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.
My Heart Stood Still
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Enough behind to show that once we have camped here. Some leave more than
Others, some a memory and some a fortune, some a song. And a song can be as
Fine a memorial to a man as anything that can be left behind, 'cause you see
It's gold, and it's gold that all can share. We have a great song to
Remember Lorenz Hart by, that wonderful melody that he and Dick Rodgers
Wrote for the Connecticut Yankee, of course you know, My Heart Stood Still
And then my heart stood still,
My feet could step and walk, my lips could move and talk
And yet my heart stood still.
Though not a single word was spoken, I could tell you knew
That unfelt clasp of hands told me so well you knew
I never lived at all until the thrill of that moment
When my heart stood still.
(That unfelt clasp of hands told me how well you knew, hmmmm)
I laughed at sweethearts I met at schools
All indiscreet hearts seemed romantic fools
(A house in Iceland was my heart's domain)
(I saw your eyes, now castles rise in Spain!)
Though not a single word was spoken, I could tell you knew
That unfelt clasp of hands told me so well that you knew
I never lived at all (until the thrill of that moment)
(When my heart stood still.)
The opening lines of the song My Heart Stood Still by Frank Sinatra set the stage for what is essentially a tribute to songwriter Lorenz Hart. The singer of the song acknowledges that when people die, they leave behind varying degrees of legacies. Some leave more material goods, others only memories of themselves, but one thing that can last long after a person has passed is a well-written song. It's gold, something that all can share and something that can convey the heart and soul of a person in a way that tangible items cannot. In many ways, it feels like an ode to Hart, who died unexpectedly in 1943 at the age of 48.
The rest of the song, then, is Sinatra's rendition of the classic tune. The lyrics speak of love at first sight, of a moment when the world stopped and nothing mattered except for the person standing in front of the singer. "I took one look at you, that's all I meant to do," Sinatra croons. "And then my heart stood still." The idea of the heart standing still is certainly not new, but there's something about the way Sinatra delivers the line - with a touch of a smile and a hint of nostalgia - that makes it feel fresh.
The lyrics that follow paint a picture of a world transformed by love. The singer realizes that while he's met other sweethearts before, no one has ever made him feel like this. "All indiscreet hearts seemed romantic fools," he muses. And yet, even in this blissful moment, the sense of impermanence looms. "A house in Iceland was my heart's domain," he sings, "Now castles rise in Spain!" It's a reminder, perhaps, that even the most powerful emotions are fleeting.
Line by Line Meaning
I took one look at you, that's all I meant to do
I only intended to glance at you once, but that was enough.
And then my heart stood still,
After looking at you, my heart stopped beating for a moment.
My feet could step and walk, my lips could move and talk
Although parts of my body continued to function normally, my heart was still.
And yet my heart stood still.
Despite everything else, my heart remained unmoving.
Though not a single word was spoken, I could tell you knew
There was no conversation between us, but we still had a deep understanding.
That unfelt clasp of hands told me so well you knew
Despite not physically touching, we felt a connection that conveyed our comprehension of each other.
I never lived at all until the thrill of that moment
Prior to that moment, I had not experienced true life, but instead, mere existence.
(That unfelt clasp of hands told me how well you knew, hmmmm)
That connection we felt was so strong that it felt like we actually touched.
I laughed at sweethearts I met at schools
In the past, I found young love with fellow students to be amusing.
All indiscreet hearts seemed romantic fools
Those who openly display their emotions for love seemed foolish to me.
(A house in Iceland was my heart's domain)
I only felt a sense of true belonging in my own thoughts, away from society.
(I saw your eyes, now castles rise in Spain!)
After looking into your eyes, I could envision endless possibilities of love and prosperity.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: LORENZ HART, RICHARD RODGERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Mark Blackburn
This is where I came in . . .
It was on a January day in 1993 that I returned home from work to hear words from my wife that I'd been aching to hear: "You got a letter from Frank Sinatra."
I remember taking off my winter coat and boots, and stumbling into another room where I could be alone, making sure my hands were clean, and getting a bright reading light, and carefully opening the envelope and reading the note and re-reading it (ten times? twenty times?).
