You've Gotta Love Livin' Baby, Because Dyin's a Pain in the a**: Sinatra Remembered, 15 Years On

Metro ^ | 3/14/2013 | Rob Leigh

[nickcarraway]

Video at site

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Sinatra was cool but I think he was bipolar. Why would he assume Puzo was writing about him? It could have been anybody, unless what he wrote was true?

[logitech]

I’m 52 and a music lover. I play the 70’s stuff on my guitar on a daily basis.

The 30’s, 40’s, 50’s are the best.

This guy keeps it alive.

http://dennyfarrell.com/

[Vendome]

It’s a great life if you don’t weaken....

[jobim]

No country could produce Sinatra but America. He is the
finest of her fruits, one that will be savored through time
like Shakespeare. Another of her finest fruits, popular
music 1920-1970, also could not have sprung from any other country.
That dazzling wedding of Sinatra and our greatest tunes is like
an extended national anthem, heralding not heroism in battle,
but the grandeur of positive, provocative energy and verve
embedded in a free, astoundingly beautiful, and virtuous country.
The rest of the world looked on in wonder. But alas, I think
our moment has passed, as we rapidly shed all that made us special.

What a day this has been, what a rare mood I'm in, why it's almost like being in love...
Yup, that's how this music makes me feel

[dalereed]

People might like his music but hwe was the biggest asshole you would ever want to meet!!!

[elcid1970]

Earl Wilson was right. Sinatra was not-so-hotra. A jerk. Even his fans protested “You must separate the artist from the art!”

Don Rickles: “I’ll make you feel at home, Frank. Hit somebody!!”

A Jewish guy named Carl Cohen loosened Sinatra’s front teeth caps with a roundhouse right after the Crooner kicked over a craps table & then called him a `kike’.

[huckfillary]

The day he died the DJ who reported it said, “Good riddance to the biggest son of a bitch in the history of the American entertainment industry.” He was a first class jerk.

[Fiji Hill]

I once saw Sinatra perform live—he led the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” at a rally at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to celebrate Ronald Reagan’s birthday in 1980.

[dalereed]

If you ever knew him you would agree!

[jobim]

Thank goodness art and the artist are separate entities - otherwise
we would turn away from most of it.

I have just a diversionary interest in Sinatra the guy from Hoboken,
or Dostoyevski the guy from St. Petersburg, or Michaelangelo the guy
from Tuscany. What I am absolutely riveted by is Sinatra singing Cole
Porter arranged by Neal Hefti, and The Brothers Karamazov and Crime
and Punishment, and the Pieta and the Sistine Chapel.

[Stormdog]

“Why would he assume Puzo was writing about him?”

Sinatra wanted a lead role in “From Here to Eternity”. The word was that a reluctant producer was made an offer that he couldn’t refuse by one of Sinatra’s mob friends and Sinatra got the part.

Puzo just used a little artistic license.

[elcid1970]

Sinatra thought he was the living end.

I play his LPs backwards just for s***s and giggles.

[dagogo redux]

“People might like his music . . . “

Or might not.

[TBP]

Do you know what song he reportedly was working on and had in his pocket when he died?

Supposedly, it was “When October Goes” (music by Barry Manilow, lyrics by Johnny Mercer.)

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Yeah from what I read about him I think Sinatra was bipolar or what they use to call “manic depressive” in his day. Impulsive, loss of temper, he was like Mel Gibson who has the same condition, just going freakin nuts then going into a depression. I think Sinatra even said once he was manic depressive. I use to work for a guy just like that and I had to quit, I couldn’t take it anymore.

[jobim]

Thanks for sharing. Time must be heavy for you, I mean,
keeping your turntable equipped with a needle and all, just
to screech Ole' Blue Eyes. I might suggest a more productive
pasttime, such as music appreciation at your local community college.

[Tainan]

He also gave us...Nancy...not too shabby either.

[heylady]

Not a lot of love for Old Blue eyes here tonight. In the 60’s and 70’s Sinatra use to go to a neighborhood bar when he was in Providence, Hart’s Cafe. All I know is that everyone there loved him.

[Bratch]

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By the early 1950s, the singer saw his career in decline, his teen "bobby soxer" audience having lost interest in him as he entered his late 30s. In 1951, he went so far as to attempt suicide.^[7] Later that year, a second season of The Frank Sinatra Show was aired on CBS, but failed to receive the same positive reception the first season had, with its host having lost his previous energy. Later, in 1952, Sinatra was dropped from Columbia Records.

Against the wishes of his colleagues, on March 14, 1953 then-Vice President of A&R at Capitol Records, Alan Livingston, signed Sinatra to a seven-year deal on his label.^[8] The deal proved to be a success; later that year in August, Sinatra appeared as Private Angelo Maggio in the film From Here to Eternity. The film was highly successful and his performance was highly acclaimed, winning him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor^[9] and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. With this new-found popularity he recorded two albums in 1954, Songs for Young Lovers and Swing Easy!, which both peaked at number 3 on the US charts, and the latter number 5 on the UK Album Charts. Sinatra made another acclaimed performance in February as the lead character, Frankie Machine, in the film The Man with the Golden Arm, which won him nominations for the Academy Award and BAFTA for Best Actor and Actor in Lead Role respectively.

Relationship troubles

Ava Gardner, Sinatra's second wife, provided
inspiration for the album

Despite his new commercial gain, by the time of the recording of In the Wee Small Hours, Sinatra witnessed the messy end of a chain of relationships. He and his first wife, Nancy Barbato, had separated on Valentine's Day 1950. While still married, Sinatra began a relationship with Ava Gardner, which became very controversial. After he and Nancy finally divorced in October 1951, he married Ava just ten days later. However, they were both jealous of the others' extramarital affairs. Despite having considerable influence in getting him his part in From Here to Eternity, Ava broke off from Sinatra two months after the release of the film, divorcing in 1957. She claimed "We don't have the ability to live together like any normal married couple."^[10] Critics presume that these events are the reason behind the melancholy atmosphere of the album.

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His masterpiece, IMO.