she admits. "I turned it down twice. It was a fear because she was so known and considered the most beautiful woman. ... In my research I felt that the initial attraction (between her and Sinatra) was an attraction between outlaws. They met and they DRANK together. And they knew how to push each other to the brink of going a bit wilder than one would on his own. ... Their experiences were highs and lows and fights and love and, that's what I learned about her in my heart."

Even California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says, "Many people had an impact on my life when I was young. Frank Sinatra was one of them."

Costar and friend Shirley MacLaine said of Sinatra: "I always felt that, behind the shrewd, sometimes manic eyes was the deep recognition that the truth was more than he had yet seen, and his sometimes abuse of power was an important struggle to find and understand it."

Ray Liotta, who played Sinatra in the 1998 TV flick "The Rat Pack," is impressed by Sinatra's prodigious output but says it didn't always serve the singer-actor. "I definitely think he was somebody who felt better continually doing things, the amount of product he put out there. Sometimes people think that's an admirable thing, but some of it was schlock -- even some of his music suffered ... and some of his movies aren't exactly the most riveting pieces of film. So I think there's good and bad to that. Just to keep busy because you don't feel like dealing with certain issues -- sometimes it's better to deal with the issues than have some of the product out there, especially since it lasts forever."

It does last forever and TCM offers the best and the worst of Sinatra's colorful motion picture career.





TCM pays tribute to Sinatra this month

Many influenced by singer-actor

BY LUAINE LEE
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

It will be 10 years on May 14 since Frank Sinatra closed his ol' blue eyes for the last time. The singer who started as the swoon king to bobby soxers of the '40s became the legendary entertainer with more than 70 movies and hundreds of evergreen songs to his credit.

Every Sunday and Wednesday though May, Turner Classic Movies is heralding Sinatra's contribution to the cinema with a marathon of his classic films and specials -- all uninterrupted by commercials. His children, Nancy, Tina and Frank Jr., host the event.

As an actor, the skinny kid from Hoboken ran the gamut, from the lighthearted original "Oceans 11" to dramatic coups in such films as "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Some Came Running."

Though he fractured the hearts of teens everywhere, he soon pushed his way beyond teen-idol status and went on to star in clubs, on radio and in lightweight musical films. But his vocal cords ruptured in the early '50s and Sinatra found himself without a song.

When he heard about the role of Maggio in "From Here to Eternity," he begged for a chance to audition. He won the part and captured the best supporting actor Oscar in the process. He was on his way.

Sinatra became an entertainment icon, exhibiting opposing facets of his personality. Generous to a fault, he was often testy and dismissive. Rumored to have connections with the underworld, Sinatra swung with the Rat Pack, hustled the world's most glamorous women (and married a few) and lived his life -- as he so succinctly put it -- HIS way.

Sinatra played a part in most people's lives, one way or another. He was a lasting inspiration to musician Jon Bon Jovi. "I looked to another guy from Jersey who was able to tour and make 60 movies," says Bon Jovi. "Frank Sinatra to me was a guy that really had the best of both worlds."

Don Rickles, who became a lifetime pal, recalls, "I had great help at a time with Frank Sinatra in my early years, who boosted my career tremendously by his endorsing what I do and so forth." But even Sinatra didn't blunt Rickles' prickly sense of humor. "Sinatra came into a lounge where I was performing," Rickles recalls. "I said, 'Make yourself at home, Frank, hit somebody.' He doubled over with laughter." From then on, Rickles was an in guy with Sinatra.

Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden was asked to play Ava Gardner, one of Sinatra's wives, in a TV biopic about the crooner. "I was afraid," she admits. "I turned it down twice. It was a fear because she was so known and considered the most beautiful woman. ... In my research I felt that the initial attraction (between her and Sinatra) was an attraction between outlaws. They met and they DRANK together. And they knew how to push each other to the brink of going a bit wilder than one would on his own. ... Their experiences were highs and lows and fights and love and, that's what I learned about her in my heart."

Even California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says, "Many people had an impact on my life when I was young. Frank Sinatra was one of them."

Costar and friend Shirley MacLaine said of Sinatra: "I always felt that, behind the shrewd, sometimes manic eyes was the deep recognition that the truth was more than he had yet seen, and his sometimes abuse of power was an important struggle to find and understand it."

