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.
Stardust
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
The melody
Haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale
Tells his fairytale
Of paradise, where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.
The lyrics of Stardust by Frank Sinatra is about an old lover reminiscing about the memory of a past love. The opening lines signify the end of the day as the dusk starts spreading and creating a purple hue around. The singer likens this to the feeling that occurs in his chest as he thinks about the person he once loved, a meadow where they once frolicked in golden fields. He looks up towards the stars and remarks how they remind him that he is alone, and the one he loves is far away. The following line talks about the person he loved, who wanders down the lane and far away and leaving him love as a memory. He is reminding himself of how powerful this love was once, and how it has now transformed into stardust that spreads across his heart.
The second stanza speaks of how the singer wonders how he spends his lonely nights listening to songs that only remind him of a past lover. He talks about how the song's melodies still haunt his soul, and in those moments, he feels like he is reliving the past with the person he loves. He ensconces himself in the memories of being with that person when they were in love. He recounts that their kisses and love were once his inspiration, but time has since passed, and he consolates himself with old melodies.
The final verse of the song talks about how he still dreams of a time when the person he loved was still with him. He relates to the image of a nightingale as he thinks of how that bird tells his fairytale of paradise where roses grew. He is wistful and romanticizes the past, even though he missed out on the opportunity to have it. He knows that he will keep dreaming of the person he loved, and the memories of their song will remain in his heart. The song's title, Stardust, refers to the idea that memories are like stardust, no matter how many years pass, they still sparkle and shine like a star in the sky.
Line by Line Meaning
And now the purple dusk of twilight time
The time of sunset and darkness falls upon me.
Steals across the meadows of my heart
This time makes me feel a certain way, like it's creeping over my heart.
High up in the sky the little stars climb
The stars are in the sky, high above.
Always reminding me that we're apart
The stars are what make me think of you, and they are far away.
You wander down the lane and far away
You have left me and gone away from me.
Leaving me a song that will not die
You have left me with a memory of a song that will always stay with me.
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
Our love is over, but the memories and feelings still remain.
The music of the years gone by.
The memories of our love are like the music of the past.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
I often think about how I am spending my time.
The lonely nights
I spend my nights alone and lonely.
Dreaming of a song
I dream about a song and the memories it brings.
The melody
The music of the song brings back memories of us together.
Haunts my reverie
The song is on my mind and I can't stop thinking about it.
And I am once again with you
In my mind, I am back with you again.
When our love was new
I remember our love when it was just beginning.
And each kiss an inspiration
Every kiss from you was special and gave me hope.
But that was long ago
Our love was a long time ago and it's over now.
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
The song gives me comfort and makes me feel better.
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
Next to the garden wall, under the bright stars in the sky.
You are in my arms
I am holding you in my dreams.
The nightingale
The bird sings as if it knows how I feel.
Tells his fairytale
The bird tells a story of love and magic.
Of paradise, where roses grew
This story is about a beautiful place where love was in the air.
Though I dream in vain
My dreams of being with you again are just dreams and will never come true.
In my heart it will remain
Even though our love is over, my memory of you will stay with me.
My stardust melody
The memory of our love and the song that is representative of it.
The memory of love's refrain.
The memory of our love and the song that will always remind me of it.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: CHRISTOPHER GENTRY, JOHN HUTCHINSON DEAN, MATTHEW EVERITT, SIMON IAN WHITE, STUART BLACK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Anij 822
And now the purple dusk of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by.
Auld Bob
The fact is the full version is not a song about a love walking out on a guy/gal but the story of an older guy whose true love wandered down a lane that has ne return. Hence the second part not featured on this video:-
Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely night dreaming of a song
The melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
And now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song
Beside a garden wall,
When stars are bright you are in my arms
The nightingale tells his fairy tale
A paradise where roses bloom
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.
Believe me folks - I know that feeling well. My loved one, "Wandered down that lane and far away", nigh on 20 years ago and I couldn't ever replace her.
Y C
Instead of comparing Sinatra and Cole, why don’t we just appreciate how fantastic both of their voices are?
Ron Nadel
Comparing interpretations of great music is what it's all about!
BMX Ultra
Nat sang it, because it was in his soul. Sinatra recorded it, because it was popular.
Imani M
They are two of my favorite Male singers of all time, I hate trying to pick between them 💘
Sumo Slap
Hoagy Carmichael wrote the song... it’s his soul really. I mean I hate how people compare Willie Nelson’s COVER of Crazy to Patsy Cline. I mean there’s no comparison. Still I love frank sinatra to death so I gotta give stardust to this version. I always liked the underdog. The ink spots is my true favorite.
KissyKat
Amen and hallelujah to that! 💞
kedric branford
If you are to come across this comment congrats your one of the ones who finds the true beauty of this song this song means so much to me 5 years ago before my great grandmas dementia set in I asked her what some of her favorite songs were .. we would sit in her nursing home room and listen to this song for absolute hours upon hours ... this song will forever play a wonderful part of my life
Joan Costa
and for me too
Brenda Wentorf
It is a life long favorite of mine. Others are favorites for brief moments in time. But this one never grows old.
Anthony Decruz
What more can you say about this sublime rendition of the verse of Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust, Sinatra is truly incomparable!!