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.
None but the Lonely Heart
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Can know my sadness
Alone and parted
Far from joy and gladness
Heaven's boundless arch I see
Spread about above me
O what a distance dear to one
Who loves me
Can know my sadness
Alone and parted
Far from joy and gladness
Alone and parted far
From joy and gladness
My senses fail
A burning fire
Devours me
None but the lonely heart
Can know my sadness
The song “None But The Lonely Heart” by Frank Sinatra is a melancholic and emotional ballad that delves into the feelings of sadness and loneliness. These lyrics convey a sentiment that only a person who is truly feeling lonely can comprehend the depths of the sadness that the singer is experiencing. The use of the metaphor “Heaven's boundless arch I see spread about above me” signifies that even though there may be beauty in the external world around him, it brings no relief to his sorrow. The singer feels isolated and distant from the world as a whole and cherishes the love and affection of only those who are close to him.
The lyrics provide a vivid imagery of heartbreak felt by a person who is alone and parted from joy and gladness. The lyrics reflect the feeling of a person seeking solace from the emptiness that accompanies loneliness. The final lines of the song, “None but the lonely heart can know my sadness,” reiterate the sentiment that the melancholy felt by the singer is something that can't be understood by anyone else but another lonely heart. The song captures the pain of loneliness in a beautiful and poignant manner and speaks to the listener on a deeply personal level.
Line by Line Meaning
None but the lonely heart
Only someone who is lonely can understand my emotions
Can know my sadness
Only those who have experienced loneliness themselves can comprehend my sorrow
Alone and parted
Being separated and alone
Far from joy and gladness
Feeling completely devoid of happiness
Heaven's boundless arch I see
I am surrounded by the vastness of the sky
Spread about above me
Expansive and endless
O what a distance dear to one
This infinite space is valuable to someone who loves me
Who loves me
Someone who has genuine affection for me would appreciate this beauty
Alone and parted far
Being separated and away from others
From joy and gladness
Feeling completely devoid of any happiness or joy
My senses fail
I'm overcome with intense emotions that leave me feeling numb to the world around me
A burning fire
A desire or pain that feels like fire, overwhelming and all-consuming
Devours me
I am consumed by my longing and pain
None but the lonely heart
Only someone who has felt lonely can understand and empathize with me
Can know my sadness
Only those who have experienced a similar kind of emptiness can comprehend the depth of my sorrow
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: KENNY CLAYTON, PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY, VIC LEWIS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
David Boyce
This isn't an operatic rendition, but it's exquisite. I bought the CD on the strength of this, and love it.
Val Haley
Tchaikovsky composed a set of six tragic-romantic songs, Op. 6, the last of these songs is the melancholy "None but the Lonely Heart".
In my opinion this is one, if not the best, of Sinatra's "suicide songs" albums.
Betty Hartwick
Absolutely GORGEOUS Orchestration of Tchaikovsky! Plus, every word enunciated~ a fabulous trademark of Frankie’s beautiful singing! A song of sorrow for a loved one whose soul is now in heaven.🙏
Life goes on
This song is Sinatra's most pessimistic song. And album too...
Andrew Poretz
This never fails to move me to tears.
Jerome Dinchong
Wow this recording is very unique.Unlike the technical perfection of the operatic singer,this recording is truly an intimate one of deep remorse that could actually be felt down to the heart and soul.Excellent interpretation.
Shiyun Xiang
It’s tooooo beautiful to be true
Mehdi Charife
Who's here after watching The Americans?