If the space below is blank, blame YouTube.
After Frank Sinatra died, already 8 years ago, CBS ran a special on him that included this remarkable footage from 1965, of Sinatra recording “It Was a Very Good Year.” Walter Cronkite narrates.
The audio player below has the song in stereo. Let it play all the way through and you’ll hear an earlier version of “It Was a Very Good Year” that was done as a folk song.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Sounds/Wordpress/NOV06/Sinatra.mp3,http://www.dograt.com/Sounds/Wordpress/NOV06/KingstonTrio.mp3]
Today’s music stinks, but then again, I’m sure OUR parents said the same thing! Seriously, it drives me NUTS that rappers (I don’t care what color their skin is) get paid millions of dollars to rap such lovely ditties as “I Wan’ Be Yo Pimp!” This I discovered on one of my daughter’s “Now 21” or whatever CDs. The producers of these CDs, aimed, of course, at kids in Molly’s age bracket (9-13) bleep out or replace all the swear words.
Who needs to hear the lyrics when it’s all Mo’ Fo’ and Mu’ Fu’ and Yo Ho??
I’d like to hear the Turtles’ version of “It Was a Very Good Year.”
I’ll be following up this post with one or two more — made possible by D.F. Rogers. Note: The way I’m presenting them, one would have to be very savvy to figure out how to download them.
Folks might want to know that the “folk” version was done in 1961 by Frank’s old Capitol labelmates, The Kingston Trio. It was on their 10th album, the last by the original trio, “Goin’ Places”. As it is, the Trio’s version is fine – but it is truly amazing how The Chairman takes the song and makes it his own. Who needs to write songs when you can take a good song and make it better? Eight (!) years ago, I was mesmerized by the video of this song when they re-broadcast the 1965 special. Live – in the studio – a full orchestra – an invited audience – what a performance! They sure don’t make ’em that way anymore.
Just one more comment; as you will recall, Doug, we were all out in Sun City West when Frankie died. It was Mom’s first brush with death, but God took Sinatra instead.
Also, I was thinking of “Uncle Walter” last night, since Ed Bradley died too young at 65.
This is one of fave “Chairman of da Boahd” songs. As I’ve said before, it has the most melodramatic strings ever recorded! They always make me guffaw!
This whole thing was fascinating to me! My parents were HUGE Sinatra music fans, and so I became familiar with Frank’s songs starting when I was quite young. This particular song has always been one of my favorites. I think it’s timeless. And of course as I get older, it strikes an even deeper chord within me.
Few people could get into a lyric and milk it for all the emotion it’s worth, like Sinatra. (Billie Holliday certainly comes to mind as another one, and possibly Patsy Kline and Barbra Streisand, right off the top of my head immediately.) In “It Was a Very Good Year,” when Frank sings about beiing 21 when all that perfumed hair “caaaaaaaaame undone,” you can just about see a young gal with hair pinned up who lets it down and shakes it out. The lyrics are superb, but Sinatra’s styling really creates the mental images so strongly. Contrast his phrasing with the folk song version.
Frank’s life didn’t run all smoothly, and he was therefore able to bring the depths of emotion to the lyrics, – in this case, a poignancy of memories and a coming to terms with agiing. At the age Sinatra recorded this song, he was mature enough to convey the full impact of the lyrics so beautifully.
I have to agree with Frank that too many of today’s singers are difficult to understand. Which is why, I think, sometimes the lyrics are included with the liner notes. As much as I enjoy Bruce Springsteen, whom I think is another great performer, a lot of times I need the help of the written lyrics to truly grasp everything Springsteen is singing. But then, the medium of rock music doesn’t make it especially easy for one singer’s voice to stand out clearly.