Ray Liotta, who played Sinatra in the 1998 TV flick "The Rat Pack," is impressed by Sinatra's prodigious output but says it didn't always serve the singer-actor. "I definitely think he was somebody who felt better continually doing things, the amount of product he put out there. Sometimes people think that's an admirable thing, but some of it was schlock -- even some of his music suffered ... and some of his movies aren't exactly the most riveting pieces of film. So I think there's good and bad to that. Just to keep busy because you don't feel like dealing with certain issues -- sometimes it's better to deal with the issues than have some of the product out there, especially since it lasts forever."

It does last forever and TCM offers the best and the worst of Sinatra's colorful motion picture career.

[raybia]

Wow. How quickly the public forgets.

[The Joker]

We have a whole Frank Sinatra thread, in the celebrities forum, where it belongs. I still don't understand what peoples obsession with him is. By most accounts he was an ass, and a gangster. And he wasnt really that good of an actor, and his music is stuff my grandma listens too. And not cool stuff she listens to either, like swing, but the boring crap.

[The Chairman]

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=288984&page=5

We have a whole Frank Sinatra thread, in the celebrities forum, where it belongs. I still don't understand what peoples obsession with him is. By most accounts he was an ass, and a gangster. And he wasnt really that good of an actor, and his music is stuff my grandma listens too. And not cool stuff she listens to either, like swing, but the boring crap.

Maybe it's because his persona was second to none and highly infleuntial and admirable - he was incredibly classy and refined, loyal to his friends and devoted to his family. Maybe because he was a consumate professional in the studio. Maybe because he was extremely charitable. Maybe because he was active in a lot of Civil Rights - related causes I could go on.

There's a lot more to him than gossip columnists' ******** and highly refuted mob connections with little evidence to support them.

[JP]

Meh.

[The Chairman]

Just a reminder for the Sinatra fans of the Hype:

The new FS compilation, Nothing But The Best, is out as of today. It features 21 Sinatra favorites from the Reprise era (1960-1988) all digitally remastered along with a brand new recording from 1984, the standard "Body And Soul."

http://sinatrafamily.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=46636&d=1209204353

[The Chairman]

Bumping up once more as today is the 10th anniversary of Frank's passing.

[The Chairman]

Here's a video of Frank performing the never before released "Body And Soul" in 1984, mixed in with shots of Frank Sinatra Jr. conducting the new arrangement for the track, which is available on Nothing But The Best.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/5vmq/ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/5vmq/)

[Superman79]

Last night I had me some Jack and toasted Ole Blue Eyes...hard to believe it's been 10 years...

[The Chairman]

Last night I had me some Jack and toasted Ole Blue Eyes...hard to believe it's been 10 years...

Agreed.

I'm too young for a glass of Jack, but I had his music playing non-stop on my Ipod. I also wrote a blog / bulletin paying tribute to him on MySpace.

It's been 10 years since the passing of Frank Sinatra, the world renowned American singer who defined popular music for seven generations. He was 82 when he ascended into the arms of our loving God, having lived a life of doing it " his way," making full use out of the wonderful gift God gave him.

Throughout his 60 year career, Frank Sinatra recorded over 4,000 songs, starred in 58 films, won three Oscars (two of which were honorary), sold billions of records around the world, performed to sold out crowds in places ranging from Atlantic City to South Africa, and most importantly influenced, helped turn popular music into an art form.

When Frank Sinatra sang, everyone listened, and still does. His voice still has the ability to stop you dead in your tracks, and to touch your heart like no other singer before or since. Why is this? It could because of the personability Frank put through in his music. We got to know Frank through his music, and we were able to relate to him. Each song he sang resonated with some of mankind's most common and purest emotions. We've all had a "Night And Day" kind of moment, a "Ghost Of A Chance" kind of moment, a "Fly Me To The Moon" kind of moment, etc. Sociologists to this day still study Frank's music and how it was able to cover the entire gamut of human emotion. Name another singer (maybe Elvis) who can boast having such a broad spectrum of devoted listeners ranging from rock stars to word leaders to the academic crowd.

I always laugh when people say they don't like Frank, and realize they just haven't experienced life. Frank's music is for people who know what life is like, who know its ups and downs, its in and outs, its heartache and triumphs. Frank knew them like few other people.

