))
"That's Life"
Manage episode 416391143 series 3540370
Conteúdo fornecido por Anthony Esolen. Todo o conteúdo do podcast, incluindo episódios, gráficos e descrições de podcast, é carregado e fornecido diretamente por Anthony Esolen ou por seu parceiro de plataforma de podcast. Se você acredita que alguém está usando seu trabalho protegido por direitos autorais sem sua permissão, siga o processo descrito aqui https://pt.player.fm/legal.
As soon as Tony mentioned the word “life” for our Word of the Week, one song leapt into my mind. I listened to “That’s Life” and immediately was transported back to my childhood. I’ve mentioned before that I grew up in a house full of crooners, with Frank Sinatra headlining the show. “That’s Life” gives us Sinatra at the peak of his career, perfect at phrasing, perfect at timing, perfect at vocal control. As Benny Goodman used to put it, “The cat could swing.”
Frank released “That’s Life” in 1966. Five years and a few great hits later, in 1971, he retired from the business. I have an idea why he “retired,” and it fits with his decision to resume his career as a singer (and actor) two years later, in 1973, after which he never stopped working until his death in 1995 at age 80. First, in 1971 the music he had spent his life making had been eclipsed by rock n’ roll. And Frank knew how to swing, but not how to rock. There was that — and I don’t think he liked what he saw of crooners who tried (and failed) to “get with it” by singing the new music.
He continued doing what he did best, and his sales slumped. But what’s a slump if you are Frank Sinatra with album sales at 150 million worldwide? Falling sales was a consideration, but the second reason for his “retirement” was simply that his voice was giving out, and for him, that was hard to face. I read that in the two post-war years, 1945 through 1946, Sinatra appeared on one hundred and sixty radio shows, recorded thirty-six songs, and played leading roles in four films. In addition to all of this, in those days, he was often performing on stage more than 40 times a week, sometimes singing 100 songs a day. Fast forward twenty more years of keeping such a schedule, and anyone would need a vacation at least. But his break wasn’t to be a permanent retirement, because ultimately for Frank Sinatra the music was his life.
Right before he “retired,” Frank had a big hit with “My Way,” which at the time must have seemed to fans like his grand finale, a song to wrap up a career. But Frank had not advertised for anyone to write him such a song. Nevertheless, former teen-idol Paul Anka got it into his head to adapt a popular contemporary French song for Frank. Anka insisted that he wrote the lyrics with Frank in mind, but by his own admission he was writing with what was then called “the ME generation” in mind. Paul Anka’s musical style had gone out of fashion, too. When he gave Sinatra the song, insisted he would never record it himself, because only Frank could do his song justice. Well, other singers did record “My Way,” including Elvis Presley, who had a bigger hit with it than Sinatra had. And shortly Paul Anka even recorded the song himself, a song he thought epitomized Frank Sinatra’s attitude about his life. It seems that Sinatra’s fans agreed with Anka, because the song soon became Frank’s most requested, his signature song, his show stopper. And guess what? Frank Sinatra hated it. Once right in the middle of singing “My Way” in Las Vegas, he stopped and asked the audience, “Do you like this song?” and then answered his own question with, “I hate this song.” And he sang something else. Frank’s daughter, Tina, had this to say about “My Way”: “He didn't like it. That song stuck, and he couldn't get it off his shoe. He always thought that song was self-serving and self-indulgent.” And so it was. I’ve listened to Frank Sinatra singing great music all my life, and I never liked the song, either.
And if you want a better idea of what Frank Sinatra thought about his own career, his life — and life generally — you only have to listen to today’s song. Evidently, Frank heard our song on the radio in its first release — which was not a hit — by singer O. C. Smith, whom some of you may remember for his hit, “Little Green Apples.” Frank loved “That’s Life” so much that he immediately contacted the publisher and his producer about recording it. Pretty soon, the song was expertly arranged, and the studio was filled with “first chair” musicians. The arranger, Ernie Freeman, and the producer, Jimmy Bowen, had recently collaborated to produce “Strangers in the Night,” which would win Frank a Grammy for Best Male Vocal and the guys another Grammy for Best Arrangement. All they needed was to get Frank into the perfect mood to cut another hit record. This Jimmy Bowen did by insisting on a THIRD take .. which Sinatra did under protest, adding the “my, my!” at the end just to have the last word. What a stroke of genius that was!
But “That’s Life” is not arrogant, and it’s not pretentious, and it’s not a nose-thumbing tirade. Instead it’s an upbeat and jazzy affirmation of the fact that we can’t always have it our way. And why not? Well, because “that’s life.”
Extra Bonus!
Share Word & Song by Anthony Esolen
Word & Song by Anthony Esolen is an online magazine devoted to reclaiming the good, the beautiful, and the true. We publish six essays each week, on words, classic hymns, poems, films, and popular songs, as well a weekly podcast for paid subscribers, Poetry Aloud or Anthony Esolen Speaks. Paid subscribers also receive audio-enhanced posts and access to our full archive and to comments and discussions. We value all of our subscribers, and we thank you for reading Word and Song!
15 episódios
Compartilhar
