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.
For You
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I don't know if it's cloudy or bright
'Cause I only have eyes for you, dear
The moon may be high
But I can't see a thing in the sky
'Cause I only have eyes for you
I don't know if we're in a garden
You are here, so am I
Maybe millions of people go by
But they all disappear from view
And I only have eyes for you
I don't know if we're in a garden
Or on a crowded avenue
You are here, so am I
Maybe millions of people go by
(But they all disappear from view)
And I only have eyes for you
Frank Sinatra's song "I Only Have Eyes for You" tells the story of a person who is so deeply in love with someone that everything else fades into the background. The lyrics express the idea that the only thing that truly matters in the world is the person they love. The song starts off with the question of whether or not the stars are out, but ultimately the answer doesn't matter, because the person singing the song only has eyes for their beloved. The moon may be high and the sky may be full of stars, but the singer can't see any of it because they are so focused on the one they love.
As the song progresses, the lyrics suggest that it doesn't matter where they are or who else is around, the only thing that matters is the connection they share with their partner. Even if they are in a crowded street or surrounded by millions of people, it is as though they are the only two people in the world. This is the essence of true love - the ability to block out everything else and focus solely on the person who makes your heart sing.
Overall, "I Only Have Eyes for You" is a timeless love song that continues to resonate with people of all ages. Its simple yet powerful message of love and devotion has made it a favorite of romantics around the world.
Line by Line Meaning
Are the stars out tonight?
I am not aware of the conditions of the sky at the moment.
I don't know if it's cloudy or bright
I cannot differentiate between the weather conditions currently visible.
'Cause I only have eyes for you, dear
My full attention and affection is only for you, my love.
The moon may be high
The moon may be visible in the sky.
But I can't see a thing in the sky
Despite the visible scenery, I am unable to concentrate on anything other than you.
'Cause I only have eyes for you
My focus is solely on you and nothing else.
I don't know if we're in a garden
I am not aware of our current surroundings.
Or on a crowded avenue
Our current location could be a busy street.
You are here, so am I
We are both present in the same place.
Maybe millions of people go by
There could be a substantial amount of people present around us.
But they all disappear from view
Regardless of those present around us, my focus and attention is only on you.
And I only have eyes for you
I devote all of my attention and affection to you, and no one else.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Al Dubin, Harry Warren
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Nilanjana
As a Sinatra fan, finding this is a treat. Always love him.
Kenneth Freund
By 1951, the new mature Sinatra style had emerged. But being backed by stale 40s, brassy and over-loud arrangements, he was considered "on the way down and out". Little did the public know what great days were ahead. That began in 1953 when Sinatra chose talented arranger/conductor Nelson Riddle to collaborate with on his first album at Capital Records: Songs for Young Lovers. Every song and arrangement a gem. Probably the best Sinatra album of all time. Riddle 's contributions to Sinatra's 50s & some 60s recordings are immeasurable. Of course never forget who was the boss and knew exactly what he was trying to accomplish: FS himself.
LRN_News
Sinatra was even better as a singer in the early to mid 1940s but sure a new style emerged in the early 50s
LRN_News
Also Axel Stordahl who was the arranger between 1942-1953 was awesome.
LRN_News
Sinatra's first single with Capitol in 1953 still had Stordahl as the arranger and it went #7 on the charts.
WaldoLydecker
What are you talking about? lol When Sinatra signed with Capitol, he took loyal Columbia Records arranger Alex Stordahl with him and it was Stordahl, NOT Riddle, who arranged Sinatra's first Capitol recordings. Those recordings were on the whole, commercially unsuccessful. It was then at the insistence of Capitol Records, not Sinatra, that in-house arranger Nelson Riddle, the long time arranger for Capitol's most commercially successful artist, Nat King Cole, be assigned to Sinatra to give his singing a different backdrop and appeal. Riddle was not Sinatra's preferred choice (Stordahl was); Riddle was reluctant Sinatra's assignee. Nat King Cole's Capitol impact on Sinatra even extended to the rebuild of his Hollywood career, wherein most of his 1953-1957 Hollywood films, Sinatra would frequently be filmed singing from and "playing" the piano, something Nat King Cole had universally popularized with his Capitol 'Nat King Cole Trio.' Sinatra, who had come to fame singing soft ballads standing and caressing the microphone, was given different movie packaging in his initial years at Capitol - sitting down, playing and singing from the piano - that was modeled on the success of Capitol's top property, Nat King Cole.
During this Capitol rebirth period, Sinatra also realized that a singing style embracing more of a jazz/swing approach would provide more career endurance than the crooning, sweet ballads, and novelty material that largely fueled his bobbysoxer popularity during the Columbia years. As singer Tony Bennett would later describe, the latter style is more vulnerable to changing tastes in the marketplace, whereas a singing approach based on a jazz/swing inflection, its enduring music, and its superior musicians provides more longevity. Bennett would go thru a similar musical pivot in his own right in 1957, when after 10 years, he shifted from Columbia A&R's preoccupation with manufacturing a "hit," to a more enduring jazz/swing approach to singing and musical accompaniment that was launched with his breakthrough 1957 album "The Beat of My Heart," where going forward, an underlying rhythm provided by first-rate jazz musicians and arrangers would drive his presentation. Tony Bennett always sited Sinatra as a role model, pointing out that his transition and rebirth at Capitol four years earlier was the blueprint Bennett largely followed in 1957 to shift his singing approach and lift his appeal and longevity.
It is no coincidence that both Sinatra and Bennett's pivots would lead them both to significant performance and recording stints with the Big Bands of Count Basie and Duke Ellington, arguably the Alpha and Omega of Big Band jazz and swing.
Kenneth Freund
@WaldoLydecker Huh?
Patricia Peres
Wonderful, forever Frank Sinatra 🌹
Solveig M Wilder
Wonderful !!Great performance!!!
Eleanor Bersano
Wow...quintessential Sinatra!!!🤗🎶🎶🎶🤗