Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants, Sinatra began his musical career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. Sinatra found success as a solo artist after he signed with Columbia Records in 1943, becoming the idol of the "bobby soxers". He released his debut album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946. Sinatra's professional career had stalled by the early 1950s, and he turned to Las Vegas, where he became one of its best known residency performers as part of The Rat Pack. His career was reborn in 1953 with the success of From Here to Eternity, with his performance subsequently winning an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sinatra released several critically lauded albums, including In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin' Lovers! (1956), Come Fly with Me (1958), Only the Lonely (1958) and Nice 'n' Easy (1960).
Sinatra left Capitol in 1960 to start his own record label, Reprise Records, and released a string of successful albums. In 1965, he recorded the retrospective September of My Years, starred in the Emmy-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, and released the tracks "Strangers in the Night" and "My Way". After releasing Sinatra at the Sands, recorded at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Vegas with frequent collaborator Count Basie in early 1966, the following year he recorded one of his most famous collaborations with Tom Jobim, the album Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim. It was followed by 1968's collaboration with Duke Ellington. Sinatra retired for the first time in 1971, but came out of retirement two years later and recorded several albums and resumed performing at Caesars Palace, and reached success in 1980 with "New York, New York". Using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured both within the United States and internationally until a short time before his death in 1998.
Sinatra forged a highly successful career as a film actor. After winning an Academy Award for From Here to Eternity, he starred in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), and received critical acclaim for his performance in The Manchurian Candidate (1962). He appeared in various musicals such as On the Town (1949), Guys and Dolls (1955), High Society (1956), and Pal Joey (1957), winning another Golden Globe for the latter. Toward the end of his career, he became associated with playing detectives, including the title character in Tony Rome (1967). Sinatra would later receive the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1971. On television, The Frank Sinatra Show began on ABC in 1950, and he continued to make appearances on television throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Sinatra was also heavily involved with politics from the mid-1940s, and actively campaigned for presidents such as Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, though before Kennedy's death Sinatra's alleged Mafia connections led to his being snubbed.
While Sinatra never formally learned how to read music, he had an impressive understanding of it, and he worked very hard from a young age to improve his abilities in all aspects of music. A perfectionist, renowned for his dress sense and performing presence, he always insisted on recording live with his band. His bright blue eyes earned him the popular nickname "Ol' Blue Eyes". Sinatra led a colorful personal life, and was often involved in turbulent affairs with women, such as with his second wife Ava Gardner. He went on to marry Mia Farrow in 1966 and Barbara Marx in 1976. Sinatra had several violent confrontations, usually with journalists he felt had crossed him, or work bosses with whom he had disagreements. He was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. After his death, American music critic Robert Christgau called him "the greatest singer of the 20th century", and he continues to be seen as an iconic figure.
Sinatra died with his wife at his side at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on May 14, 1998, aged 82, after a heart attack. Sinatra had ill health during the last few years of his life, and was frequently hospitalized for heart and breathing problems, high blood pressure, pneumonia and bladder cancer. He was further diagnosed as having dementia. He had made no public appearances following a heart attack in February 1997. Sinatra's wife encouraged him to "fight" while attempts were made to stabilize him, and his final words were, "I'm losing." Sinatra's daughter, Tina, later wrote that she and her sister, Nancy, had not been notified of their father's final hospitalization, and it was her belief that "the omission was deliberate. Barbara would be the grieving widow alone at her husband's side." The night after Sinatra's death, the lights on the Empire State Building in New York City were turned blue, the lights at the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor, and the casinos stopped spinning for a minute.
Sinatra's funeral was held at the Roman Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, California, on May 20, 1998, with 400 mourners in attendance and thousands of fans outside. Gregory Peck, Tony Bennett, and Sinatra's son, Frank Jr., addressed the mourners, who included many notable people from film and entertainment. Sinatra was buried in a blue business suit with mementos from family members—cherry-flavored Life Savers, Tootsie Rolls, a bottle of Jack Daniel's, a pack of Camel cigarettes, a Zippo lighter, stuffed toys, a dog biscuit, and a roll of dimes that he always carried—next to his parents in section B-8 of Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.
His close friends Jilly Rizzo and Jimmy Van Heusen are buried nearby. The words "The Best Is Yet to Come", plus "Beloved Husband & Father" are imprinted on Sinatra's grave marker. Significant increases in recording sales worldwide were reported by Billboard in the month of his death.
Are You Lonesome Tonight
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Do you miss me tonight?
Are you sorry we drifted apart?
Does your memory stray to a brighter sunny day
When I kissed you and called you sweetheart?
Do the chairs in your parlor seem empty and bare?
Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there?
Tell me dear, are you lonesome tonight?
I wonder if you`re lonesome tonight
You know someone said that the world`s a stage
And each must play a part.
Fate had me playing in love you as my sweet heart.
Act one was when we met, I loved you at first glance
You read your line so cleverly and never missed a cue
Then came act two, you seemed to change and you acted strange
And why I`ll never know.
Honey, you lied when you said you loved me
And I had no cause to doubt you.
But I`d rather go on hearing your lies
Than go on living without you.
Now the stage is bare and I`m standing there
With emptiness all around
And if you won`t come back to me
Then make them bring the curtain down.
