Sinatra's best sad songs

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by pinkrudy, Oct 14, 2009.

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  1. Destroyer

    Destroyer Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF, CA, USA
    I'd personally pick "For A While" from the same. Just go get "Watertown". It's the sound of a man's heart breaking.
     
  2. Greg1954

    Greg1954 New Member

    Location:
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    That set may tipped in favor of 'sad' songs, but not all of them are.

    It's an excellent compilation in any case. And the easiest way to obtain the 1981 title track, which was left off of the 'She Shot Me Down' LP for some reason.:confused:

    Hopefully 'She Shot Me Down' will be reinstated the the catalog as, IMO, it's among the best of his recorded work, and doesn't deserve to languish in obscureville.
     
  3. mr_mjb1960

    mr_mjb1960 I'm a Tarrytowner 'Til I die!

    "Cycles","A Man Alone","There Used to be a Ballpark here" and "Rain" (The last one coming from his Excellent '50's comp called "This Is Sinatra!") :righton:
     
  4. Greg1954

    Greg1954 New Member

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    Caution:

    'Rain' was tacked onto to the Norberg mastered 'Where Are You' CD, which is not a good way to obtain 'Rain' or WAY.
     
  5. Bob F

    Bob F Senior Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts USA
    "Rain" was also tacked onto the Walsh-mastered Where Are You? CD. The same "bonus" tracks appear on the Norberg remasters as on the earlier CD issues they replaced.

    The same caution applies to most of the Capitol concept albums. If you're listening to these on compact disc, you might want to hit stop before the bonus tracks play, to hear the albums as they were originally intended.
     
    DmitriKaramazov likes this.
  6. DJ WILBUR

    DJ WILBUR The Cappuccino Kid

    another really good listen, maybe not the "best sad songs", but a great mellow slightly "outta tune" listen is his material with Jobim. While not one of the "saloon" albums, it certainly is not upbeat material and a home run outta the park classic spectacular release.
     
  7. rhavers

    rhavers Active Member

    “And as he sang he created the loneliest early morning mood in the world.” Is what it said on the original liner notes for the album. Frank sets out his stall from the moment the album begins. “In the wee small hours of the morning, while the whole wide world is asleep, you lie awake and think about the girl.” Frank, like just about everyone else, thought of this as one of his best albums, “I think the orchestrator’s work and my work come together closely.” There is no denying the closeness and the intimacy that it creates. It’s almost as though we, as listeners, are somehow intruding into Frank’s world. But then, as has been claimed, it is Frank’s world. . .we just love in it.

    “There is no sunrise, when your lover has gone.” These lines from ‘When Your Lover Has Gone’ perfectly reflect on how Frank was feeling when he made this album. Ava Gardner had gone and for me, at least, that’s why this album is the saddest. It’s all true – every note, every breath, every word

    It is almost as though everything that had gone before was simply leading to this. Frank would make some better recordings of individual ballads, but this is the greatest single album of romantic songs; the one to have stashed in case a romantic emergency threatens. As Downbeat said back in June 1955 “The package should be a big seller for years”….they were not wrong.
     
  8. DJ WILBUR

    DJ WILBUR The Cappuccino Kid

    I'll Only Miss Her When I Think Of Her

    now thats a great one off of the "My Kind of Broadway" album
     
  9. the Saint

    the Saint Forum Resident

    Location:
    Venice, Ca.
    Anyone mentioned" Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry" yet?
     
  10. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    Maybe not the best choice, but "Softly As I Leave You" always chokes me up. Of course, it could be because it makes me think of my grandfather who passed away last year. Is Frank the only person who recorded this song?

    This, along with "Put Your Dreams Away" are two songs that I want played at my funeral when that time has come.
     
  11. mbleicher1

    mbleicher1 Tube Amp Curmudgeon

    Location:
    Washington, D.C.
    The lyrics are not sad, but something in the delivery is: "All the Way". Sinatra sounds confident that he loves her, but not that it will be accepted, or reciprocated. The yearning in his voice as he glides up and down the melody, and the vulnerability, is heartbreaking. One of my favorite Sinatra ballads.

    Are there any others like "All the Way" in the catalogue?
     
