Why Frank Sinatra lives...

[ExPit]

Originally Posted by Jeff Jarrett

In the Italian American community you will get cussed out if you say you don't like O'Blue Eyes, LOL.

You're right, and sometimes it's no joke. I grew up in an area like that and I can testify to that. Heard Ernie Borgnine, the guy who played Fatso Judson in From Here To Eternity tell a story about when he was filming Marty a couple years later on the streets of the Bronx. They were doing an outside scene and a crowd was gathering, and Borgnine heard a guy speaking about him in Italian, translating into something to the effect of, "Hey, that's no good son of a _____ who killed Frank Sinatra." Borgnine's character in From Here To Eternity was an enforcer in the stockade where Frank's character eventually ended up. They had a combative history from earlier in the movie and Fatso hadn't forgotten...

The crowd was growing larger on the streets of the Bronx, louder, angrier, more and more of them pointing at Borgnine, who was growing more and more and apprehensive. Finally they approached him and loudly chastised him for what he did to Frank Sinatra. Borgnine, an Italian American himself answered them in the Italian language, told them it was just a movie and that he and Frank were actually good friends, in real life, and after a while that seemed to appease them and Borgnine could continue scene. After the print Ernie had to pass by the crowd to make it to his trailer, and the lead guy heartily patted Borgnine on the back, congratulated him on the scene, and told him that he figured that Ernie was a good enough guy after all, but that all in all, he said, right is right, and Ernie still shouldn't have killed Frank Sinatra.

[buzz litebeer]

I've got Frank's version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas on my MySpace profile. Its a lonely song and Frank does it best. I grew up in the heyday of Nirvana and Dr. Dre, but always had Frank playing in the background...

[ExPit]

Crazy huh? It happened for some of us, Frank was the go to guy when you wanted to go home, whether you grew up with Dr. Dre and Nirvana, or Elton John and Stevie Wonder.

[dano04631]

Originally Posted by ExPit

What made/makes Frank so great, so big, for so long? Just like other walks of life it's the guys/gals who can do it all that achieve greatness in their fields. A criminal lawyer who not only has a commanding, charming way in the court room, but also is protective of their client and is a tireless after hours scholar who leaves no stones unturned when preparing a case; a police detective in a big city precinct who dependably enlists the assistance of his community by practicing goodwill, but who has an eye and an ear for the street as well as a fearless soul when challenged; a professional boxer who is elusive, can take a good shot when he does get hit, and can sense when an opponent's hurt and finish them while the finishing is good...

My only point is to say that Frank Sinatra had many qualities, characteristics which lent to his 'greatness', in the inclusive sense of the word...

A few that come to mind for me:

Musicality, which you have or you don't. Just an ear, a wherewithal with music.

Vocal capability, which you have or you don't (for the most part); meaning that you can take singing lessons, breathing lessons, swim underwater as you hear lyrics in your mind, (Frank did this by the way), but if you don't have an innate ability, sorry to say I think you're kidding yourself. Look at it this way, of all the great musicians there are, arrangers, composers, how many of them can sing? Not too many. If it was as easy as taking lessons and conditioning yourself, they'd all be able to do it.

Taste, in musical choices, songs, arrangements, etc. either you have it or you don't. Frank's contemporaries, guys like Bing or Dean or Sammy or Vic Damone or Jerry Vale, or Perry Como i mean the list could stretch from here to Idaho of the guys and gals, (I'd put Streisand in there), of singers who had great voices but whose taste was suspect to say the least and I think would all give accolades to Frank for his impeccable taste.

Voice quality, Frank's voice had just enough flaw to make it human, accessible. Guys like Damone or Vale or Al Martino were like out of a textbook, but too much so, Godlike, I believe. I believe that Sinatra's voice quality was the best of his genre, bar none, just enough human vulnerability.

Juice, and how to use it. Once Frank made it, after he had the stones or the connections, depending on which story you want to believe to get out of his contract with Tommy Dorsey, that's when he made it big, that's when the bobbysoxers started to line up in front of the Paramount. For the next few years Frank and his superstardom were on a honeymoon, till around 1950 when the bottom fell out. He floundered for the next few years till his role in From Here To Eternity and when he made the most of his shot at a rebirth and got the Oscar. From that time on, if you look at Frank's career, I think it's obvious he decided to never to be on the skids again. This is the time of the Sinatra folklore, the Rat Pack, Las Vegas, Marilyn Monroe, JFK, and mob connections, then of course punching out an offensive reporter, half of it was just Frank, his background, his personality, but the other half I have a hunch was him nurturing his public image, maybe not consciously at first, but I think he had to sooner or later realize it was only making him bigger, getting him bigger purses in Hollywood and on the nightclub circuit.

Only the Best! Frank had more juice that's right, but he used it in the best possible way; he hired only the best musicians, arrangers, songwriters you name it, he surrounded himself with the best because he was the best...

These are I think a few of the reasons why Sinatra music has lasted. We could add lyric interpretation, improvisation of a melody much like a jazz musician, humor, depth, which is a product of emotional courage and generosity, I could probably go on, but won't...

I just want to say a thing about the Frank Sinatra legend, the bad side of his legend that is; the bully, the tough guy, the guy who ordered his driver to run over more than one newspaper reporter, the guy old man Joe Kennedy went to, to enlist the help of the boys from Chicago to make sure that his son was the first Catholic President of the United States; or the Frank Sinatra that could hold a grudge for years, sometimes for minimal to imagined offenses, twho on one night could be the most loyal, protective friend or lover, and on the next, axe the very same person right out of his life forever. The very same guy who after hearing that a Hollywood acquaintance was either in the hospital and couldn't pay his bills or just in financial straits, (eg., George Raft, Bela Lugosi, Lee J. Cobb, Richard Burton), would discreetly pay all the bills on the condition that he would remain throughout, as Richard Burton called him, "Mr. Anonymous; I guess my point is to say that he was a complicated guy, that most of the great things you've heard about him are true, as are some of the other things you've heard about him. Also I'm saying those things only made him bigger, more expansive, I believe that is true, but without that singular musical talent, why would any of us care?

I think you hit it on the head as to why his legend continues -- for me he lives because he used his voice like an instrument (not many singers can/could phrase like Sinatra) and he had a great songbook.

[ExPit]

You're right Dano, on the phrasing point, where and how Frank placed the notes. Off the top of my head, the song, "I Fall In Love Too Easily," for most singers that phrase is sung seamlessly, but for Frank, either to adhere to the melody line he was hearing in his own head just prior to delivering the line or a sense of lyrical depth, Frank sings it, "I fall in love... too... ea-sily, I-I-I fall in love ... too fast," lends more meaning and dramatics to the line. His phrasing is one of the things you hear other singers and musicians talk about when they are trying to explain his unique way with a song.