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.
Love Me Tender
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You have made my life complete and I love you so.
Love me tender, love me sweet, all my dreams fulfilled,
For my darling, I love you and I always will.
Love me tender, love me long, take me to your heart.
For it's there that I belong and we'll never part.
Love me tender, love me sweet, all my dreams fulfilled,
Love me tender, love me dear, tell me you are mine,
I'll be yours through all the years till the end of time.
Love me tender, love me sweet, all my dreams fulfilled,
For my darling, I love you and I always will.
The song, "Love Me Tender," sung by Frank Sinatra, is a classic love song that speaks directly to the heart. The repeated plea for tenderness and sweetness is a call to a lover to never let go and to always hold the singer close. The lyrics, "Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me go," are a clear statement of the singer's desire for a deep and long-lasting connection that will never be broken.
The song then speaks of a sense of completeness that the singer feels in the presence of the beloved. The line, "You have made my life complete," points to the transformative power of love and the way that it can satisfy one's deepest longings. The following lines, "Love me tender, love me sweet, all my dreams fulfilled," communicate the idea that love can be a source of boundless fulfillment.
The song continues to speak of the connection between the singer and the beloved. It speaks of belonging, of two hearts merging together in a way that is inseparable. The lines, "For it's there that I belong and we'll never part," communicate the idea of a bond that is eternal and unbreakable. The repeated plea for tenderness and sweetness, "Love me tender, love me sweet," underscores the singer's desire for a deeply emotional and intimate connection.
Line by Line Meaning
Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me go,
Treat me with affection and care, do not abandon me,
You have made my life complete and I love you so.
You have brought meaning to my life and I am deeply in love with you.
Love me tender, love me sweet, all my dreams fulfilled,
Show me love and kindness, and all my aspirations will be met,
For my darling, I love you and I always will.
My dear, my love for you is eternal and unbreakable.
Love me tender, love me long, take me to your heart.
Love me with consistent devotion, and keep me close to your heart.
For it's there that I belong and we'll never part.
Being with you is where I feel at home, and I never want to be separated from you.
Love me tender, love me sweet, all my dreams fulfilled,
Show me love and kindness, and all my aspirations will be met,
For my darling, I love you and I always will.
My dear, my love for you is eternal and unbreakable.
Love me tender, love me dear, tell me you are mine,
Love me with affection and assure me that I am yours,
I'll be yours through all the years till the end of time.
I commit to being devoted to you for all the years to come, until the end of eternity.
Love me tender, love me sweet, all my dreams fulfilled,
Show me love and kindness, and all my aspirations will be met,
For my darling, I love you and I always will.
My dear, my love for you is eternal and unbreakable.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, RALEIGH MUSIC PUBLISHING, Capitol CMG Publishing, Songtrust Ave, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Elvis Presley, Vera Matson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Dui209
Love me tender,
Love me sweet,
Never let me go
You have made my life complete
And I love you so
Love me tender,
Love me true,
All my dreams fulfilled
For my darling I love you
And I always will
Love me tender
(Love me tender)
Love me long
Take me to your heart
For it's there that I belong,
And we'll never part
Love me tender,
Love me true
All my dreams fulfilled
For my darling I love you
And I always will
Love me tender,
Love me true
Tell me you are mine
I'll be yours through all the years
Till the end of time
Love me tender,
Love me true
All my dreams fulfilled
For my darling I love you
(I love you)
And I always will
And I always will
Goldy_On_Pc
I think I prefer the sharper version he sang with Elvis
amesbancal
I prefer this one more emotional
Solveig M Wilder
Beautiful ! Great song ! Love Frank's version !
Karen Williams
I've made comments on this song A couple of times in the last year or so and I can never hear it enough! I think this song is performed to such a degree of perfection it's as if it was his song originally... And I cannot forget hearing him and Elvis perform it when Elvis came back from his service Duty I love watching that! Thank you so much for sharing this. I requested this a couple of weeks ago on a radio program and the presenters loved hearing Frank's version
Robert Smit
Underrated version sung with feeling by the great Frank Sinatra!
Richard Cook
Elvis co-wrote it in 1956. Frank sung it with him in their "Love Me Tender"/"Witchcraft" duet on "The Frank Sinatra Timex Show" dubbed "Welcome Home Elvis" recorded March 26, 1960 and aired on May 19th. Frank recorded the song 19 years later, on August 21, 1979 - at which point Elvis had been dead two years.
Mike Morrissey
Thanks Frank,what a lovely version...….
coololds85
Henry Nurse, Going down hill rapidly? You must be listening to the wrong song because I hear perfection when I listen to this song. This is my favorite song along with others on this album. Frank wasn't even in bad health when he sang this song. Give the man some credit. No one close to 80 could sing top those notes and make it sound perfect like Frank did.
Ronnie
Frank was a beast even in his later years...but Humperdink And Tom Jones have voices that are still insanely great at 80+.
Kevin Bryan Mantilla Quintero
Os dois melhores crooners Elvis Presley e Frank Sinatra, eu gosto de pensar que Sinatra cantou como homenagem pra Elvis como respeito pela memória dele.