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 Couldn't Dare Less
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In the sky is glowing
But I couldn't care less
Lovely night birds are winging - and
Filling the night with singing
But I couldn't care less
Oh how perfect the setting - butHow do I start forgetting
I'm alone where we walked before
For without the warmth of your caress
It's a cold and dreary world - I guess
And I couldn't care less - unless
You could care once more
In Frank Sinatra's song "I Couldn't Dare Less," the lyrics convey a sense of loneliness and longing for a lost love. The opening lines depict a beautiful, serene evening with gentle breezes and shining stars, but the singer proclaims that they couldn't care less about this picturesque scene because their heartache overshadows everything else. The mention of night birds singing symbolizes the natural beauty surrounding the singer, yet they remain indifferent to it due to their emotional state.
The next lines highlight the contradiction in the singer's feelings. They acknowledge the perfect setting of their surroundings but struggle with the pain of starting to forget their lost love. The singer reminisces about walks they took with their partner, and without the warmth and tenderness of their touch, the world feels cold and dreary.
The concluding lines express the singer's vulnerability and a glimmer of hope. They declare that they couldn't care less about anything unless their lost love starts to care for them again. This line reveals the depth of their longing and desire for reconciliation, suggesting that their happiness is entirely dependent on the return of the affection they once shared.
Overall, "I Couldn't Dare Less" delves into the complexities of heartbreak, conveying a sense of desolation and the yearning for love's return.
Line by Line Meaning
Balmy breezes are blowing - each star
The gentle wind is blowing and every star in the sky is shining brightly
In the sky is glowing
I see the stars shining brightly in the sky
But I couldn't care less
But I have no interest or concern
Lovely night birds are winging - and
Beautiful birds are flying through the night
Filling the night with singing
Filling the night with their melodious songs
But I couldn't care less
But I have no interest or concern
Oh how perfect the setting - but
Oh, the surroundings are so idyllic and flawless, but
How do I start forgetting
How can I begin to forget
I'm alone where we walked before
I am in the same place where we used to walk together
For without the warmth of your caress
Because without the warmth and affection of your touch
It's a cold and dreary world - I guess
The world feels cold and bleak to me, I suppose
And I couldn't care less - unless
And I don't have any interest or concern, unless
You could care once more
You start to care for me again
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@anthonyjdestefano1
The man with the greatest speaking voice honoring the man with the greatest singing voice
@shaunbeer4686
Perfectly put.
@johntalbot4253
💯
@trueblue3719
Brilliantly put 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
@jezebeljones659
Amen to that.
@stevecampbell6294
Well said👏
@Lukather5150
That level of class and dignity doesn’t exist in the entertainment industry anymore.
@nickp385
Class is long gone in this society. This generation is a total disgrace.
@peterfranks6243
Never a truer word said my friend
@jasonsmith530
It’s all Chris rock getting slapped by Will smith these days