We all have at least one Frank song we absolutely adore, and don't deny it, because if you do, you're lying. We've all been part of that last Rockettes-style kick line when they play "New York, New York" at the end of a family gathering, we've all reflected on our long gone glories whilst "It Was A Very Good Year" plays hauntingly in the background, we've all air tromboned to that thrilling solo by Milt Bernhardt on "I've Got You Under My Skin" - you get my point.

However, enough about Sinatra the singer. More importantly, there's Sinatra the man.

Many people are entranced by the Sinatra mystique - why him? Why not Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin or any of the other similarly gifted performers of his age? Why is Frank called The King Of Cool? Why did Frank Vincent call him the Ultimate Man's Man?

The question may seem complex, but the answers are quite simple. Frank was the pinnacle of what a true man should be. He was hands down the classiest man who ever lived - always dressed to perfection, fedora tilted strategically, his hair (in later years, wig) always neat. He was dignified, well mannered, charming, sophisticated and possessed an air of excitement that was felt the moment he entered the room.

He was a true professional in his music as well as acting career. Not having a formal training in music, Frank studied his craft fiercely. In addition to the techniques that defined him as a singer (his phrasing and his unmatched ability to sing over 10 bars without taking a single breath), he studied his equally talented arrangers and was very instrumental in the final aspects of his recordings beyond merely his singing.

And last but not least, everyone in Frank's inner circle describes him as one of the friendliest and most generous men you could ever hope to meet. He was devoted to his family, loyal to his friends, and a sincere and active humanitarian. In fact, one of his main hobbies was to skim through the papers and look for stories on families in need and send them an anonymous check to help them with their troubles. He was also a flag waving patriot and a staunch liberal Democrat who fought endlessly for the cause of Civil Rights. Frank even refused to perform in Vegas until black performers were allowed in the same hotels as he was. Now that's the mark of a true man.

His influence, both musically and personally, ring true today. Modern rock legends like Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Billy Joel and Jim Morrison have all expressed an undying love for Sinatra and his music. Not bad compliments from the rock crowd for a guy who called rock and roll the most vulgar and disgusting thing he ever heard when it first became popular. (It's kind of a shame that the closest thing we have to FS today is Michael Buble - who, when he sings, possesses none of the class or emotion that defined FS, and sounds more like a street thug with a lisp than the elegant, refined gentleman that was Sinatra.)

This bulletin may have been a bit too long, and perhaps would be better suited for a blog, but to quote one of my favorite Sinatra recordings, I couldn't care less. He deserves it.

Make sure today, you play at least one Sinatra recording, and then be thankful that we were so blessed to have his music enrich our lives for all those years.

[Superman79]

Nice bit of writing. :up:

Of course you realize if Frank read that he would slap you upside the head for being so nostalgic then buy you drinks late into the night for being a class act. :p

Ah, to have lived in the good old days...

[signalman]

New Interview with Tina Sinatra.
Check out the link at the end of the article.
Tina reveals who maybe making a Frank Sinatra movie.

http://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/13/interview-tina-sinatra-on-new-frank-sinatra-dvds/

[The Chairman]

New Interview with Tina Sinatra.
Check out the link at the end of the article.
Tina reveals who maybe making a Frank Sinatra movie.

http://www.cinematical.com/2008/05/13/interview-tina-sinatra-on-new-frank-sinatra-dvds/

A Scorsese directed biopic would be marvelous. But Nancy's against it.

[signalman]

Just a reminder for the Sinatra fans of the Hype:

The new FS compilation, Nothing But The Best, is out as of today. It features 21 Sinatra favorites from the Reprise era (1960-1988) all digitally remastered along with a brand new recording from 1984, the standard "Body And Soul."

http://sinatrafamily.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=46636&d=1209204353



I just got the UK Version which has the CD but also a DVD of Franks Concert at The Royal Festival Hall.
DVD is 50 minutes and Frank is in Excellenting Singing Voice.

Contents are:

1) Introduction by Princess Grace.
2) You Make me Feel so Young.
3) Pennies from Heaven.
4) I've Got You Under my Skin.
5) Something.
6) The Lady is a Tramp.
7) I Get Along Without You Very Well.
8) Didn't We.
9) One for my Baby.
10) I Will Drink the Wine.
11) I have Dreamed.
12) My Kind of Town.
13) My Way.

