Favorite Sinatra Tune/Film - Remembering Sinatra 10 Years After His Passing

[Prairie Dog]

Nearly 10 years ago, on May 14, 1998, Old Blue Eyes passed away at age 82.
He did not attend Julliard or for that matter graduate from high school. His school of music was the saloon, where he first crafted his signature style, the pinpoint yet elegant phrasing that sparked a sensation in the 40's. Like many of those he sang for, Sinatra took his lumps in life. His temperment was legendary. He was considered washed up in 1952 when he was dropped by Columbia records.Then came his big comeback: an Oscar for From Here To Eternity in 1953; the release of In The Wee Small Hours in 1955 and a demand for live performances that would last for the rest of Sinatra's life.

Ten years gone,the legend lingers, the melodies play on. The anniversary will be marked this month with the release of Nothing But The Best, a 22 track CD collection, a stamp from the U.S. Postal Service, and five DVD collections of his films. Also TCM is featuring more than 40 Sinatra movies and specials hosted by his three children- Nancy, Tina and Frank Jr.

My favorite Sinatra film
would have to be Von Ryan's Express. Told by associates that he needed to branch away from the "Rat Pack home movies" he'd been doing since The Manchurian Candidate, Frank Sinatra signed on for this 1965 POW epic that ranks as among his best films. This may be the last movie Frank Sinatra did where he served the script rather than go the movie star route. The way he gets shot in the back at the end and goes down on the tracks is a cinematic image I'll never forget. By the way, I don't think many people know how remarkable the ending of this movie is. Not only was it unusual for a major star to die at the end of a movie back in 1965, but the fact is, the original novel this movie is based on ends with Ryan surviving, making it to Switzerland with the train! They actually changed the plot to go for a bigger downer of an ending!

My favorite Sinatra song is the Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer tune
One For My Baby. There are saloon songs and there are saloon songs. This one is the daddy of them all. Here's an absolutely flawless performance of the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mkpGTrAE1c&feature=related
Need I say more.

 

[dhermann1]

The Dorsey Years

Prairie Dog: Have you ever given a listen to Frank's early Tommy Dorsey recordings? He cut a few with Hary James even earlier, but he did 81 songs with Dorsey from about 1940 to 42. Among my favorites are: A Sinner Kissed an Angel, I Bought You Violets for Your Furs, and of course, I'l Be Seeing You and I'll Never Smile Again.
I love to play his early stuff for people who have never heard it before. They can hardly recognize the pre-many-years-of-abuse-and-dissipation voice.
He recorded something like 2700 cuts. SOOOO much to choose from!
Don't be fooled by that description of his training. He listened to the finest opera singers of his time and learned a lot. He always said he learned legato from Tommy Dorsey's trombone technique. He was a very technically accomplished musician.

 

[HadleyH]

I am not a great fan but...

of all his songs this one is my favorite:


When Somebody Loves youl

 

[Prairie Dog]

A Mighty Trio

Dean, Frank & Judy in a rare color video~
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9bpuoS-icGY&feature=related

 

[RetroToday]

Prairie Dog: Have you ever given a listen to Frank's early Tommy Dorsey recordings?

I'm glad you mentioned that era dhermann1,
I've listened to a lot of that early stuff and love it just as much as his 1950s hits. His voice changed so much over a few years.

I'll never smile again is one of my absolute favourites of those early years, even before I found out the song was written here in Toronto by Ruth Lowe in 1939.

 

[dahliaoleander]

I love the sexiness of Frank's Cockiness in the song "The Best Is Yet To Come" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCdZ3590VSE&feature=related

Its just.... just... *SWOOOOOOOOON*

(I am a budding late-Late-LATE-term bobbysoxer after all )

 

[Brian Sheridan]

"I've Got The World on a String" sez it all about Frank.

It's Frank's world. We just live in it.

 

[AmateisGal]

I love Frank. I love his early stuff, his stuff in between, and the stuff in the end - so yeah, love it all.

I love Von Ryan's Express, too. Great film!

 

[Prairie Dog]

I'm floored by the lack of response to this thread.

Today exactly 10 years ago, on May 14, 1998, Old Blue Eyes passed away.

Come on, speak up and give this legend some respect.
What are your thoughts of the man and his music?

 

[Fletch]

Fave film: Young at Heart. Frank plays a schlemiel surprisingly well. Moral of story is that the hard-luck dreamer can get the girl, if he's an earthy son of the big city and she's Doris Day.

Fave song: Don't laugh. It's The House I Live In. Took a little guts to do this in a day when "all races and religions - that's America to me" was not a sentiment embraced by all races and religions in America.

Fave thing about Frank: His kindness to Red Norvo, who was probably his favorite musician and maybe person. He kept Red in work for many years when the jazz world no longer gave a crap about him, and when Red lost his hearing and could no longer play, Frank made sure he was provided for.

