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.
While the Angelus Was Ringing
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I could hear the choir singing and I saw you standing there.
Silently I stood beside you, how my heart was beating then,
For my dreams have all come true, I was safely back with you,
Never more to roam again.
Then the great cathedral spire seemed to come alive and say
Through the voices of the choir, there will be a wedding day.
Then a golden ray of sunlight, from a window in the sky,
Now our love will never die.
Then a golden ray of sunlight, from a window in the sky,
Shone upon us from above, heaven′s blessing on our love,
Now our love will never die.
Frank Sinatra's "While the Angelus Was Ringing" is a hauntingly beautiful song that speaks of love reunited and blessed by heaven. The Angelus is the Catholic prayer that is traditionally prayed at 6am, noon, and 6pm. The song speaks of how Sinatra was standing beside a woman he loved when the Angelus was ringing in the evening. As the choir sang, the great cathedral spire seemed to come alive and announced that there would be a wedding day. This was then followed by a moment of divine intervention where a golden ray of sunlight fell on them, blessing their love and ensuring that it would never die.
The lyrics of "While the Angelus Was Ringing" speak of a love that had been lost and then regained, which is a common theme in many of Sinatra's songs. The song paints a picture of a couple being reunited and discovering that their love is as strong as ever. The language used is poetic and emotive, with phrases like "never more to roam again" and "heaven's blessing on our love" conveying a sense of joy and wonder.
The song may be interpreted as a religious allegory where the Angelus ringing is compared to the call of God, and the golden ray of sunlight represents his blessing on their love. However, the song can also be read as a secular expression of love that transcends ordinary human relationships.
The song was written by Indian composer and producer Naushad Ali, who was known for his contributions to Bollywood music. The lyrics were written by world-renowned poet and lyricist Shakeel Badayuni. "While the Angelus Was Ringing" was originally written in Urdu and was later translated into English for Sinatra's interpretation.
Line by Line Meaning
While the Angelus was ringing, calling for the evening pray′r,
As the church bells rang to signal the time for evening prayer,
I could hear the choir singing and I saw you standing there.
I could hear the sound of the choir singing and I saw you standing next to me.
Silently I stood beside you, how my heart was beating then,
I quietly stood next to you, feeling my heart beating with excitement and anticipation.
For my dreams have all come true, I was safely back with you,
All of my dreams have finally become a reality, as I am safely reunited with you.
Never more to roam again.
I will never wander away again, as I am now content to stay by your side.
Then the great cathedral spire seemed to come alive and say
The tall spire of the cathedral appeared to awaken and speak to us.
Through the voices of the choir, there will be a wedding day.
The choir's voices seemed to prophesize that a wedding day is in our future.
Then a golden ray of sunlight, from a window in the sky,
Suddenly, a bright golden ray of sunlight shone down from a window in the sky.
Shone upon us from above, heaven′s blessing on our love,
This light illuminated us from above, as if to bless our love from Heaven.
Now our love will never die.
Our love is now so strong that it will endure forever, never to fade or perish.
Writer(s): R. O'brien
Contributed by Miles V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@666msg666
Fabulous. I have the box set of his complete Columbia recordings that I bought back in 1995 costing £167 here in the UK. I have often thought of compiling all the singles ("As" & "Bs") from it.
Again, what a great channel this is.
@elliotsoldies9585
What a treasure that box set is! Sinatra's Columbia work often seems underappreciated, sadly.
@JerryD121657
Absolutely beautiful. It has the same melody as the song "The Three Bells" by The Browns. They're both beautiful songs.
@Junzar56
Love it
@SoraSonorei-ih6cl
Beautiful ❤