[The Chairman]

I just got the UK Version which has the CD but also a DVD of Franks Concert at The Royal Festival Hall.
DVD is 50 minutes and Frank is in Excellenting Singing Voice.

Contents are:

1) Introduction by Princess Grace.
2) You Make me Feel so Young.
3) Pennies from Heaven.
4) I've Got You Under my Skin.
5) Something.
6) The Lady is a Tramp.
7) I Get Along Without You Very Well.
8) Didn't We.
9) One for my Baby.
10) I Will Drink the Wine.
11) I have Dreamed.
12) My Kind of Town.
13) My Way.

I have that dvd as well as a recording of the previous night's show, which has some extra songs.

[The Chairman]

Bumping fur July 4th and this wonderful article Frank worte for the July 4th, 1991 edition of the L.A. Times


We are created equal! No one of us is better than any of us! That's the headline proclaimed in 1776 and inscribed across centuries in the truth of the ages. Those inspired words from the Declaration of Independence mock bigotry and anti-Semitism. Then why do I still hear race and color-haters spewing their poisons? Why do I still flinch at innuendoes of venom and inequality? Why do innocent children still grow up to be despised? Why do haters' jokes still get big laughs when passed in whispers from scum to scum? You know the ones I mean—the "Some of my best friends are Jewish..." crowd.

As for the others, those cross-burning bigots to whom mental slavery is alive and well, I don't envy their trials in the next world, where their thoughts and words and actions will be judged by a jury of One. Why do so many among us continue in words and deeds to ignore, insult and challenge the unforgettable words of Thomas Jefferson, who drafted the Declaration of Independence's promise to every man, woman and child—the self-evident truth that all men are created equal?

That's what the Fourth of July is all about. Not firecrackers. Not getting smashed on the patio sipping toasts to our forefathers. Not picnics and parades or freeways empty because America has the day off. Equality is what our Independence Day is about. Not the flag-wavers who wave it one day a year, but all who carry its message with them wherever they go, who believe in it, who live it enough to die for it—as so many have.

OK, I'm a saloon singer, by self-definition. Even my mirror would never accuse me of inventing wisdom. But I do claim enough street smarts to know that hatred is a disease—a disease of the body of freedom, eating its way from the inside out, infecting all who come in contact with it, killing dreams and hopes millions of innocents with words, as surely as if they were bullets.

Who in the name of God are these people anyway, the ones who elevate themselves above others? America is an immigrant country. Maybe not you or me, but those whose love made our lives possible, or their parents or grandparents. America was founded by these people, who were fed up with other countries. Those weren't tourists on the Mayflower—they were your families and mine, following dreams that turned out to be possible dreams. Leaving all they owned, they sailed to America to start over and to forge a new nation of freedom and liberty—a new nation where they would no longer be second-class citizens but first-class Americans.

Even now, with all our problems, America is still a dream of oppressed people the world over. Take a minute. Consider what we are doing to each other as we rob friends and strangers of dignity as well as equality. Give a few minutes of fairness to the house we live in, and to all who share it with us from sea to shining sea. For if we don't come to grips with this killer disease of hatred, of bigotry and racism and anti-Semitism, pretty soon we will destroy from within this blessed country.

And what better time than today to examine the conscience of America? As we celebrate our own beginnings, let us offer our thanksgiving to the God who arranged for each of us to live here among His purple mountain majesties, His amber waves of grain. Don't just lip-sync the words to the song. Think them, live them. "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty." And when the music fades, think of the guts of Rosa Parks, who by a single act in a single moment changed America as much as anyone who ever lived.

I'm no angel. I've had my moments. I've done a few things in my life of which I'm not too proud, but I have never unloved a human being because of race, creed, or color. And if you think this is a case of he who doth protest too much, you're wrong. I would not live any other way; the Man Upstairs has been much too good to me.

Happy Fourth of July. May today be a day of love for all Americans. May this year's celebration be the day that changes the world forever. May Independence Day, 1991, truly be a glorious holiday as every American lives the self-evident truth that all people are created equal. God shed His grace on thee—on each of thee—in His self-evident love for all of us.

