[AppyPappy]

One of Sinatra's secrets was his ability to take breaths at odd sequences in a song. He never did it when it was expected. Singers have long marveled at his ability.

I have always found "It Was A Very Good Year" to be the most depressing song. My favorite Sinatra song was "Yetta, I Can't Forgetta"

[Roccus]

"I have always found "It Was A Very Good Year" to be the most depressing song."
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As a young man I loved this song when it first came out.
Today, I find it depressing also.
I guess it all depends on which verse I'm living in.

[Young Werther]

As a Joisey Boy I know the secret.

Frank knew that breath control was the secret to singing. In an era long before running shoes and marathons, Frank could be seen running the streets of Hoboken to "builkd up his wind"!

[DeFault User]

I thought I had heard something about the breathing technique that Sinatra learned from Tommy Dorsey. (Anyway, it involves breathing in while still holding a note.) Here's Sinatra's comment on it:

"How in the hell did he do it? I used to sit behind him on the bandstand and watch, trying to see him sneak a breath. But I never saw the bellows move on his back. His jacket didn't even move. Finally, after a while, I discovered that he had a 'sneak' pinhole in the corner of his mouth -- not an actual pinhole, but a tiny place where he was breathing. In the middle of a phrase, while the tone was still being carried through the trombone, he'd go shhh and take a quick breath and play another four bars with that breath. Why couldn't a singer do that too?"