most bizarre Sinatra recording

This was mentioned in the James Kaplan book, and sure enough it exists online. Apparently it was actually prepared as the followup single to "Strangers in the Night"-- after many attempts he was finally talked out of it. A very brief reading followed by amazingly bad sound-effect shtick. Wild!

 

This one's up there...

 

He did Old McDonald, didn't he?

There were some novelty tracks in the bad old Columbia days. (Something about chewing gum, the Dum Dot Song, I think.) Of later vintage, his version of Petula Clark's "Downtown" qualifies, and many people would list disc three of Trilogy as highly WTF (not me, though).

 

Frank himself would probably nominate that notorious duet with Dagmar...

But I personally choose this "gem"

 

See thread: —> Rare Frank Sinatra Vocal Track Take on Youtube



P.S. It's a fake. Most likely an April Fools joke, five years ago.

 

Frank's contract with "Your Hit Parade" stipulated that he sing the #1 song of the week. When "The Woody
Woodpecker Song" which Frank detested hit #1, he had no choice but to sing it.
You can hear the disdain in his voice as he grudgingly plows through it:

 

What, did we forget the concept album about Frank escaping the mob by going into space?

 

Yes! The third record of Trilogy! That is one strange excursion into The Future....but, I love it......

 

That Dagmar song is easily the worst!

 

That weird version of Lady is a Tramp he recorded for Maureen Starkey's birthday.

 

And I thought his rendition of Mrs. Robinson was bad! We used to listen to that while driving out to see relatives and everyone in the car would cringe. Whew!

 

His rendition of Paul Simon's "Mrs. Robinson" is the weirdest one I've heard.

 

His "Downtown" is pretty out there!

 

Did everyone forget "Everybody's Twistin'"?

 

Pretty much anything that he recorded in '60s and '70s that was trying to be contemporary and hip - 'Winchester Cathedral' is probably the worse and pretty surreal.

... and the love song duet with his daughter, 'Something Stupid', is a kinda creepy.

 

'Road to Mandalay' maybe? "When you hear those paddles chunkin'" is a pretty weird lyric...

 

Some singers of Sinatra's generation were forced by producers and contracts to try to be "hip" and with it in the 1960's. But no one could force Sinatra in that time. His desire to be hip and with it in the 1960's culture, maybe in some attempt to make more money, was one of (if not THE) biggest mistakes in his career. Ironically, if Sinatra had made records in the mid to late 60's of more great classic standards, they would be selling in substantially greater numbers for the last 30 years than "Somethin Stupid" and Winchester Cathedral.

 

You can blame Rudyard Kiplng for that. Actually, Sinatra may have made a few "improvements" of his own to the poem and its musical accompaniment. I'm not a fan of "Mandalay" myself, but some others consider it the highlight of the Come Fly with Me album. See for example:

On The Road To Mandalay: Sinatra Song of the Century #20 :: SteynOnline »

 

Man of the songs named are indeed bizarre, but...Have you listened to the Gunga Din thing? Absolutely no explanation for it, especially not for considering it a single during one of his commercial peaks. (Or for that matter, presenting it as a reading from the poem, when it's something else altogether).

 

I don't think it was so much an attempt to make more money as to (seek to) achieve some measure of pop relevance in that time frame. Also, don't forget his marriage to Mia Farrow, 29 years his junior. Mia may have had some influence over Sinatra's song choices.

 

You know what? I was expecting Frank to do THIS one

 

I tend to agree with you, but whatever the underlying motivation was to retain pop relevance (that could be popularity itself, or still money), I still think it was a poor choice (there was little chance that he would lose his popularity). He was one of the few singers (maybe the only one) with the authority to do anything without losing his "job" or record contract. I enjoy some of those albums (or at least some songs on those albums), but I wish he had taken the opportunity to continue his run of 100% masterpiece albums.

 

His first or second Capitol 45 "I'm Walking Behind You" was a pretty creepy song about a stalker following his ex-girlfriend around on her wedding day of all things! Eddie Fisher's was the hit version....

 

I meant "pop" as in "pop music," but I agree with you completely. I never play many of the later Reprise albums just to hear the ALBUM. There are SONGS I like, but they're best listened to in isolation from most of Sinatra's forays into contemporary stuff. He missed so many opportunities in the late '60s and '70s that could have remained relevant forever.