  12. Slokes

    Slokes Cruel But Fair

    Location:
    Greenwich, CT USA
    "All The Way" is an interesting call, because it's performed IIRC three different ways in the film The Joker's Wild. The most popular version is kind of bouncy, and then there's the version Frank's character, Joe E. Lewis, sings after he lost his woman through his own hard code, which sounds just like you describe. There are echoes of it in the version that became the hit, but Frank really slows the song down and brings up the emotion on that last rendition.
     
  13. Greg1954

    Greg1954 New Member

    Location:
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    Maybe you'd like the 'Close To You' album on Capitol.

    You've got the vulnerable ballads, coupled with Sinatra's best use of legato. The way he can use a single breath to sustain moving through notes, with his still relatively young and fluid voice, makes this a benchmark album for his skill as a singer.

    He's accompanied by The Hollywood String Quartet, which potentially could sound maudlin, but not combined with Nelson Riddle's masterful arrangements.
     
  14. apileocole

    apileocole Lush Life Gort

    Goodness no. But personally, given Frank's, I don't have a use for any others.
     
  15. rhavers

    rhavers Active Member

    Johnny Rivers, Doris Day and the Sandpipers to name but 3 I can think of. However, better than Frank's version, for me, is Matt Monro.
     
  16. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    Nancy has said, 'when Dad sang the sad songs, he was thinking of Ava.'
     
  17. wave

    wave Forum Resident

    Location:
    Allen Park, MI
    +1

    I'd also add "Empty Tables"
     
  18. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    ELvis did it too. not especially well.
     
  19. A sadly underrated singer.

    Best Wishes
    David
     
  20. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    Drinking Again.
     
  21. Bob F

    Bob F Senior Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts USA
    Yes, Matt Monro comes closest to sounding like Frank Sinatra (both voice and phrasing) of any singer I've ever heard, except possibly Frank Sinatra, Jr. And "Softly, As I Leave You" was really Monro's big hit in the UK in 1962, long before FS covered it.
     
  22. Greg1954

    Greg1954 New Member

    Location:
    .
    Partial list...

    Angel Eyes Only The Lonely
    But Not For Me Trilogy
    Can't We Be Friends Wee Small...
    Cottage For Sale No One Cares
    Didn't We? My Way
    Don't Worry About Me Capitol single
    Drinking Again The World We Knew
    Ebb Tide Only The Lonely...
    Empty Tables Reprise single
    Everything Happens To Me She Shot Me Down
    Glad To Be Unhappy Wee Small...
    Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry Only The Lonely
    Hey Look, No Crying She Shot Me Down
    I Cover The Waterfront Where Are You
    I Guess I'll Have To Dream The Rest RCA Victor single (78)
    Ill Wind Wee Small...
    Just As Though You Were Here RCA Victor single (78)
    Lonely Town Where Are You
    Love Locked Out Close To You
    Monday Morning Quarterback She Shot Me Down
    One For My Baby [One More For The Road] Duets
    Send In The Clowns Piano accompanied Reprise single
    The Single Man A Man Alone
    There's No You Columbia single
    What's New? Only The Lonely
    Where Are You? Where Are You
    You And Me [We Wanted It All] Trilogy
     
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  23. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    I first heard Frank Sinatra when I was three years old. My Grandmother had that old 1939 Red Columbia 78 of Harry James and his Orchestra with the jazzy instrumental "Flash" on one side and "All Or Nothing At All"* (vocal by F.S.) on the other. I didn't know who the singer was on that song but he sounded real sad to me as a little kid. All these years later when I play that record, he still does.

    Even though it's not a particularly sad song, to me, it's the saddest he's ever sounded...







    *Not to be confused with the jazzy version he did for Reprise almost 30 years later...
     
  24. docwebb

    docwebb Forum Resident

    :cry: Agree... the ultimate suicide song... always brings tears to my eyes even when I'm in a good mood.
     
  25. Ian Bradley

    Ian Bradley Forum Resident

    I've always heard the first word of that song as 'Our...'.

    Great lists. The love-affair-gone-wrong songs are in a class of their own.

    My own favourite is What's New? I think.

    In a larger sense, those ruminations on the passing of time on the September of my Years album are killers, too - especially Alec Wilder's I See It Now. September Song has its own bleak beauty, too (though I prefer the version on the Point of No Return album).
     
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