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.
Yesterday
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Now they look as though they're here to stay,
Oh I believe in yesterday, oh I believe in yesterday.
Suddenly I'm not half the man I used to be.
There's a shadow hanging over me, oh yesterday came suddenly.
Why she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say.
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away, oh I believe in yesterday.
Why she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say.
I said something wrong , now I long for yesterday.
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away, oh I believe in yesterday.
The song "Yesterday" by Frank Sinatra tells the story of a man who is reminiscing on his past where his troubles seemed distant and love was easy. However, he suddenly feels like he is not the same person in the present, there is a shadow hanging over him and he longs for yesterday. He reflects on a relationship that ended and he is unsure why his partner had to leave. He believes he said something wrong and is consumed by thoughts of the past, where love was effortless and troubles were nonexistent.
The lyrics evoke a sense of nostalgia and the longing for a simpler time when things were easy. The singer is trying to come to terms with the fact that his current situation may not change and that he may have to accept it. He feels regret and wishes he could go back to the time when he had his love and life was less complicated. The repetition of the phrase "oh I believe in yesterday" demonstrates the singer's attachment to the past and his inability to let go.
Overall, the lyrics to "Yesterday" by Frank Sinatra tap into human emotions and experiences that are relatable to many people. They speak to the complex nature of relationships and how the loss of love can trigger feelings of nostalgia and longing for a simpler time.
Line by Line Meaning
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
In the past, my problems and difficulties felt like they were distant and not affecting me in the present moment.
Now they look as though they're here to stay
However, my current problems seem much more permanent and difficult to resolve.
Oh I believe in yesterday, oh I believe in yesterday.
Despite my current struggles, I hold onto the memory of a time when things were easier and happier.
Suddenly I'm not half the man I used to be.
My current problems have diminished and weakened me, compared to how I used to feel in the past.
There's a shadow hanging over me, oh yesterday came suddenly.
The memory of my past struggles has returned suddenly and negatively affects my present state of mind.
Why she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say.
I don't understand why my loved one has left me, as they didn't provide an explanation.
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.
I regret saying something that may have caused my loved one to leave, and wish I could go back to the time when things were better between us.
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play,
In the past, love felt effortless and simple to navigate.
Now I need a place to hide away, oh I believe in yesterday.
Currently, I am struggling and need a safe refuge to escape to, and hold onto the hope that there is a period where things were better.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now they look as though they're here to stay,
Oh I believe in yesterday, oh I believe in yesterday.
Suddenly I'm not half the man I used to be.
There's a shadow hanging over me, oh yesterday came suddenly.
Why she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say.
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away, oh I believe in yesterday.
Why she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say.
I said something wrong , now I long for yesterday.
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away, oh I believe in yesterday.
Tyler Scott
That violin...that voice.
Setesh
Tyler Scott lul y ar u tinkin a violon ys te sam as te vois
Yellyman
I prefer the Beatles´s version to this, but you have to give it to Frank. This is a very good version.
Bruce Smith
I find this version embarrassingly bad...completely destroys the phrasing or any sense of melody
nahojgrooc
I have the opposite view
ImperturbableLight
Who is the "I" who prefers this version over that version? What is this "I" hearing?
Rafael Hernandez
listen Ray Charles version, it's good too
Entropy Happens
One cannot compare the Beatles and Sinatra, it's like comparing Cheesecake with Lindt, both are amazing, but at the right moment
casadev24
@R Mccauley a chocolate
Cameron Cox
Is there a link to the interview?