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.
Well Did You Evah?
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Well did you ever? What a swell party this is!
Have you heard that poor dear Blanche got run down by an avalanche?
Well, did you ever? What a swell party this is!
What daiquiris! What sherry, please! What burgundy! What pommery!
Have you heard? Professor Munch ate his wife and divorced his lunch?
Well, did you ever ? What a swell party this is!
Well, did you ever ? What a swell part this is!
What brandy, wow! What whiskey, here's how!
What gin and what beer, will you sober up, dear?
The song "Well Did You Evah?" by Frank Sinatra is a lively and upbeat tune that seems to celebrate all of the craziness and unexpected twists and turns of life. The lyrics describe a party where the guests are sharing outlandish and unbelievable stories about things that have happened to them or to people they know. The first verse mentions a hurricane hitting the coast of Maine and someone getting caught in an avalanche, both of which are natural disasters that have caused a lot of destruction and tragedy in the world. However, instead of dwelling on the negative aspects of these events, the song embraces their absurdity and absurdity, almost like it's saying, "Can you believe how crazy life can be sometimes?"
The second verse includes a mention of a professor who ate his wife and divorced his lunch, which is obviously an exaggerated and impossible scenario that seems to be poking fun at the idea of academic elitism and intellectual snobbery. The song is essentially a tongue-in-cheek celebration of life's unpredictability and madness, and it's meant to be enjoyed as a fun and carefree romp through the weird and wonderful world we live in.
Line by Line Meaning
Have you heard? The coast of Maine just got caught in a hurricane?
Have you received word that the coast of Maine was just hit by a hurricane?
Well did you ever? What a swell party this is!
Oh my gosh, can you believe it? This is such a great party!
Have you heard that poor dear Blanche got run down by an avalanche?
Have you been informed that Blanche was run over by an avalanche and is now injured?
Well, did you ever? What a swell party this is!
Wow, I can't believe what I'm hearing! But regardless, this is an amazing party!
What daiquiris! What sherry, please! What burgundy! What pommery!
These daiquiris are fantastic! May I please have some sherry? The burgundy is also great. And what about this delightful pommery?
Have you heard? Professor Munch ate his wife and divorced his lunch?
Have you been told that Professor Munch ate his wife and broke up with his lunch?
Well, did you ever ? What a swell party this is!
I can't even believe what I'm hearing, but still, what an awesome party!
Misses Smith in her new Hup crossed the bridge when the bridge was up,
Mrs. Smith ignorantly drove her new car onto a bridge that was being lifted up,
Well, did you ever ? What a swell part this is!
Can you imagine that? And yet, this is such an excellent party!
What brandy, wow! What whiskey, here's how! What gin and what beer, will you sober up, dear?
This brandy is amazing, wow! Here's a toast to the whiskey! And what about this gin and beer? Do you need to sober up, my friend?
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: COLE PORTER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@pierosaavedraoficial
I have heard among this clan
You are called a forgotten man
Is that what they're sayin'?
Well, did you evah!
What a swell party this is!
And have you heard the story of
A boy, a girl, unrequited love?
(Sounds like pure soap opera)
I may cry (Tune in tomorrow)
What a swell party this is.
What frills, what frocks (What broads)
What furs, what rocks (They're beautiful)
Why, I've never seen such gaiety (Neither did I!)
It's all just too, too exquis, really
This French champagne (Domestic)
So good for the brain
That's what I was gonna say
You know you're a brilliant fellow? (Thank you)
Drink up, chap.
Ah, please don't eat that glass, my friend
Have you heard about dear Blanche?
Got run down by an avalanche. (No!)
Don't worry; she's a game girl, you know.
Got up and finished fourth
(This kid's got guts)
Havin' a nice time? Grab a line.
Have you heard that Mimsy Starr (Oh, what now?)
She got pinched in the Astor bar (Sauced again, hey?)
She was stoned!
Well, did you evah? (Never!)
What a swell party this is!
I'm gonna have a drink.
I may have a bit of the bubbly myself.
I'm gonna dance.
Don't get hurt.
It's great (Ah, it's great)
It's grand (So grand)
It's wonderland!
(🎵Scat🎵)
We sing (We sing)
So rare (So rare)
Like old Camembert
Like baba au rhum (Ba, ba, ba bum! )
Don't dig that kind of crooning, chum!
(You must be one of the newer fellows)
Have you heard? It's in the stars
Next July we collide with Mars
Well, did you evah?
What a swell party, a swell party.
A swellegant, elegant party this is!
I drink to your health (Nah!)
Let's drink to your wealth
You're my bon ami (Hey, that's French!)
Liberty, fraternity
Have you heard? It's in the stars
Next July, we collide with Mars
Well, did you evah?
What a swell party, swell party, swellegant, elegant party this is!
@WillScarlet16
"A singer like Frank Sinatra comes along once in a lifetime - Why did it have to be mine?" - Bing Crosby.
@wodgerdog646
Didn't Frank say the same thing about Bing?
@mikeycondry1493
Wodger Dog Bing was famous long before Frank, he wouldn't have said that. Not to mention he was his idol
@wodgerdog646
But on the Parkinson interview this quote was mentioned to Bing by David Parkinson and he was apparently quoting Sinatra. Believe me I am a huge huge fan of Bing Crosby's and I have heard the quote a fair few times and referencing Bing to Frank and vice versa. I know Sinatra idolised Bing and Bing was very generous of his praise to Frank during the interview whilst considerably down playing his own very amazing talents.
@dr.spectre9697
I dunno I love them both! Sinatra himself adored Bing and credited him for inventing the entire idea of being a "crooner".
@EyeShotFirst
Bing was such a game changer. Sure, I think somebody would've eventually come along that had the same effect, but Bing really used technology to his advantage. Let amplification do all the work, and created a singing style that was more intimate than the theatre filling belters of ages prior. I love both singers so much, but you've really got to take your hat off for Crosby, because the man changed singing.
@neptunestardust
Crosby 1903-1977 ❤️
Sinatra 1915-1998❤️
Much love to them both
@Juliaflo
Don't forget Cole Albert Porter: 1891-1964.
@neptunestardust
Juliaflo of course, silly me
@rochestas
Sinatra and Crosby in the same room = mind officially BLOWN!