[The Chairman]

Ratner To Tell Sinatra Valet Story With Tucker

15 July 2008 11:59 PM, PDT | From wenn.com (http://www.wenn.com/) | See recent WENN news (http://www.imdb.com/news/ns0000002/)
Moviemaker Brett Ratner (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0711840/) is set to reteam with Rush Hour (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120812/) star Chris Tucker (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000676/) to take the story of Frank Sinatra (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000069/)'s valet to the big screen.
Ratner will direct and produce the film adaptation of George Jacobs (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2383924/)' memoir Mr. S: My Life With Frank Sinatra (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1109495/), according to Internet reports.
Tucker is slated to play Jacobs, who revealed details about Sinatra's romances with Marilyn Monroe (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000054/) and pin-up Jeanne Carmen (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0138384/) in his expose.
According to the valet, who became a Sinatra confidante during the crooner's Rat Pack years, the late singer was so grateful for his valet's services he set him up with an apartment in the same secret Hollywood building his boss used as a safehouse for himself and his girlfriends.

Ew.

[Superman79]

Have you read the book? Its really really good. Of course, Jacobs is nothing like Tucker, and with two tools like Tucker and Ratner involved they will likely screw it up big time :(

Read the book though...its top notch. :up:

[The Chairman]

Have you read the book? Its really really good. Of course, Jacobs is nothing like Tucker, and with two tools like Tucker and Ratner involved they will likely screw it up big time :(

Read the book though...its top notch. :up:

I've read it twice, it is excellent.

Did you get that PM I sent you?

[Superman79]

I've read it twice, it is excellent.

Did you get that PM I sent you?

The one about the recordings or about the "other place"?? I haven't gotten any from you since then...

[The Chairman]

The one about the recordings or about the "other place"?? I haven't gotten any from you since then...

The one about the other place. Ignore my previous e-mail. It wasn't taken down. Did you finish the recordings?

[signalman]

Just watch "Robin and the 7 Hoods" with Frank, Dean, Sammy, and Bing.
I enjoyed it, 'B'. Alot of good songs.
The 4 all have solo numbers including Peter Falk who mumbles thru his number.
Bing sings "Mister Booze" with all the other boys joining in.
Frank and Dean sing "Style".
Frank sings "My Kind of Town" to close out the movie.

[The Chairman]

Anyone want to check out some truly great Frank stuff should check out my Youtube page:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MyKindOfBlueEyes

[Mizuno Ami]

Wow...this is great to have an appreciation thread for Frank. He was amazing and is still number one in my heart with his voice. I've loved him ever since I was a kid. *huge smile*

[The Chairman]

Wow...this is great to have an appreciation thread for Frank. He was amazing and is still number one in my heart with his voice. I've loved him ever since I was a kid. *huge smile*

Thank you for bumping this.

[Alpha and Omega]

I Did It My Way and New York.

Classics

He's also the reason why I loved 'Guys and Dolls'.

[signalman]

Anyone here listens to Siriusly Sinatra, Channal 75?
Nice hearing Frank, Dean, Judy, Doris, Bing, Sammy, Louis, Nat, Rosemary, Peggy, and Ella while driving.

I do dislike when they play the modern singers. I find most of them uninteresting.
I would say Diana Krall appeals to me the most.

[Zephyr Alexian]

I just watched Tony Rome the other day. Not bad.

[The Chairman]

I just watched Tony Rome the other day. Not bad.

Love that film. He was such a cool mother****er in that film.

[signalman]

Who did Frank date?
Check this out.
Although I doubt he dated all these women.
Some are probably just co-stars from his movies.

http://www.whodatedwho.com/celebrities/people/dating/frank-sinatra.htm

[The Chairman]

Bump.

[The Chairman]

Great op-ed piece from The New York Times by Bono

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/op....html?emc=eta1 (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/opinion/11bono.html?emc=eta1)

January 11, 2009
OP-ED GUEST COLUMNIST
Notes From the Chairman

By BONO
Dublin

Once upon a couple of weeks ago ...

I’m in a crush in a Dublin pub around New Year’s. Glasses clinking clicking, clashing crashing in Gaelic revelry: swinging doors, sweethearts falling in and out of the season’s blessings, family feuds subsumed or resumed. Malt joy and ginger despair are all in the queue to be served on this, the quarter-of-a-millennium mark since Arthur Guinness first put velvety blackness in a pint glass.

