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"The nightingale pierces his bosom with a thorn when he sings his song..."
Honesty. If you were to ask me what I believe Frank Sinatra's most outstanding quality is, I would say, without hesitation, honesty. Honesty that comes through in the lyrics, in the music--in everything that he does.
It's this honesty that's heard in the sound of these Columbia recordings, made at a time when both Dad and the American public was spoiled with the best possible songs, and a time when he really felt the songs at his core. Antonio Carlos Jobim once said that Frank Sinatra was like Mount Everest for a songwriter: if you got Frank to do one of your songs, it was done right. That feeling is what enables Dad to take, for example, a Sammy Cahn lyric-- with Sammy's deepest, most profound feelings-- and make them understood by everybody. That's the mark of a great communicator, and not many people are able to do that sort of thing in the honest way that he does!
The Columbia era is my favorite period of Dad's career. Recently, I've been playing songs and listening to the music from this era, for a book project I'm working on. Of course, I was only around six or seven when they were made (I was barely four when "Nancy" was recorded), but I remember that I was old enough to know the music. I may not have specific memories of these songs, but I certainly remember feeling them! Going through these recordings, I've discovered songs that I didn't think I knew, only to find that I was feeling them all over again. I know my parents and I played them constantly at the house, and of course, I would hear them on the radio.
The war years were key for my father. He represented something for so many young women, whose fathers or brothers or husbands were away. There weren't a whole lot of guys around! I love "Someone To Watch Over Me" is because it's the perfect example of the vulnerability he had that made young women just want to take care of him: be with him, hold him, nurture him. He had the uncanny ability to come across as a strong guy, but one who was also needful. I think the arrangements helped with that a lot, too. Axel was quite refined-- a sweet, gentle, lovely man. Not like some of the more rowdy guys that used to hang around the house!
During that time, he earned great respect, and wielded powerful influence. He had enough power to sway votes-- without television! Did he do it by getting on the telephone, and calling people and telling them to vote? No, he did it with influence.
He was able to help President Roosevelt. He was able to move people away from intolerance-- a remarkable feat, considering that we're still fighting it in the '90s. Dad was a public person who cared, and who was interested in social issues.
This influence extended to his work, as well. When Dad would walk in to a session, the respect for him was obvious. He had earned the esteem of everybody in the room. He was an instrument in the orchestra, and he knew the ensemble inside and out. He was part of the team, and that was always reflected in his music.
We were fortunate that Dad was a part of a time that was undoubtedly the best period in American music. Without these records, he wouldn't have become known! If I had my 'druthers, I'd listen to only ballads from the Columbia years. The uptempo numbers are great, but I like to listen to them separately. Once I get started listening to Axel and Pop, I don't want anything to interfere with those sweet, beautiful classic songs!
Among my personal favorites are the songs from the films, especially "I Couldn't Sleep A Wink Last Night" and "I Fall In Love Too Easily". He sung "She's Funny That Way" for my Mother, and he's told me that he still thinks of her whenever he sings it. "The House I Live In" was doubly important, of course, because of the Oscar it earned him and his public stand against intolerance. "Dream" is a landmark American song and "Ol' Man River" is the song that attracted Louis B. Mayer to Frank, and brought him to M-G-M. "If You Are But A Dream" and "The Things We Did Last Summer" are both very important to me, personally.
There are two songs that stand out and bear special mention: "Hello, Young Lovers" is absolutely fabulous-- one of the best recordings he's made in his whole life, because it's so beautiful. You really believe him when he tells you about the story and the emotions of the song. And "Birth Of The Blues", of course, is the bridge. That one song was enough to segueway between Columbia and Capitol for Dad: all he needed was Nelson Riddle and Billy May to "punch up the sound", as my brother Frank Jr. likes to say.
Each generation has their own music, and their own identity. Each group of kids that comes along needs something new.
Teenagers want their own "stuff"-- stay away from my stuff! I went through it with my own career, with what we called "bubblegum" music, and I've seen it with my own two daughters, A. J. and Amanda. But listening to their music, I've learned that you can have an appreciation for all of it-- there's always somebody that does something in the new genre that you can identify with.
Dad just took his whole generation, and swept them away-- literally swept them 'way up into this wonderful cloud of lyrics and violins. I can imagine the romance that was in the air when this music was playing! He's transcended these last fifty years, because every generation seems to find something in Sinatra to like-- something they can identify with. They understand, and they appreciate the truth. And there's no one more truthful than Frank, there just isn't anyone in the world.
Leo Rosten once said "...the purpose in life is to matter-- to count, to have it make some difference that we lived at all." If you use this as a guideline-- as a way to live your life, it mattered that Frank Sinatra lived. It mattered a great deal, and not even so much for the music as for the influence. In many ways, my dad is my hero. At the core of this man is an honesty, and an innocence (a trait that comes through especially clearly in the Columbia recordings) that I will see as long as I live. Those qualities will always live on, in the great music that he has given us.
Nancy Sinatra
August, 1995
