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.
This Happy Madness
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
that I feel inside of me
Some kind of wild October gladness
that I never thought I'd see
What has become of all my sadness
all my endless lonely sighs
Where are my sorrows now
and is that self contented clown
Standing grinning in the mirror really me
I'd like to run through Central Park
carve your initials in the bark
Of every tree I pass for every one to see
I feel that I've gone back to childhood
and I'm skipping through the wild wood
So excited that I don't know what to do
What do I care if I'm a juvenile
I smile my secret little smile
Because I know the change in me is you
What should I call this happy madness
all this unexpected joy
That turned the world into a baby's bouncing toy
The god's are laughing far above
one of them gave a little shove
And I fell gaily, gladly, madly into love
The lyrics of Frank Sinatra's song This Happy Madness seem to speak of a newfound joy that has filled the singer's life, and the confusion it has caused him. The singer is overwhelmed by the change that has come over him, and he describes it as a kind of madness that he has not experienced before. He is aware that his sadness and the frown that he carried on his face have vanished, and he feels like he has become a child again. He is skipping through the woods, filled with excitement that he cannot contain. The singer is grateful for the change that has come over him, and he knows that the cause of the change is the love he has found.
This song is about the transformative power of love. The singer has changed from a sad, lonely person to a happy, optimistic one because of love. The love he has found has turned his world upside down, and he is grateful for it. He has become a completely different person, and he acknowledges that the change is the result of falling madly in love. The joy he feels is unexpected, and it has made him feel like a child again.
Line by Line Meaning
What should I call this happy madness
I'm so overwhelmingly happy, I don't have the words to describe it.
that I feel inside of me
This happiness is all-consuming and coming from within me.
Some kind of wild October gladness
This happiness is like the joy of a crisp fall day in October, unexpectedly delightful.
that I never thought I'd see
I never thought I'd be this happy, it's almost a surprise to me.
What has become of all my sadness
All of my previous sadness has completely vanished.
all my endless lonely sighs
There's no more moments of feeling lonely or oppressed.
Where are my sorrows now
My former sorrows are nowhere to be found, they've been replaced entirely.
What happened to the frown
My face is suddenly devoid of any frown or unhappy expression.
and is that self contented clown
Is that cheerful person I see in the mirror really me?
Standing grinning in the mirror really me
I can't help but stand and grin at myself in the mirror.
I'd like to run through Central Park
I feel like running through Central Park in New York City.
carve your initials in the bark
I'm so filled with love that I want to make a public display of it by carving your initials in every tree I pass.
Of every tree I pass for every one to see
I want the whole world to know about my love for you.
I feel that I've gone back to childhood
This happiness has transported me back to the carefree days of youth.
and I'm skipping through the wild wood
I'm so excited and happy, I feel like skipping through a dense forest.
So excited that I don't know what to do
I'm so happy that it's hard to focus on anything else.
What do I care if I'm a juvenile
I'm so happy that I feel like a kid again, and I don't care.
I smile my secret little smile
I can't help but smile to myself, happy with my newfound love.
Because I know the change in me is you
I know that the reason for my happiness and newfound positivity is because of you.
all this unexpected joy
I'm so happy and filled with joy that I never saw coming.
That turned the world into a baby's bouncing toy
The world feels like a fun, bouncy plaything to me, filled with happiness and laughter.
The god's are laughing far above
It feels like the gods above are laughing along with me, filled with joy.
one of them gave a little shove
Maybe the gods gave me a little push towards this incredible, unexpected happiness.
And I fell gaily, gladly, madly into love
I fell into love with you happily, madly and joyfully, grateful for every moment.
Lyrics © VM ENTERPRISES INC, Editora e Importadora Musical Fermata do Brasil Ltda., CORCOVADO MUSIC CORPORATION
Written by: Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gene Lees, Vinicius De Moraes
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Mike
on The Lady Is A Champ
She gets too hungry for dinner at eight
She can't eat late and stay up all night, because unlike society types, she has to get up in the morning.
She likes the theatre and never comes late
She cares more about seeing the play than being seen making an entrance.
She never bothers with people she'd hate
Her friends are friends, not social trophies.
Doesn't like crap games with barons or earls
While barrns and earls probably don't play craps, she associates with friends, not people to be seen with.
Won't go to Harlem in ermine and pearls
She doesn't "slum", the practice of the rich in the 30's, when the song was written, of touring poor neighborhoods dressed in rich clothes to "tut, tut" about the deplorable conditions, and congratulate each other for "caring about the poor"
Won't dish the dirt with the rest of the girls
Doesn't trade gossip for acceptance among an in-crowd
She likes the free, fresh wind in her hair
She cares more about how her hair feels than conforming with current hair fashions
Hates California, it's cold and it's damp
Since most of California is noticeably warmer and / or drier than New York, where the play the song was written for is set, this is probably a facetious excuse to like what she likes.
And she won't go to Harlem in Lincoln's or Ford's
Another reference to slumming, but facetious, since Lincolns and Fords were middle-class, not luxury brands when the lyric was written
Anonymous
on Try a Little Tenderness
Here are the correct lyrics
Try A Little Tenderness - Frank Sinatra - Lyrics
Oh she may be weary
Women do get wearied
Wearing that same old shabby dress
And when she’s weary
You try a little tenderness
You know she’s waiting
Just anticipating things she’ll may never possess
While she is without them
Try just a little bit of tenderness
It’s not just sentimental
She has her grieve and her care
And the words that soft and gentle
Makes it easier to bear
You wont regret it
Women don't forget it
Love is their whole happiness
And it’s all so easy
Try a little tenderness
Musical Interlude
And, it’s all so easy
Try a little tenderness
Daniel
on The Way You Look Tonight
I met Frank Jr. in Las Vegas, a real gentleman. RIP you both.
Giorgi Khutashvili
on Theme from New York, New York
)))