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.
You're the One
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I know the golden years I've waited for have just begun.
I've has some foolish loves along the way,
But all those foolish loves of yesterday, fade into dust.
You're the spring, you're the song that robins sing,
Love has closed its doors to me, and you're the key to everything.
Until you came along, my life was on the roam,
In the song "You're the One" by Frank Sinatra, the lyrics are focused on the idea of finding the perfect person to love. The singer is declaring to their partner that they are the one they have been waiting for, and that the 'golden years' they have been hoping for are just beginning. The song carries a theme of how foolish loves of the past fade away when you finally find the right person. The lyrics also speak to the idea that the singer's life was once aimless and wandering until they met their true love. This declaration of love is highlighted with the metaphor that their partner is the spring and song that the robins sing, the key that unlocks a closed love door.
One of the important themes in the lyrics is the idea that one can find love later in life. Frank Sinatra emphasizes the importance of waiting for the right person to come along, rather than rushing headfirst into bad relationships that don't last. The song's metaphorical language suggests that the singer's life was once without purpose until they met their partner. Overall, the lyrics emphasize that the fear of love and trying to find love is worth it when you find the perfect partner.
Line by Line Meaning
You're the one, now I know that you're the one,
After much searching, I have finally found that you are the one for me.
And I know the golden years I've waited for have just begun.
I am certain that I have found what I have been looking for and that wonderful times lie ahead.
I've has some foolish loves along the way,
I have had misguided love in the past.
But all those foolish loves of yesterday, fade into dust.
My past relationships have faded away and hold no importance anymore.
You're the spring, you're the song that robins sing,
You bring joy and renewal into my life, like the arrival of spring and the sweet melodies of birds.
Love has closed its doors to me, and you're the key to everything.
I have faced rejection before, but now that I have you, I can unlock the power of love and happiness.
Until you came along, my life was on the roam,
I was lost in life until I met you.
But now at last, I know you are the one.
Finally, I have found the one person who completes me and makes everything better.
Contributed by Caroline K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
ALEX MM
Eres el indicado, ahora se que eres el indicado
You're the one, now I know that you're the one,
Y sé que los años dorados que he esperado acaban de comenzar.
And I know the golden years I've waited for have just begun.
Tengo algunos amores tontos en el camino
I've has some foolish loves along the way,
Pero todos esos necios amores de ayer, se desvanecen en polvo.
But all those foolish loves of yesterday, fade into dust.
Eres la primavera, eres la canción que cantan los petirrojos
You're the spring, you're the song that robins sing,
El amor me ha cerrado sus puertas y tú eres la llave de todo.
Love has closed its doors to me, and you're the key to everything.
Hasta que llegaste, mi vida estaba en marcha
Until you came along, my life was on the roam,
Pero ahora, por fin, sé que eres tú.
But now at last, I know you are the one.
Mario Garces
sinatra is my idol since I was 17 years old. Now I'm 73 and still listening to his timeless songs
bruh
nice
M.J. Leger
I have almost the same time-span as you plus a couple of years. I think I have loved Sinatra's singing my whole life! And I still do!
M.J. Leger
You are not the only one, Marie! It must be 60+ years now, since I discovered him and I'm still enjoying what was/is some of the world's best music, by one of the greatest artists of all time!
Rosalind Pacana
Mario Garces you my love my best sinatra song I was 14yrs now I'm 70
M.J. Leger
Me too, Mario, only I've got a couple of years on you! But I've been listening also since I was about 16 or so, and I'm still listening now, some 60+ years later!
kaskostl
Frank recorded this on January 16, 1951, when he was near the lowest point of his career. He first heard the song when he was with Tommy Dorsey's orchestra, where it was recorded as an instrumental with a beautiful trombone solo. (Natch.) Sinatra never re-visited or re-recorded the song which he had plainly outgrown, along with so many of the songs he did by age 35. (He was 35 on Dec. 12, 1950.) After "From Here To Eternity" was filmed, he became Frank Sinatra again-- and for good.
Sonny Cannon
Well said! It's not easy to explain Frank's appeal to us the listener(s). Sure you can just say "what a great voice", and most people do, and are satisfied with that. But I look deeper, and/or listen closer,,, and try to explain why he is without a doubt, the "Creme De La Creme" of a very large number of crooners! I tried to come up with some logical explanation based upon the human audio experience,, but I just couldn't come up with a plausible explanation. Finally,, I came up with a very reasonable, rational explanation for Sinatra's Kingship, lol, of Crooners! It has to be a biological reason! Sort of like how we human beings have a predilections of many sorts,, and how there is a "commonality" in human beings for liking for instance "sweetness", or, the commonality of fragrance(s) like, a ripe peach in summer, or, a cold slice of watermelon! I think Frank's voice just happens to have that certain "timbre", that certain universal appeal. And when I listen to him sing anything,, it doesn't really matter which song,, because his voice is what REALLY matters,, not the song!!! But in Sinatra's case,, he wins in both ways,, we love BOTH his song(s), and more importantly,, his God gifted voice!!!!
justin bayani
I love all his songs. I'm mesmerized by his voice.
Ella Zotomayor
Truly, this song is one of the best love songs ever, perfectly sung by Frankie 'The Voice' Sinatra!!