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.
I'll never smile again
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Until I smile at you
I'll never laugh again
What good would it do?
For tears would fill my eyes
My heart would realize
That our romance is true
I'll never love again
I'm so in love with you
I'll never thrill again
To somebody new
Within my heart
I know I will never start
To smile again
Until I smile at you
Within my heart
I know I will never start
To smile again
Until I smile at you
Until I smile at you
The lyrics of "I'll Never Smile Again" by Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey portray a deep longing and devotion for a lost love. The singer expresses that they will never be able to find happiness or joy again until they are reunited with their beloved, stating that laughter and love would hold no value without them. The lyrics suggest that the singer has already attempted to move on from the relationship, but their heart won't allow it as they know that their love is true. The line "For tears would fill my eyes, my heart would realize" indicates that the singer is aware that their emotions would overwhelm them if they were to try and move on, implying that they have accepted the fact that they will never be able to love again. The repetition of the final lines "Within my heart, I know I will never start to smile again until I smile at you" emphasizes the depth of the singer's love and their understanding that it can never be replaced or replicated.
Overall, the lyrics of "I'll Never Smile Again" embody the feelings of heartbreak and emptiness that come with losing a significant other. The singer's love is so intense and all-consuming that they feel they will never be able to find happiness without their partner by their side. This longing and devotion are further emphasized through the repetition of the final lines, indicating that the singer's heart will never be able to move on until they are reunited with the one they love.
Line by Line Meaning
Within my heart
I know I will never start
To smile again
Until I smile at you
Deep down, I am aware that I cannot force myself to be happy until I see you and smile with you.
I'll never smile again
Until I smile at you
I cannot genuinely smile again until I see you and feel your presence.
I'll never laugh again
What good would it do
For tears would fill my eyes
There is no point in me trying to laugh again because I will just end up crying due to our separation.
My heart would realize
That our romance is true
My heart acknowledges the genuineness of our love and the pain of missing you.
I'll never love again
I'm so in love with you
I cannot picture myself loving anyone else because my heart is fully invested in you.
I'll never thrill again
To somebody new
Within my heart
I know I will never start
I cannot imagine finding excitement or joy with anyone else because my heart is taken by you and will never move on.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Ruth Lowe
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@cate4890
I was a big Beatles fan. Still love them. But, I’ve now become a big Sinatra fan. Never knew what a beautiful voice he had.
@jodycarver7439
I'm a Steel guitarist this was my late wife Marilyn's favorite song it was only a month later that the was taken by GOD she will always be in My Heart FOREVER, and thank you Mr. Sinatra and Mr. Dorsey.... Jody
@nutty_rickrolled
I love how it doesn’t matter what generation you are. this song always resonates with all of us.
@cloudbroken
I don't know that I've heard Sinatra this young... He sounds so tame. His voice is so completely in check. And the Pipers are just lovely.
@monesqe
Not tame--young. People forget what a magnificent voice he had before age and vocal chord injuries changed it.
@geerterri
My Grandparents loved Dorsey and Sinatra. I grew up listening to this music and singers. Their favorite big band, though, was Glenn Miller's Orchestra.
@stelero
28 years old and I love this
@statusmeatbag
27 and 1940's swing/lounge is my absolute favorite. Makes me feel more.
@Mirrabellle
Rebecca Dobbs I'm in my 70's and I went to a Burt Baccarah concert last year and sat next to a couple in their 20's...they were staggered at what he'd written and loved them all. I said...next...try a Sinatra concert :-)
@statusmeatbag
You mean like a cover band or did some necromancer do something untoward? xD But yeah, having my parents impose their music tastes on me actually gives me a better appreciation for some modern bands and hearing how they've taken old genres and made them into something new.