 

[Zemke Fan]

Thiis is it for me...

I won't dance, don't ask me
I won't dance, don't ask me
I won't dance, Madame, with you
My heart won't let my feet do things that they should do

You know what?, you're lovely
You know what?, you're so lovely
And, oh, what you do to me
I'm like an ocean wave that's bumped on the shore
I feel so absolutely stumped on the floor

When you dance, you're charming and you're gentle
'specially when you do the Continental
But this feeling isn't purely mental
For, heaven rest us, I am not asbestos

And that's why
I won't dance, why should I?
I won't dance, how could I?
I won't dance, merci beaucoup
I know that music leads the way to romance,
So if I hold you in arms I won't dance

I won't dance, don't ask me,
I won't dance, don't ask me
I won't dance, Madame, with you
My heart won't let my feet do things that they want to do

You know what?, you're lovely,
Ring-a-ding-ding, you're lovely
And, oh, what you do to me
I'm like an ocean wave that's bumped on the shore
I feel so absolutely stumped on the floor

When you dance, you're charming and you're gentle
'specially when you do the Continental
But this feeling isn't purely mental
For, heaven rest us, I am not asbestos

and that's why
I won't dance, I won't dance
I won't dance, merci beaucoup
I know that music leads the way to romance
So if I hold you in arms I won't dance!!

 

[JohnnyGringo]

The Lady is a Tramp

I especially like the version of The Lady is a Tramp that was done live with the Red Norvo Band. Live music is best!

 

[mrswheats]

Favorite movie

Even though he was a supporting cast member, I love the movie
"Higher and Higher" (1943).

 

[Feraud]

I'm floored by the lack of response to this thread.

Join the club.

 

[Decodence]

Come fly with me as performed live with Count Basie at the Sands. It has a really upbeat tempo compared to album recordings. The lady is a tramp from the same recording for the same reasons. I won't dance, world on a string, and fly me to the moon are my other go-tos.

 

[Tomasso]

What are your thoughts of the man and his music?

Personally, the more I've learned about Sinatra the man, the less I think of his music. [huh]

 

[Prairie Dog]

Frank Sinatra Remembered, May 14, 1998, R.I.P, 10 years...

Check out this Montage of vintage Sinatra photos and album art.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IFDK-q6KKxI

And now, the end is near and so I face the final curtain.
My friend, Ill say it clear, I'll state my case, of which Im certain.
I've lived a life thats full. I've traveled each and evry highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, Ive had a few but then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption.
I planned each charted course; each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, Im sure you knew when I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt, I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.

I've loved, Ive laughed and cried, I've had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing.
To think I did all that; and may I say - not in a shy way,
No, oh no not me,
I did it my way.

For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels; and not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!

 

[Pink Dahlia]

Oh "Young at Heart" without a doubt my favorite song.

I don't know it that was subliminally made my favorite song when it was featured in Disney commercials in the 80s or what but I LOVE LOVE LOVE that song.

 

[imoldfashioned]

Ten years already?! That's amazing, it seems like much less time has passed, maybe because I listen to his music at least once a week despite the fact that he's gone.

It's hard to pick a favorite Sinatra song since he recorded such a wide range of music and his career spanned so many different musical styles.

If You Are But a Dream is probably my favorite of his early recordings--it's just over the top romantic

Other favorites off the top of my head include:

In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning

Can I Steal a Little Love

Like Someone in Love

I Get Along Without You Very Well

I've Got You Under My Skin

My Funny Valentine

And I'm with dahliaoleander about The Best is Yet To Come; if you have any doubt listen to Tony Bennett's version and then listen to Frank's. Tony might be a great guy but you just don't buy what he's selling the way you do with Frank.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Ten years ago,my wife and I were retruning from our honeymoon in Spain and were at New York's JFK airport when I heard two airport employees talking: "Yeah, they're playing his songs on every station." And I knew they were referring to Sinatra...

My favorite Sinatra film is TONY ROME (1967). It's clearly no masterpiece, but it's filmed in my hometown of Miami and it's a great time capsule of the city just before it's 1970s decline. The very end of it's glamour age. I also like it because it's the private eye genre. This was the film that made me realize that a P.I. didn't have to exist in the 1930s-1950s to be great, because they're the eternal outsider. For some reason, TONY ROME made me understand this.

Favorite Sinatra song? It depends on my mood. But if pressed for an answer, it would probably be ALL THE WAY. I'm glad that Prairie Dog thought enough of that song to include it in the poll in lieu of the dozens of masterpieces Frank recorded.

Funny, there was this fad of Sinatra bashing in the years immediately following his death. Not at this board but at others (that mercifully don't exist). I could never understand why. Judge the art, not the artist.