Frank Sinatra, "Songs for Swinging' Lovers"

Ken brings us somethin’ stupid

, and

Mar 30, 2022

Ken’s Pitch:

There are three distinct eras to Frank Sinatra’s career: the early years where a skinny, young kid from Hoboken unexpectedly (and then expectedly) lit the world on fire with his blue eyes, his authentically childlike smile, and a voice like a quantum stabilized atom mirror. While Bing Crosby’s popularity predated Frank’s by a couple of years, it was Sinatra who defined modern pop music. This era holds some of the crooner’s best vocals, and introduced the world to the Bobbysoxers, which predates Beatlemania to a time when John, Paul, George, and Ringo were still in diapers.

The most well-known era of Frank’s career is late-stage Sinatra; the September of his years. These were the times of “My Way”, “New York, New York”, and “Here’s To The Band”. It’s the era that Joe Piscopo and Billy Crystal parodied so well, and it saw Frank appearing so many times with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, or sliding in through the fake front door on The Dean Martin Show. This era is arguably the longest curtain call in the history of music. Even if he wasn’t at the top of his musical game, Frank could do anything he wanted on stage and his adoring fans ate it up and begged for more.

There was a time in the middle though, when Sinatra was simply untouchable. Everything he touched turned to gold. Just before this era began, his career had largely stalled around 1949-1950, and his marriage to Nancy Barbato was on the rocks. It seems that Frank had his eye on another prize. I believe the cliché goes “he could have had any woman he wanted, but…” and you know nothing good ever comes at the end of that sentence…or does it? Frank was obsessed with up-and-coming Hollywood starlet, Ava Gardner. By 1951, Sinatra had left Nancy and was now in a high-profile relationship with Gardner. His marriage to Gardner was based on his infatuation of her, so it was doomed from the start, and they split up only a couple years later (the actual divorce was finalized in 1957,) but she revitalized his career by helping him land a role in From Here To Eternity (for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor) and helped him gain the confidence he needed to put him back on top where he would stay for the rest of his life.

It was during this period that Sinatra conquered the world. He and his entourage, which sometimes included the famous Rat Pack (Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop) would perform in Las Vegas, and infamously take over the casino at The Sands after the show. Legend has it that the boys would jump behind a blackjack table in the early morning hours and start dealing, handing out winning chips to players that had clearly “busted” with 22 or 23, or 28 for all I know, or grabbing the ball off the spinning roullette wheel and placing it on the number they thought was most deserved. It must have cost the casino a small fortune, but no one cared. Frank Sinatra was in the house, and the increased publicity would more than cover any gambling losses.

With a renewed confidence and the world on a string, two albums were made in 1955 and 1956 that most critics consider his masterpieces, the ballad heavy In The Wee Small Hours, and Songs For Swingin’ Lovers, a collection of already well-known pop standards arranged specifically for Frank. With smash hits “You Make Me Feel So Young”, “You’re Getting To Be a Habit With Me”, “Too Marvelous For Words”, “Pennies From Heaven”, and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, this is Sinatra still killing it with perfect vocals, but it’s also his most confident work and you can hear it in every note.

It’s only fitting that we finish up a month in which we celebrate the accomplishments and history of great women around the world, with a feat that women have been pulling off for thousands of years- advocating and fighting for the people they love. Without Ava Gardner and her persistence in lobbying for her husband, his career could have all but ended with a whimper, and Frank never would have called the shots for any of those guys.

So make room on the top shelf of the Newbury St Collection for the greatest singer to ever live, and when you pull it down to give it a spin, remember to take it nice and easy.

CJ’s Response:

When I got my first job out of college, my sideburns were way too long and I liked cigars way too much. For the first time in our lives, my friends and I had a little money and we decided the best way to spend it was to have a monthly “smoker”. Every four weeks, we’d get dressed up, have a big dinner at one of the local steakhouses and then head over to a cigar-friendly bar to spark up our expensive stogies. We felt like masters of the universe even though we must’ve looked like the biggest d-bags east of the San Andreas Fault.

