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.
Old Man River
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Here we all work while the white folk play
Pullin' them boats from the dawn till sunset
Gettin' no rest till the judgment day
Don't look up and don't look down
Ya don't dast make the white boss frown
Bend your knees and bow your head
Let me go 'way from the Mississippi
Let me go 'way from the white man boss
Show me that stream called the River Jordan
That's the old stream that I long to cross
Ol' Man River, that Ol' Man River
He must know somepin', but he don't say nothin'
He just keeps rollin', he keeps on rollin' along
He don't plant taters, and he don't plant cotton
And them what plants 'em is soon forgotten
But Ol' Man River, jest keeps rollin' along
You and me, we sweat and strain
Bodies all achin' and wracked with pain
Tote that barge and lift that bale
Ya get a little drunk and ya lands in ja-ail
I gets weary and so sick of tryin'
I'm tired of livin', but I'm feared of dyin'
And Ol' Man River, he just keeps rollin' along
The lyrics of Frank Sinatra's song, "Old Man River," depict the struggles of African-American laborers along the Mississippi River at a time when racial segregation and discrimination were widespread in the United States. The phrase "Here we all work 'long the Mississippi" refers to the hard work that the black laborers do every day to earn their living. They toil from dawn till sunset and get no rest until the judgment day, which alludes to the idea that their work is never done, even on the day of judgment.
The second stanza highlights the consequences of making the white boss unhappy. The workers don't have the luxury of looking up or down, but instead, they must keep their heads down and keep working, even if it means pulling the rope until they're dead. The third stanza expresses the singer's desire to leave the Mississippi and the white man's influence behind and cross over to the River Jordan, a metaphor for entering the Promised Land of freedom and racial equality.
The chorus of "Ol' Man River" repeats throughout the song, representing the constant and unchanging flow of the Mississippi River. The singer suggests that the river might know something about the plight of the black laborers, but it keeps rolling silently along. The final verse reflects on the exhaustion and suffering that the singer and his fellow workers endure, with their bodies aching and racked with pain from carrying heavy loads. The song ends with a poignant line about the unending roll of the river that contrasts with the singer's weary and hopeless tone.
Line by Line Meaning
Here we all work 'long the Mississippi
We work hard on this river every day
Here we all work while the white folk play
The white people don't have to work like we do
Pullin' them boats from the dawn till sunset
We work all day long pulling boats on the river
Gettin' no rest till the judgment day
We never get a break until we die and face judgment
Don't look up and don't look down
We can't look around because we might upset the white boss
Ya don't dast make the white boss frown
We must do everything we can to please the white boss
Bend your knees and bow your head
We have to show subservience to the white boss
And pull that rope until you're dead
We have to work until we can't work anymore
Let me go 'way from the Mississippi
I want to leave this hard life on the river
Let me go 'way from the white man boss
I want to be free from the control of the white boss
Show me that stream called the River Jordan
I want to see the river that symbolizes deliverance for my people
That's the old stream that I long to cross
The River Jordan represents crossing over into freedom
Ol' Man River, that Ol' Man River
The river is a symbol of the enduring struggle of my people
He must know somepin', but he don't say nothin'
The river has seen and endured so much, but it doesn't speak
He just keeps rollin', he keeps on rollin' along
The river keeps moving forward no matter what happens
He don't plant taters, and he don't plant cotton
The river doesn't contribute to the crops that keep us enslaved
And them what plants 'em is soon forgotten
We are the ones who plant the crops, but we are easily forgotten
But Ol' Man River, jest keeps rollin' along
The river remains a constant in our lives, despite our struggles
You and me, we sweat and strain
We work hard every day with great effort
Bodies all achin' and wracked with pain
Our bodies are in constant pain from this hard work
Tote that barge and lift that bale
We have to do whatever work is asked of us
Ya get a little drunk and ya lands in ja-ail
If we try to find solace in alcohol, we end up in jail
I gets weary and so sick of tryin'
I become exhausted and discouraged from trying so hard
I'm tired of livin', but I'm feared of dyin'
I am tired of this hard life, but even more afraid of what comes after death
And Ol' Man River, he just keeps rollin' along
The river remains a constant, even as our personal struggles continue
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Songtrust Ave
Written by: Jerome Kern, Oscar Ii Hammerstein
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Nightrain76
He’s in a class of his own. That note at the end - that’s elite level singing.
@koalabandit9166
I don't understand people's obsession with that kind of long notes. This is a guy Miles Davis praised for his phrasing. I feel that if anything his long notes are probably the most generic element of his singing (impressive as I'm sure they are in terms of vocal technique, though).
@RoryCloud
@Koala Bandit Appreciation, not obsession.
@koalabandit9166
@RoryCloud Sure, fair enough, appreciation. My point still stands. I get that it sounds satisfying to hear a voice do that, but I would think that there are only so many very long notes someone can appreciate before they get bored with that and turn to things that are more musically interesting.
@sweetnuthin
@@koalabandit9166Sinatra excelled because he could do it all. He had magnificent power and masterful rhythm. He commanded the songs however he pleased.
@koalabandit9166
@@sweetnuthin Absolutely agree.
@Mightyoverevery1
Frank Sinatra’s breath control is crazy. Truly a Singer’s Singer. One of the All Time Greats🙌🏾🙌🏾🎤🎼
@paeng46
1:41 to 1:55 that killer modulation has never been done by any singers. In between notes and down to the last, he sang perfectly without recession. What a voice.
@RoryCloud
And he knew he nailed it, too. 😉
@ackimchibale
💯