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.
Can't We Be Friends
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The way a silly little child would
I can't excuse it on the grounds of youth
I was no babe in the wild, wild wood
She didn't mean it
I should have seen it
But now it's too late
Now it seems this is how the story ends
She's gonna turn me down and say
"Can't we be friends?"
I thought for once it couldn't go wrong
Not for long
I can see the way this ends
She's gonna turn me down and say
"Can't we be friends?"
Why should I care though she gave me the air?
Why should I cry, heave a sigh
And wonder why
And wonder why?
I thought I'd found a gal I could trust
What a bust, this is how the story ends
She's gonna turn me down and say
"Can't we be just friends?"
The song "Can't We Be Friends?" is about a man who has been rejected by a woman he believed was the girl of his dreams. He confesses that he took every word she said as truth and didn't see through her lies. He was convinced that they had a future together and thought everything would work out between them. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and the woman ended up leaving him. The man pleads with the woman to remain friends with him after their relationship ends, but he knows deep down that he will always wonder why things didn't work out.
The lyrics depict the pain and confusion one feels when faced with rejection. The singer's vulnerability is evident in his plea to stay friends with the woman who has broken his heart. He questions why he should still care about someone who has rejected him, but he can't help but wonder if they could still be friends. The song is a reminder that even when things don't go our way, it's essential to maintain a positive, respectful relationship with others. In the end, the singer realizes that he was naive to believe that his relationship with the woman would last, but he still hopes that they can remain friends.
Line by Line Meaning
I took each word she said as gospel truth
I trusted every word she said without question
The way a silly little child would
I believed her like a naive child
I can't excuse it on the grounds of youth
I can't blame my foolishness on my age
I was no babe in the wild, wild wood
I should have known better than to be so trusting
She didn't mean it
She didn't intend to deceive me
I should have seen it
I should have realized the truth
But now it's too late
But now it's too late to change the situation
I thought I'd found the girl of my dreams
I thought I had found the perfect partner
Now it seems
However, it now appears
This is how the story ends
This is how the relationship ends
She's gonna turn me down and say
She's going to reject me and suggest
"Can't we be friends?"
"Can't we just be friends?"
I thought for once it couldn't go wrong
I thought this relationship was foolproof
Not for long
But this was not the case
I can see the way this ends
I know how this relationship will end
Why should I care though she gave me the air
Why should I be upset even though she rejected me
Why should I cry
Why should I shed a tear
Heave a sigh
Or let out a sigh
And wonder why
And ponder about the reason
I thought I found the gal I could trust
I believed I had found a woman I could rely on
What a bust, this is how the story ends
But it turned out to be a disappointment, and this is how the relationship concludes
She's gonna turn me down and say
She's going to reject me and suggest
"Can't we be just friends?"
"Can't we have a platonic friendship?"
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Kay Swift, Paul James
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Struggler
A perfect song for how I feel at the moment...
random guy
ツ鉛Struggle r we've all been there..
Mauricio Durón
Ultimate Sinatra. I knew it at age 11, as my uncle played this album, brand new, for the first time.
m a cummings
Yeah
The way he caresses and holds the phrases...
❤️😭❤️
So brilliant.
Rick Lopez
The first vocal phrase, hard edged vocal, a glissando, just perfect
Paul Letchworth
The greatest !!!! Wish I had gone to his concert , American treasure , what a man what a life !!!!!
Ruth G.
kills me every time
verdi678
me to
Average Joe Vinyl
I’m currently living this song, and I don’t like it. (The experience, not the song.)
Scott Jones
Standout track from the album "In The Wee Small Hours", 1955
Album 1 of 1001 Albums You Must Hear
This album is quite famous in music history, but it has aged badly. Most of it is just barely tolerable, as the sappy strings production ruins any appeal these songs might have had for me - with one notable exception: "Can't We Be Friends?" I did like this one, it's a great tune with no strings, and really interesting lyrically too. I thought it sounded like a Cole Porter song at first. I didn't care for the others, and wouldn't want to hear them again unless I needed something to help me fall asleep; the harp playing seems well suited to a lullaby.
See my playlists for standout track from each album.