Oftentimes on our ride home in my buddy John’s Plymouth Laser (it had the swanky flip-up headlights befitting our exalted status, although one of them was always stuck so it looked like the car was winking at you) we would open the windows and the moon roof and crank Frank Sinatra at top volume. Why? That’s the kind of thing we thought big shots would do. And, at the time, there were no bigger shots than us.

Frank Sinatra music will do that to you. Make you feel classy, special even. Maybe it’s his phrasing, the way he seems to be professing love everlasting to the ladies while winking knowingly (like John’s Plymouth Laser) at the fellas. It’s a slick mix of sincerity and innuendo and nobody pulled it off quite like Frank.

While I prefer an older, more wistful Sinatra (“It Was A Very Good Year”, “That’s Life”, “All Or Nothing At All”), Ken’s choice of Songs for Swingin’ Lovers will do. Let’s be honest. You could throw all of Frank’s songs up in the air, take the ten that landed closest to you and make an album that pretty much everyone would enjoy. I’d say the best contribution to society on Lovers is “Makin’ Whoopee” if only because it gave Newlywed Game host Bob Eubanks the greatest euphemism for screwing in recorded history.

Light one up for Ol’ Blue Eyes, Ken. He’s welcome on Newbury St. anytime.

Pitch Successful (Where’s the strangest place you’ve ever made whoopee?)

Mitch’s Response:

Like most people, I have spent my life rehearsing answers to questions for a glossy magazine feature about me which will probably never happen (not my fault, I’m famous enough, there just aren’t glossy magazines anymore). But just in case Parade Magazine punches me up, I have to be ready to reveal which dead celebrity I’d want to eat with (Lou Reed at the 2nd Avenue Deli), which is my favorite dog breed (Bichon Frise, obviously), or what’s my biggest concert regret.

My biggest concert regret is an easy one, of course, because I knew I would never forgive myself for missing this one, and I never have. I’ve seen hundreds of shows since, but none of them can fill the hole of loss and longing created by my failure to lie, cheat, or steal my way into Frank Sinatra’s grand opening of the Knickerbocker Arena in the god-forsaken city of Albany, NY on January 30, 1990.

I can’t recall a time in my life when I didn’t adore Frank Sinatra, even though my parents weren’t fans. I loved schmaltzy old man Frank, I dug swinging mid-career Frank, and I even listened to the old stuff that sounds like it was recorded on a wax cylinder in an army barracks outhouse. I watched all of his movies and taped the Dean Martin roast infomercials. Anything with Frank and the Rat Pack was A number 1 with me.

Ken could have pitched just about any Frank album and I’d give him my vote. Hell, he could have pitched the insane third record of Trilogy and I’d give him my vote. But Ken is also a proud Frankophile and he pitched an album from Frank’s classic album run, where he created the modern thematic album as being more than a collection of singles (sorry, Beatles fans, Frank made “real" records back when the Fabs were still soiling their nappies).

Sure, I would have pitched In The Wee Small Hours because I generally like saloon songs better than the swing material, but that’s just nitpicking, now innit? Of course Frank (and Nelson Riddle) deserve a spot in the tippy-top of the Newbury Street collection.

Pitch successful (now go read “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” by Gay Talese)

Ken’s pitch was shooby-dooby-doolightful and Frank Sinatra’s Songs for Swinging’ Lovers has been added to the Newbury St. Collection.

This is a song about a couple of adult people who have spent, oh, quite a long time
together, till one day one of 'em gets restless and decides to leave. Whether it's the man or woman who left is unimportant. It's a breakup. It's a lovely marriage of words and music, written by Stephen Sondheim, so please leave a comment about Frank Sinatra’s Songs for Swinging’ Lovers.

Exile on Newbury St.

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