Interesting mood. The new Irish money has been gambled and lost; the Celtic Tiger’s tail is between its legs as builders and bankers laugh uneasy and hard at the last year, and swallow uneasy and hard at the new. There’s a voice on the speakers that wakes everyone out of the moment: it’s Frank Sinatra singing “My Way.” His ode to defiance is four decades old this year and everyone sings along for a lifetime of reasons. I am struck by the one quality his voice lacks: Sentimentality.

Is this knotted fist of a voice a clue to the next year? In the mist of uncertainty in your business life, your love life, your life life, why is Sinatra’s voice such a foghorn — such confidence in nervous times allowing you romance but knocking your rose-tinted glasses off your nose, if you get too carried away.

A call to believability.

A voice that says, “Don’t lie to me now.”

That says, “Baby, if there’s someone else, tell me now.”

Fabulous, not fabulist. Honesty to hang your hat on.

As the year rolls over (and with it many carousers), the emotion in the room tussles between hope and fear, expectation and trepidation. Wherever you end up, his voice takes you by the hand.

•

Now I’m back in my own house in Dublin, uncorking some nice wine, ready for the vinegar it can turn to when families and friends overindulge, as I am about to. Right by the hole-in-the-wall cellar, I look up to see a vision in yellow: a painting Frank sent to me after I sang “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” with him on the 1993 “Duets” album. One from his own hand. A mad yellow canvas of violent concentric circles gyrating across a desert plain. Francis Albert Sinatra, painter, modernista.

We had spent some time in his house in Palm Springs, which was a thrill — looking out onto the desert and hills, no gingham for miles. Plenty of miles, though, Miles Davis. And plenty of talk of jazz. That’s when he showed me the painting. I was thinking the circles were like the diameter of a horn, the bell of a trumpet, so I said so.

“The painting is called ‘Jazz’ and you can have it.”

I said I had heard he was one of Miles Davis’s biggest influences.

Little pithy replies:

“I don’t usually hang with men who wear earrings.”

“Miles Davis never wasted a note, kid — or a word on a fool.”

“Jazz is about the moment you’re in. Being modern’s not about the future, it’s about the present.”

I think about this now, in this new year. The Big Bang of pop music telling me it’s all about the moment, a fresh canvas and never overworking the paint. I wonder what he would have thought of the time it’s taken me and my bandmates to finish albums, he with his famous impatience for directors, producers — anyone, really — fussing about. I’m sure he’s right. Fully inhabiting the moment during that tiny dot of time after you’ve pressed “record” is what makes it eternal. If, like Frank, you sing it like you’ll never sing it again. If, like Frank, you sing it like you never have before.

If.

•

If you want to hear the least sentimental voice in the history of pop music finally crack, though — shhhh — find the version of Frank’s ode to insomnia, “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road),” hidden on “Duets.” Listen through to the end and you will hear the great man break as he truly sobs on the line, “It’s a long, long, long road.” I kid you not.

Like Bob Dylan’s, Nina Simone’s, Pavarotti’s, Sinatra’s voice is improved by age, by years spent fermenting in cracked and whiskeyed oak barrels. As a communicator, hitting the notes is only part of the story, of course.

Singers, more than other musicians, depend on what they know — as opposed to what they don’t want to know about the world. While there is a danger in this — the loss of naïveté, for instance, which holds its own certain power — interpretive skills generally gain in the course of a life well abused.

Want an example? Here’s an example. Take two of the versions of Sinatra singing “My Way.”

The first was recorded in 1969 when the Chairman of the Board said to Paul Anka, who wrote the song for him: “I’m quitting the business. I’m sick of it. I’m getting the hell out.” In this reading, the song is a boast — more kiss-off than send-off — embodying all the machismo a man can muster about the mistakes he’s made on the way from here to everywhere.

In the later recording, Frank is 78. The Nelson Riddle arrangement is the same, the words and melody are exactly the same, but this time the song has become a heart-stopping, heartbreaking song of defeat. The singer’s hubris is out the door. (This singer, i.e. me, is in a puddle.) The song has become an apology.

To what end? Duality, complexity. I was lucky to duet with a man who understood duality, who had the talent to hear two opposing ideas in a single song, and the wisdom to know which side to reveal at which moment.

