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.
The Birth Of The Blues
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Nothing but blues
Oh, they say some people long ago
Were searching for a different tune
One that they could croon
As only they can
So they started swaying to and fro
They didn't know just what to use
This is how the blues really began
They heard the breeze in the trees
Singing weird melodies
And they made that the start of the blues
And from a jail came the wail
Of a down-hearted frail
And they played that
As part of the blues
From a whippoorwill way up on a hill
They took a new note
Pushed it through a horn
Until it was worn into a blue note
And then they nursed it
They rehearsed it
And then sent out that news
That the Southland gave birth to the blues
They nursed it
Then they rehearsed it
And then sent out that news
That the Southland gave birth to the blues
In the song "The Birth of the Blues," Frank Sinatra and Axel Stordahl's orchestra describe the origins of the blues genre in America. The song begins by describing how people long ago were looking for a different kind of music to sing, one that was unique to their own culture and experiences. They didn't know what to use, however, and so they began to sway to the rhythm and melody of the trees in the wind.
The birth of the blues is also attributed to the wail of a down-hearted frail in jail, who lamented their hardships and struggles. The blues soon became more than just a few notes and melodies; it was a reflection of the African-American experience in America, and a way to connect and express the emotional and social issues faced by many in the Southland. As the song progresses, the blues become more intricate and elaborate as it draws on new notes from the whippoorwill and instruments such as the horns. The Southland, the song states, gave birth to the blues.
Overall, the song offers a reflection of the origins and evolution of the blues, and how it became an integral part of American music culture. It speaks to the resilience and creativity of a people that were denied agency and autonomy, but still found ways to connect and express their identity, experiences and realities through music.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh, they say some people long ago
According to legend, long ago, there were some individuals who were searching for a distinctive tune.
Were searching for a different tune
These individuals were looking for a unique melody.
One that they could croon
They wanted a melody that they could sing in their own style.
As only they can
They wanted a melody that they could sing in their own unique way.
They only had the rhythm
They had only the rhythm of the song, not the melody.
So they started swaying to and fro
They began swaying back and forth to the rhythm.
They didn't know just what to use
They were not sure what melody to pair with the rhythm.
That is how the blues really began
This is the origin story of how the blues genre began.
They heard the breeze in the trees
They picked up on the sound of the wind blowing through the trees.
Singing weird melodies
The sound of the wind blowing through the trees made eerie and unusual melodies.
And they made that the start of the blues
They used those eerie melodies as inspiration for the blues genre.
And from a jail came the wail
The mournful crying sound of someone in jail started to be part of the blues genre.
Of a down-hearted frail
The sound came from someone who was depressed or sad.
And they played that
Musicians incorporated that mournful cry into their music.
As part of the blues
The mournful cry became a part of the distinct sound of the blues genre.
From a whippoorwill
The sound of a whippoorwill was also used in the development of the blues genre.
Out on a hill
The sound of the whippoorwill came from a bird on a hill.
They took a new note
They discovered a new sound.
Pushed it through a horn
They amplified and perfected that new sound through a horn instrument.
'Til it was worn
They played that new sound over and over again until they perfected it.
Into a blue note
The perfected sound became a 'blue note', a signature sound of the blues genre.
And then they nursed it, rehearsed it
The musicians perfected and rehearsed the distinct sound of the blues genre.
And gave out the news
They shared the sound of the blues with the world.
That the Southland gave birth to the blues!
The blues genre was born and had its roots in the American South.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: B.g. Desylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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