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 Is All I Ask
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I find I have the time of my life
Learning to enjoy at my leisure
All the simple pleasures
And so I happily concede
This is all I ask
This is all I need
Walk a little slower
When you walk by me
Lingering sunsets
Stay a little longer
With the lonely sea
Children everywhere
When you shoot
At bad men, shoot at me
Take me to that strange
Enchanted land grown-ups
Seldom understand
Wandering rainbows
Leave a bit of color
For my heart to own
Stars in the sky
Make my wish come true
Before the night has flown
And let the music play
As long as there's a song to sing
Then I will stay younger than Spring
These lyrics from Frank Sinatra's song, "This Is All I Ask," expresses the acceptance of aging and finding pleasure in life's simple joys. Sinatra, who was in his prime during the 1960s, sings about his contentment in enjoying the little things that life has to offer. As he ages, he finds that he finally has the time to appreciate the beauty of nature, such as the lingering sunsets and wandering rainbows. He also longs for the innocence of childhood, where everything was magical and enchanted. Sinatra's desire is to enjoy the remaining years of his life with child-like wonder and a carefree spirit.
The imagery used in the lyrics of "This Is All I Ask" paints a vivid picture of Sinatra's life at the time. He sings about the beauty of the world around him, nostalgic moments from his past, and his contentment in living a simple life. The line "Beautiful girls, walk a little slower when you walk by me" could be interpreted as Sinatra's longing for a moment to take in the beauty around him, or as a reminder to slow down and appreciate life's beauty. Similarly, the line "Take me to that strange enchanted land grown-ups seldom understand" could be seen as a call for escape from the hectic and mundane nature of adulthood. Overall, the lyrics of "This Is All I Ask" are a reflection of Sinatra's personality and his approach to life.
Line by Line Meaning
As I approach the prime of my life
As I grow older and wiser
I find I have the time of my life
I have come to enjoy life in its fullness
Learning to enjoy at my leisure
Taking my time to relish life's simple pleasures
All the simple pleasures
The small things in life that bring me joy
And so I happily concede
I willingly accept
This is all I ask
These simple things are all I desire
This is all I need
These simple things are all I require to be content
Beautiful girls
Attractive women
Walk a little slower
Take your time and enjoy the moment
When you walk by me
As you pass me
Lingering sunsets
Sunsets that last a little longer
Stay a little longer
Last just a bit more
With the lonely sea
On the ocean shore by myself
Children everywhere
Kids all around
When you shoot
When you're playing cops and robbers
At bad men, shoot at me
Rather than pretending to be an outlaw, I'd rather be the one getting 'shot'
Take me to that strange
Bring me to that unfamiliar
Enchanted land grown-ups
Mythical place that adults can't comprehend
Seldom understand
Almost never get it
Wandering rainbows
Rainbows on the move
Leave a bit of color
Color my soul with your beauty
For my heart to own
To keep in my heart forever
Stars in the sky
Bright lights up high
Make my wish come true
Grant my deepest desires
Before the night has flown
While there's still time
And let the music play
Allow the melody to continue
As long as there's a song to sing
For as long as there's music
Then I will stay younger than Spring
I'll feel forever young
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Gordon Jenkins
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Gary Fisher
Sinatra was like fine wine: Better and better: Rich arrangement and performance. He still is an unprecedented talent:
Father Adam
this is a great song the lyrics have so much meaning and Sinatra's interpretation is in a class of its own .
Michael Anderson
Tony Bennett's is better
JadeZee
franks last great album and he needed all 50 years of living to make this masterpiece....
Donald Auguston
The orchestration of this version is outstanding!!!!
Solo Jazz Guitar Standards With Erroll!
I perform songs of this genre (classic standards).. I'm about to add this one to the repertoire.. Gorgeous tune. I also write songs in this style, but to write one like THIS, holy smoke.. To write a song like this (does anyone even TRY to anymore?) and have it live on forever: To me that's one of the highest achievements a man can claim.. Sadly, in 2013 a song like this can never really fly-- The masses have lost their "ear" for this kind of music, I'm afraid.
Marty Howe
Would 1961 have any indication as to the year you were born? It is mine. Society has become too rude, coarse, selfish - wanting for instant gratification. I myself did not like Sinatra as a kid. Why? Because my mom LOVED him, and would play his records every Sunday, to which I would roll my eyes, as I was into the Beatles (heathens to my mother). Well, guess what, the subliminal thought process works, as now that mom has been gone for twenty years, I look back at this music with fond memories of a time that was so much simpler and a style of music that had so much class and feeling. Thank-you mom!
Cassio Queiros
@Marty Howe What a nice comment!
Jesse Dylan
@Marty Howe I'm a 49'er and my friend played Sinatra vinyl's on his turntable during the mid 60's.I'd be over his apartment, next door and we'd listen to Sinatra albums for hours. As i grew older, the lyrics to his songs mean more now than ever before. His voice was incomparable.
Greeneyed Southern Girl
Same with my Grandfather, except I loved it the first time I heard it. I’m one of those few old souls that never kept up much with the new “music”. 🩷