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 September Of My Years
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Next day you turn around and it's fall
And all the winters and the springs of a lifetime
Whatever happened to them all?
As a man who has always had the wandering ways
I keep looking back to yesterdays
'Til a long-forgotten love appears
September, the warm September of my years
As a man who has never paused at wishing wells
Now I'm watching children's carousels
And their laughter's music to my ears
And I find that I'm smiling gently as I near
September, the warm September of my years
The golden warm September of my years
The September of My Years by Frank Sinatra is a song that grapples with the nature of time and the inevitability of aging. In the opening lines "One day you turn around and it's summer, Next day you turn around and it's fall," we see the importance of cherished moments that can seem fleeting in the grand scheme of time. Sinatra ponders the question of where all the seasons of our lives go over time, and how it is easy to lose track of them. But this song is also about the discovery of what has been lost, as he reminisces about a long-forgotten love and the joys of childhood, symbolized in the music of children's carousels. The singer finds a sense of comfort and solace in the gentle memories of his past, suiting the melancholic mood of nostalgia.
The lyrics of The September of My Years can be interpreted as a poetic reflection upon the passing of time and the realities of growing old. The song stresses how time keeps moving forward, without any regard for the memories that we hold onto, and that there is no way to stop it. It is a bittersweet look back on life, acknowledging the good and the bad, with the understanding that all of it is now in the past. Sinatra's mature voice captures the essence of the weariness and wistfulness that come with old age, and the sense of grateful acceptance that it is all part of the natural order of things.
Line by Line Meaning
One day you turn around and it's summer
Time flies so fast and before you know it, the season has changed.
Next day you turn around and it's fall
The pace of life is such that one season quickly turns into another without us realizing time is moving.
And all the winters and the springs of a lifetime
All the years that have gone by in one's life make him/her wonder where they have disappeared.
Whatever happened to them all?
Reflecting back on life, one realizes how quickly time has passed and how much has changed.
As a man who has always had the wandering ways
The artist characterizes himself as someone who has always been restless and adventurous.
I keep looking back to yesterdays
Despite his adventurous spirit, he finds himself constantly turning to the past and reflecting on memories.
Til a long-forgotten love appears
Memories of a past romantic relationship resurface as he reflects on his life.
And I find that I'm sighing softly as I near
The memories evoke a gentle, nostalgic feeling as he approaches a new season of life.
September, the warm September of my years
The arrival of September is symbolic of entering a new phase of life, reflecting on the past and looking forward to the future.
As a man who has never paused at wishing wells
The artist characterizes himself as someone who has lived without wishing for anything, always on the move.
Now I'm watching children's carousels
He now takes pleasure in simpler things and finds joy in watching the innocent exuberance of children.
And their laughter's music to my ears
The pure, unbridled laughter of children brings him happiness.
And I find that I'm smiling gently as I near
The innocence of children and the pleasant memories of his past cause him to approach the future with optimism and contentment.
The golden warm September of my years
The upcoming season of his life is one of beauty and warmth, offering a chance for reflection and appreciation of simpler pleasures.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: James Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
阿風聊生活
One day you turn around and it's summer
Next day you turn around and it's fall
And the springs and the winters of a lifetime
Whatever happened to them all?
As a man who has always had the wand'ring ways
Now I'm reaching back for yesterdays
'Til a long-forgotten love appears
And I find that I'm sighing softly as I near
September, the warm September of my years
As I man who has never paused at wishing wells
Now I'm watching children's carousels
And their laughter's music to my ears
And I find that I'm smiling gently as I near
September, the warm September of my years
The golden warm September of my years
Jan Chyba
Pokaždé, když slyším pana Sinatru zpívat "Till a long forgotten love
appears", představuji si, že když tuto píseň nahrával, myslel u téhle
věty na svou první ženu Nancy...
TRANSLATION:
Every time I
hear Mr. Sinatra singing "Till a long forgotten love appears", I like to
imagine that he recorded this song with his first wife Nancy on his
mind...
Nicky DePaola Entertainer
I am now 56 and this song as well as many other " emotional " classic SINATRA did , stayed with me since I first heard it as a boy of 4 in 1967, my mother LOVED " Francis Albert ".....this is one of Frank's All~Time Top 10 for me !! The strings, it's all about ....how time goes by so fast !! Thank you Frank Sinatra for touching my life too !
Tom bauder
I'm 71 now and still love Sinatra. In Phila. we had "Friday with Frank, and Sunday with Sinatra" hosted by Sid Mark. We were very lucky here
Nick Taylor
I used to play this album endlessly on my radio show when it first came out in South Africa .. I was 21 years old and loved this track and "A very good year" so much people must have thought I was crazy. At age 75 I still think it's the best album he ever made, yet I read that he was not very happy about the way it sold. Well it wasn't for lack of trying on my part.
Robert Conti Jazz Guitar
Nick, I agree. Two other Sinatra favorites: A Man Alone & Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back
Strother Martin
@Robert Conti Jazz Guitar In my opinion the best album he ever made.
Nano Second
@Strother Martin I agree and am also a fan of the same year's "Moonlight Sinatra".
Tony Regusters
My absolute favorite after his beautiful album with Antonio Carlos Jobim. Both got played til the albums turned from black to gray! LOL!!! 😘🎼🎶😂
NYCBG
I wish I could have been there... Cape Town...
Joanna DG
An allegorical song that punctuates Frank Sinatra's life and career. Many of his works were autobiographical. The one and only Frank Sinatra, what a privilege to have lived during his century!
Nymousano001
Along with A Man Alone one of the most beautiful songs ever by Sinatra. And in general.