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.
Mean To Me
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Why must you be mean to me?
Gee, baby, it seems to me
You'd love to see me cryin'
I don't know why I stay home
Each night when you say that you'll phone
You don't, and I'm left alone
Singin' the blues 'n' cryin'
You always scold me whenever somebody is near
It must be
Great fun to be mean to me
You shouldn't 'cause can't you see what you mean to me?
You treat me coldly every day in the year
And you always scold me whenever somebody is near
Gee, it must be
Great fun to be mean to me
You shouldn't 'cause can't you see what you mean to me?
The lyrics in Frank Sinatra's "Mean To Me" describe a one-sided and painful love where the singer is continually mistreated by the person they are in love with. The question of "why must you be mean to me?" sets the tone for the entire song, reflecting the confounding confusion of being mistreated by someone they love. The singer's vulnerability is evident in phrases such as "Gee, baby, it seems to me / You'd love to see me cryin'" and "I'm left alone / Singin' the blues 'n' cryin'."
The second verse of the song highlights how the singer is mistreated daily throughout the year. There is a clear indication that this treatment is not only reserved for when they are alone, but also when someone else is present. The person's treatment of the singer is so harsh that it almost seems like they find joy in being cruel, saying "It must be / Great fun to be mean to me." The final plea from the singer is for the other person to understand the depth of their love, as they reiterate that "You shouldn't 'cause can't you see what you mean to me?"
Overall, the song conveys a sense of heartbreak and mistreatment in a one-sided relationship. Though the person singing is persistent in their love, their vulnerable and painful experience of love is expressed throughout the song.
Line by Line Meaning
You're mean to me
You behave rudely with me
Why must you be mean to me?
What is the reason behind your rude behavior towards me?
Gee, baby, it seems to me, you'd love to see me cryin'
It appears to me that you derive pleasure from making me sad.
I don't know why I stay home, each night when you say that you'll phone, you don't and I'm left alone, singin' the blues 'n' cryin'
I do not understand why I wait for your call every night while you never call, leaving me sad and lonely.
You treat me coldly each day in the year, you always scold me whenever somebody is near
You treat me with indifference every day and criticize me in front of others.
It must be great fun to be mean to me
You derive enjoyment from behaving rudely with me
You shouldn't 'cause can't you see what you mean to me?
You shouldn't be mean to me as you fail to realize how much I value you.
You treat me coldly every day in the year, And you always scold me whenever somebody is near
You treat me with indifference every day and criticize me in front of others.
Gee, it must be great fun to be mean to me
It appears to you that behaving rudely with me is entertaining.
You shouldn't 'cause can't you see what you mean to me?
You should not treat me badly as you do not understand how important you are to me.
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, T.R.O. INC.
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Fel Rosario
Thank you for your very informative and heartwarming collection.
HOLLYWOODLAND
Love Frank's Mean To Me the best .Great alternate take
ensiform
Fantastic recording!
João Sousa
You should listen to Bukowski singing this... He could had made a great couver!