Is your heart filled with pain, shall I come back again?
Tell me dear, are you lonesome tonight?
The song "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" was written in 1926 by Lou Handman and Roy Turk, but it wasn't until Elvis Presley recorded his version in 1960 that the song became an international hit. However, Frank Sinatra had recorded his own version of the song much earlier in 1959, which is still widely considered to be one of the best covers of the song.
The lyrics of the song are about a couple who have drifted apart, and the singer is wondering if the other person feels the same sense of loneliness that they do. The first verse asks directly if the other person is lonely and if they miss the singer. The second verse describes a happier time in their relationship, when they were in love and everything seemed perfect. The third verse is where the tone of the song changes, and the singer reveals that the other person lied to them about loving them. Despite this, the singer would rather be lied to than be without the other person. The final verse describes the loneliness that the singer now feels, and asks the other person if they feel the same loneliness and if they should try again.
The song has been covered by many famous artists, including Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Neil Diamond, and Aretha Franklin. It has also been used in popular culture, including in the film Blue Hawaii starring Elvis Presley, and in the TV series The Sopranos.
Line by Line Meaning
Are you lonesome tonight,
Are you feeling lonely tonight?
Do you miss me tonight?
Are you missing me tonight?
Are you sorry we drifted apart?
Do you regret that we have grown apart?
Does your memory stray to a brighter sunny day
Do you reminisce about the happier times we shared?
When I kissed you and called you sweetheart?
Do you remember when I used to kiss you and call you my love?
Do the chairs in your parlor seem empty and bare?
Do you feel lonely in your home surrounded by empty chairs?
Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there?
Do you imagine me standing at your doorstep when you look outside?
Is your heart filled with pain, shall I come back again?
Do you feel hurt and lonely and wonder if I should come back to you?
Tell me dear, are you lonesome tonight?
Please tell me, my dear, are you feeling lonely tonight?
You know someone said that the world`s a stage
As you know, someone once said that our lives resemble a drama on a stage
And each must play a part.
And we all have our roles to play in life.
Fate had me playing in love you as my sweetheart.
It was fate that made me fall in love with you and call you my lover.
Act one was when we met, I loved you at first glance
Our first meeting was the beginning of my love for you and I fell for you almost instantly.
You read your line so cleverly and never missed a cue
You played your role so well and never missed a beat.
Then came act two, you seemed to change and you acted strange
But in the second act, you changed and acted in a strange way that I couldn't understand.
And why I`ll never know.
And I'll never understand why.
Honey, you lied when you said you loved me
My dear, you were lying when you said that you loved me.
And I had no cause to doubt you.
And I believed you with no reason to doubt you.
But I'd rather go on hearing your lies
But I would still rather hear your lies than live without you.
Than go on living without you.
Because the thought of living without you is unbearable to me.
Now the stage is bare and I'm standing there
Now that our love is gone, I feel as if I'm standing all alone on an empty stage.
With emptiness all around
Surrounded by emptiness and a feeling of loneliness.
And if you won't come back to me
And if you are not willing to come back to me
Then make them bring the curtain down.
Then let the curtain fall on our love story.
Lyrics © Royalty Network, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Roy Turk, Lou Handman
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Mike
on The Lady Is A Champ
She gets too hungry for dinner at eight
She can't eat late and stay up all night, because unlike society types, she has to get up in the morning.
She likes the theatre and never comes late
She cares more about seeing the play than being seen making an entrance.
She never bothers with people she'd hate
Her friends are friends, not social trophies.
Doesn't like crap games with barons or earls
While barrns and earls probably don't play craps, she associates with friends, not people to be seen with.
Won't go to Harlem in ermine and pearls
She doesn't "slum", the practice of the rich in the 30's, when the song was written, of touring poor neighborhoods dressed in rich clothes to "tut, tut" about the deplorable conditions, and congratulate each other for "caring about the poor"
Won't dish the dirt with the rest of the girls
Doesn't trade gossip for acceptance among an in-crowd
She likes the free, fresh wind in her hair
She cares more about how her hair feels than conforming with current hair fashions
Hates California, it's cold and it's damp
Since most of California is noticeably warmer and / or drier than New York, where the play the song was written for is set, this is probably a facetious excuse to like what she likes.
And she won't go to Harlem in Lincoln's or Ford's
Another reference to slumming, but facetious, since Lincolns and Fords were middle-class, not luxury brands when the lyric was written
Anonymous
on Try a Little Tenderness
Here are the correct lyrics
Try A Little Tenderness - Frank Sinatra - Lyrics
Oh she may be weary
Women do get wearied
Wearing that same old shabby dress
And when she’s weary
You try a little tenderness
You know she’s waiting
Just anticipating things she’ll may never possess
While she is without them
Try just a little bit of tenderness
It’s not just sentimental
She has her grieve and her care
And the words that soft and gentle
Makes it easier to bear
You wont regret it
Women don't forget it
Love is their whole happiness
And it’s all so easy
Try a little tenderness
Musical Interlude
And, it’s all so easy
Try a little tenderness
Daniel
on The Way You Look Tonight
I met Frank Jr. in Las Vegas, a real gentleman. RIP you both.
Giorgi Khutashvili
on Theme from New York, New York
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