Posted on 12/13/2015 3:21:25 PM PST by Bratch
My introduction to Frank Sinatra came by way of “New York, New York” (1979) and “My Way” (1969). Needless to say, I was not a fan. Even as a pre-teen, the over-produced bombast came across as someone, dare I say an old man, trying too hard. Besides, I was born in 1966 and came of age in the early 80s. By law, I was required to worship Springsteen, Seger, Zeppelin, Petty, Van Halen, Def Leppard, and AC/DC, not some crooner belting out anthems about how it’s up to you my way.
With a memory as bad as mine, I don’t have many memories. Flipping through a family photo album can sometimes feel like flipping through someone else’s family photo album. No joke, I have forgotten entire vacations. What I have never forgotten, though, is the moment I fell in love with “The Voice.”
The year was 1985, I was 19 and working in the maintenance department at a nursing home. The radio in the shop was always tuned to WOKY, a station that played only adult standards for folks over the age of a million: Dean Martin, Doris Day, Bing Crosby, Julie London, Vic Damone, Glenn Miller, Peggy Lee, and of course Francis Albert.
To a kid my age, the music played like background music, elevator music. It neither grabbed nor annoyed me. It was just there. That all changed the afternoon Johnny Mercer’s “Summer Wind” came on.
[...] .
Sinatra is our Bach, our Beethoven, our Shakespeare, the artist of our time who will be remembered 500 years from now, 10,000 years from now, for as long as Western Civilization survives.
My list of Sinatra’s 11 greatest songs (other than “Summer Wind”) can be found here.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
How accurate is his Mafia support (and his whining) in the Godfather?
During WWII, “Stars and Stripes” did a poll of the soldiers.
The question was who they liked better as a singer, Roy Acuff or Frank Sinatra. Acuff won easily.
Sinatra was a good singer and actually a pretty good actor but I always thought he was over hyped.
Summer Wind is a magnificent song...and Sinatra’s delivery of it is magical. It’s perfect!
Wasn’t he reported to be a spouse abuser, aka, wife beater?
Sinatra remains the greatest American singer of modern times.
The TV special last week showed how bad and pathetic today’s singers are compared to the Chairman.
In particular. Lady GagGag’s voice was beyond horrible on “New York, New York”...and she sould get on her knees every day and thank “AutoTune” for her financial success.
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He was a wife beater.
I'm no expert on the matter. But from what I know, Sinatra was a decent guy, with a big heart. He quietly supported a lot of his colleagues who had fallen on hard times, Lee J. Cobb being one of those.
But Sinatra was also an unsophisticated man. He had an admiration for the Mafia, much as an unsophisticated German might have had an admiration for the Nazis.
Ava Gardner said Ole Blue Eyes was packin’ some serious heat.
Good grief, we’re talking about his music - not his personal life.
Stay focused...if you’re intellectually capable of that activity and cool it with your attacks. Like Trump, I will respond to maniacs like you.
Yes....obviously, like everything else, musical choices can be pretty subjective. But despite hearing him sing hundreds/thousands of times, there's not one Sinatra recording I really like. None of his stuff grabs me. Now Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Patsy Cline...a big yes to all of those singers.
The story goes Ava was out to dinner with some friends and one guy at the table mentioned that he could not see America’s women and their attraction to ‘scrawny, maybe only 120lbs’ Frank. Ava replied: “Well, Frankie may only weigh 120lbs. but 110 of that is cock”!
Good question. from Wikipedia:
Sinatra did not serve in the military during World War II. On December 11, 1943, he was officially classified 4-F ("Registrant not acceptable for military service") by his draft board because of a perforated eardrum. However, army files reported that Sinatra was "not acceptable material from a psychiatric viewpoint", but his emotional instability was hidden to avoid "undue unpleasantness for both the selectee and the induction service".
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By the way, John Wayne always passed himself off as a super-patriot. But he did not serve in WW II either. At least Sinatra was quiet about the whole super-patriot thing.
My attacks? You’re an idiot.
Very over-hyped. There were far better pop vocalists, but he came along at the right time and appealed to the right demographic (bobby soxers). Very early in his career he attracted 15 year-olds the way Bieber does today. I’m not saying he wasn’t good, and I think he was not bad as an actor, but the article is ridiculous over-praise. I was force-fed a lot of Sinatra this weekend by Sirius while driving long distance. It should suffice to say he was good, and certainly better than the tripe the author liked as a kid.
I never cared for him one bit, but he gets a big gold star in the charitability category.
The horse’s head was an urban myth.
Frank got his big break in “From Here To Eternity” because Ava agreed to do a picture for the studio in return.
He definitely had a fascination with the mob, though. But then, so did a lot of show business types.
Sinatra was no Andy Williams or Nat Cole.
His voice was at best okay.
Even a lot of the big band leaders were more appealing as vocalists. Frankie Laine comes to mind in that regard.
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