I remember being overcome with emotion, saying to myself, "Do you realize what an honor you've just received? This is from someone who, early in his career, received letters like mine numbering 3,000 a week! Do you appreciate that he took the time---perhaps ten minutes of his life, to read your two-page letter, and then compose this signed response you hold in your hands? Do you realize what this is? The greatest musical entertainer of the Twentieth Century is telling you personally: "I greatly appreciate your interest in my music" and "it was so nice of you to take the time to write."
With an extra decade of immersing myself in Frank Sinatra's greatness, I'd have to say that only a "religious experience" --- and a glimpse of Eternity---could ever surpass what I feel in my heart, the sheer exhilarating joy I experience, when I listen for example, to "My Heart Stood Still" (my favorite of these). There is the high plateau where the singer and his great collaborator Nelson Riddle have their true, "shining hour." At that defining moment in 1963, the arranger conducts his finest orchestrations, with the largest symphony orchestra ever assembled in Hollywood---as the singer on a mountain peak of vocal greatness, performs his favorite songs by his (and my) favorite composer. For me personally that is the `coming-together-of-a-lifetime,' ----all the peak emotions of memory, a lifetime's worth of emotion, bringing me tears of joy each time I hear it. (These days, the experience is rationed to perhaps once a month, and then just a cut or two at a time, so as to preserve the experience----I want to `spread it out' over the rest of my life, if I can.)
----
In the final paragraph of my letter I told Frank Sinatra how I'd "discovered your enduring greatness somewhat late in life. But perhaps that's why I appreciate you the more now.
"Thanks then, for being you, is all I want to say. The world would be a poorer place if you'd never passed this way. And I think, after six decades of your work, without anyone surpassing your greatness, I guess it's safe to say `We'll never know your like again.' Best wishes for a long and healthy life.
Sincerely,
Mark Blackburn
Winnipeg Canada
Mark Blackburn
The very next offering after LOST IN THE STARS on the shuffle play miracle that is today's YouTube . . . was this one. Yes, if I had to discard the rest and keep only one track, it would be this, Rodgers & Hart's very best. Here comes the climax . . . "I never lived at all, until the thrill, of that moment when my heart stood still . . ." Never fails, goosebumps and tears of joy.
A moment ago I left this comment for LOST IN THE STARS -- just as applicable here:
A friend asked today, "If you could keep only ONE of his albums, which one goes with you to the proverbial desert island?" The short answer is, "This one." But a big ocean of memories will surround that island.
Back when I was just six years old, I attended my best friend David Pearce's birthday party, and his mother -- a widow, who I can remember thinking was so beautiful -- took out a picture of little David's late father and told us boys how she'd married on the "Day of Infamy." (Much later I'd learn that was the term used by President FDR for December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was hit, launching American involvement in WWII).
Then Mrs. Pearce told us that "Frank Sinatra -- you don't know him, was always our favorite singer." I remember feeling honored, at that moment -- in some way that my six year old heart could never express in words---that she would share with us that photograph, and her memories of David's late father. And then, speaking to me alone (as the other boys at the party gravitated towards David's new toys) Mrs. Pearce told me in a soft voice:
"Frank Sinatra is the greatest singer, Mark. Maybe someday you'll agree with me." Then she put on one of his records---something from the first Capitol album of 1953 (how I wish with all my heart that I could recall which song she selected---but I do remember listening, dutifully, and feeling very much like a big man who was seeing eye-to-eye with this beautiful woman who was treating me like an adult.
---
I grew up in a musically literate home, with loving (and very musical) parents who once saw a live performance by Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey's band in July of 1940 (at Toronto's "Canadian National Exhibition"----a sort of glorified `state fair' in Canada's largest city). My parents had no Frank Sinatra LPs from the 1950s (only one or two old "Columbia" 78s from the late 1940s). Dad gave Mom two Nat Cole LPs in the 60s, including one arranged by Gordon Jenkins---my Mom's favorite singer and her favorite arranger, right up until her death three years ago.
My parents always took us to see "Broadway" musicals as performed locally, (in my hometown of Ottawa Canada) and eventually---in 1960---they took us to see the "real thing"----I remember being told that the theatre house lights were being dimmed all over Broadway that very night because Oscar Hammerstein had just died. Mom told me "He's the greatest lyricist, Mark" suggesting (like Mrs. Pearce) that one day, perhaps when I was older, I might agree with her.