This is our moment. What do we hear?

In the pub, on the occasion of this new year, as the room rises in a deafening chorus — “I did it my way” — I and this full house of Irish rabble-rousers hear in this staple of the American songbook both sides of the singer and the song, hubris and humility, blue eyes and red.

Bono, lead singer of the band U2 and co-founder of the advocacy group ONE, is a contributing columnist for The Times.


Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Privacy Policy Search Corrections RSS First Look Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map

[JLBats]

I'd say I don't have a large appreciation for his full body of music simply due to lack of exposure, but "Glad to be Unhappy" is probably in my top 20 favorite songs ever.

[The Chairman]

I'd say I don't have a large appreciation for his full body of music simply due to lack of exposure, but "Glad to be Unhappy" is probably in my top 20 favorite songs ever.

I figured you to be a Wee Small Hours fan for some reason.

[JLBats]

Indeed, I am, man. I think the vast majority of that album is ****ing perfect on every level.

[JLBats]

By the way, I just want to contribute... has anyone in the history of the world ever made the type of voice Sinatra sings in sound 1/8th as good as Sinatra himself? Nope. It's why people like Buble sound like they're "Sinatra+some ****** other". Sinatra is pure. Sinatra is perfect. Anybody else trying to do Sinatra fails right from the outset.

[The Chairman]

Indeed, I am, man. I think the vast majority of that album is ****ing perfect on ever level.

Agreed. "Last Night When We Were Young" and "This Love Of Mine" are probably my favorites. The version of "Mood Indigo," which has been done by just about every vocalist of that era, is among the best if not the best.

I'll admit, of the four Saloon Song albums he cut at Capitol, Where Are You is my favorite, with ITWSH and Only The Lonely tied for second. No One Cares is my least favorite but still excellent. The version of "Here's That Rainy Day" from that album is bonechilling.

By the way, I just want to contribute... has anyone in the history of the world ever made the type of voice Sinatra sings in sound 1/8th as good as Sinatra himself? Nope. It's why people like Buble sound like they're "Sinatra+some ****** other". Sinatra is pure. Sinatra is perfect. Anybody else trying to do Sinatra fails right from the outset.

So true, especially about Buble. Not only that, but just about every skilled impressionist, including Rich Little, lists Frank as the hardest voice to imitate, and most give up after one try.

[JLBats]

You can imitate it, but can you ever capture the pitch-perfect emotion? Naw. It's hard to describe, but I feel the way about his voice that sculptors used to feel about the block of clay... there's a statue inside there already, one perfect interpretation, and you get to it by chiselling away imperfect excess. Sinatra is the same. Every song is the perfect interpretation of the song, the exactly accurate sonic vibration he chiselled out of the air.

[The Chairman]

You can imitate it, but can you ever capture the pitch-perfect emotion? Naw. It's hard to describe, but I feel the way about his voice that sculptors used to feel about the block of clay... there's a statue inside there already, one perfect interpretation, and you get to it by chiselling away imperfect excess. Sinatra is the same. Every song is the perfect interpretation of the song, the exactly accurate sonic vibration he chiselled out of the air.

Indeed. I also have to state that "I've Got You Under My Skin" may be the best recording I've personally ever heard of anything. Not only is the singing and phrasing flawless, the arrangement and instrumental break are lightyears ahead of anything being done at the time. Songs For Swingin' Lovers is probably the upbeat equivalent to ITWSH.

And speaking of phrasing, I think that Sinatra may be one of the few vocalists who can be considered a genius. The way he'd latch on to certain phrases or even a certain, singular word and use to it to convey a whole spectrum of emotion was and still is unbelievable. Supernatural almost.

[JLBats]

See, I've heard people do that better, but never with the same unwavering coolness Sinatra does it with. Dude is still the personification of manly melancholy. Artists today could take a hint.

[The Chairman]

See, I've heard people do that better, but never with the same unwavering coolness Sinatra does it with. Dude is still the personification of manly melancholy. Artists today could take a hint.

Very well put.

[The Chairman]

Giving this a bump to remind people that the new FS compilation, Seduction, is out now. It features several songs that haven't been available on cd in 15 years as well as a never before released recording of "My Funny Valentine" from 1965.