On that same visit to NYC I remember stepping off an elevator in the Plaza Hotel, and my father immediately telling me "that man there, you just rode in the elevator with is Richard Rodgers" (who would one day be my favorite composer). But as with beautiful Mrs. Pearce trying to introduce me to Frank Sinatra, I just "wasn't ready" to appreciate greatness . . . "
---
Any track from that album is “my favorite recording right this minute.” As it happens Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio just played THIS one (one of the few NOT written by my favorite composer). Yes, as Frank said in another context -- introducing Fred Astaire dancing with Eleanor Powell: 'You can wait around a hundred years, and you'll never see (hear) the likes of this again.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6VMMa0YDbg
Melinda Nogales
Frank Sinatra, the greatest musical genius. The Voice of The Century, and his music will be played and listened to for centuries to come. I love Frank Sinatra!!!
Noe Berengena
Incomparable -- the attention to detailed nuance by both Sinatra and Riddle makes this epic. Two masters of the genre.
Mark Blackburn
Well said (in so few words). Thanks for posting, Noe Berengena.
Noe Berengena
dontzenyourselfout I believe in complimenting people who do good work. There are not enough people who care about things when they should. I am an architect and an artist so I understand the difficulty for talent and intelligence to thrive in a world that doesn't place value on excellence.
Jody Wilke
What a beautiful song, a great singer, and...what more can you say? No wonder they called him 'The Voice'😍
Jody Wilke
Raymond Mustafa Whoopee!!😒
Jody Wilke
Harrison Mayson No--I don't really care, at all! What does that have to do with this beautiful song?
Mark Blackburn
This is where I came in . . .
It was on a January day in 1993 that I returned home from work to hear words from my wife that I'd been aching to hear: "You got a letter from Frank Sinatra."
I remember taking off my winter coat and boots, and stumbling into another room where I could be alone, making sure my hands were clean, and getting a bright reading light, and carefully opening the envelope and reading the note and re-reading it (ten times? twenty times?).
I remember being overcome with emotion, saying to myself, "Do you realize what an honor you've just received? This is from someone who, early in his career, received letters like mine numbering 3,000 a week! Do you appreciate that he took the time---perhaps ten minutes of his life, to read your two-page letter, and then compose this signed response you hold in your hands? Do you realize what this is? The greatest musical entertainer of the Twentieth Century is telling you personally: "I greatly appreciate your interest in my music" and "it was so nice of you to take the time to write."
With an extra decade of immersing myself in Frank Sinatra's greatness, I'd have to say that only a "religious experience" --- and a glimpse of Eternity---could ever surpass what I feel in my heart, the sheer exhilarating joy I experience, when I listen for example, to "My Heart Stood Still" (my favorite of these). There is the high plateau where the singer and his great collaborator Nelson Riddle have their true, "shining hour." At that defining moment in 1963, the arranger conducts his finest orchestrations, with the largest symphony orchestra ever assembled in Hollywood---as the singer on a mountain peak of vocal greatness, performs his favorite songs by his (and my) favorite composer. For me personally that is the `coming-together-of-a-lifetime,' ----all the peak emotions of memory, a lifetime's worth of emotion, bringing me tears of joy each time I hear it. (These days, the experience is rationed to perhaps once a month, and then just a cut or two at a time, so as to preserve the experience----I want to `spread it out' over the rest of my life, if I can.)
----
In the final paragraph of my letter I told Frank Sinatra how I'd "discovered your enduring greatness somewhat late in life. But perhaps that's why I appreciate you the more now.
"Thanks then, for being you, is all I want to say. The world would be a poorer place if you'd never passed this way. And I think, after six decades of your work, without anyone surpassing your greatness, I guess it's safe to say `We'll never know your like again.' Best wishes for a long and healthy life.
Sincerely,
Mark Blackburn
Winnipeg Canada
Riff Raft Music
I had the opportunity to arrange music for someone who had access to Mr. Sinatra's music library. You know what that would be like- the undiscovered 8th Wonder of the World! Although I wasn't able to follow through with that performer, I still find inspiration from each song he brought to life, and all the wonderful arrangers who gave him such a lush world in which to work his magic.
Isn't Mr. Riddle's treatment of this classic an apotheosis? It's almost a hymn. Well, with Ms. Bacall's images populating it, I think it is the perfect setting.
Real Fagnan
Wow. A beautifully elegant and heartfelt post that sums up perfectly how I feel about the place the great Sinatra holds in my heart, and our universe.. forever. Thank you!