Sinatra and Leave It All To Me

Hi! Sometime lurker, first time poster! Love the Sinatra talk on this forum, and so I thought I'd get off my duff and join.

What sparked it was I was going through my Sinatra stuff and came across something I very rarely listen to: the January 1988 recording of Paul Anka's Leave It All To Me. And quite frankly I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on how this recording came about--it doesn't seem to have been part of an album. I don't have my proposed tracklist for Digital Sinatra, but I don't think it was planned for that release.

It's not the greatest of songs or greatest of arrangements---and Sinatra's vocal is probably one of his weakest. The concerts from late '87 and early '88 (Sanctuary Cove in particular), together with this recording, demonstrate his voice in very poor condition IMO. My Foolish Heart sounds robust by comparison.

Curiously, Paul Anka mentions writing the (in his words) "perfect" song in his memoir, but erroneously states that it was never recorded.

I've always heard an apocryphal story that, upon hearing the finished result of the difficult My Foolish Heart session, Sinatra concluded, "No more recordings." I'm quite surprised he wasn't equally chagrined by Leave It All To Me.

Can anybody provide any information on this recording? Supposedly he recorded a piano only version of The Girls I've Never Kissed at the same time, but I've never heard it.

Don't leave a newbie hanging! Thanks!

 

And can anyone shed light on why it wasn't released on the Suitcase?

 

I don't know. If his vocal is as you say, that sounds like a good reason not to release it - on the Reprise 20CD set, or wherever.

 

He was, which is why the song was never released. Reportedly, it was intended for a single; Sinatra took home a cassette of his overdub session take, and the next day he called the studio and told them to torpedo the recording. The man knew it sounded like ****.

Probably space limitations. The "Complete" Reprise set was originally supposed to contain 24 discs, not so jam-packed as the 20 CDs which eventually were released in the box. To be included were a number of unreleased recordings which were axed from the final product. "Leave It All to Me" was likely one of the first to go.

 

Re: "overdub session"

Just to fill in some historical detail: The orchestra was recorded Sep. 29, 1987, with 20 musicians conducted by Bill Miller, at Evergreen Studios, Burbank. Sinatra's vocal was overdubbed Jan. 18, 1988, his second-to-last Warner recording session. (Only the "My Foolish Heart" session would follow 4½ months later, Jun. 6, 1988.) Torrie Zito wrote the arrangement for Paul Anka's song.

At the same (voice overdubbing) session, Sinatra did two takes of the Leiber & Stoller tune "The Girls I Never Kissed" with Bill Miller's solo piano backing. This was never mastered (and I've never heard it either), but a live piano-only version from the same timeframe may be found on the 2005 CD, Frank Sinatra Live from Las Vegas (besides the full-ork studio version in the suitcase).

 

Beyond any voice quality issues, "Leave It All To Me" sounds very obviously tracked/overdubbed to me. I'd guess that if Frank really wanted a good recording of the song, he would have either redone it "live" or at least made another vocal take(s) with the existing orchestral recording.

While Frank may be a little hoarse in spots on "My Foolish Heart", it's still very good. Nice sound too. "Leave It All to Me" really isn't worthy of release as heard above. Maybe if there's other vocal takes in the can, to maybe piece together...

I like having early takes and session material released *IF* they are worthy artistically, to supplement master takes. That could be a very good standalone alternate, or a succession of takes/chatter/etc. which in context work together and illuminate the artistic process in a positive way. That's very different from putting out stuff just because it's there. So, the right thing was done by not having "Leave It All to Me" (as above) on the big Reprise box.

 

Thanks all, in particular Bob F., for the great replies. The recording has always been such an oddity to me. I tend to agree, MMM, that it was probably best to leave it off and your rationale makes sense.

I would add that to me the deficiency with My Foolish Heart isn't so much the hoarseness as the overall weakness of his voice at that point--his sound is extremely thin.

I think he made the right decision when he still had his wits about him to walk away at from recording at that point. Too bad Don Costa's illness and death pretty much ended his recording career back when he still had so much of his sound left.

 

If you listen to his last recording session before "Leave It All To Me," from October 1986, he sounds terrific. He cut "Only One To A Customer," "The Girls I Never Kissed," and the vocal remake of "Mack The Knife." I believe he was hospitalized with diverticulitis shortly after, and I guess that began his long final decline. There really is a world of difference between October '86 and the 1988 recordings, although I'd still love to have the entire Digital Sinatra album, even with Frank in diminished form.

IMO, the alternate vocal (presumably pieced together from several takes) of "My Foolish Heart" on Sinatra, With Love released a few years ago is miles better than the version on the 20 CD box.

 

Always loved "Leave it all to me" and think it should have been released. Great song, beautiful arrangement and Sinatra's performance is full of depth. To me it's a very touching performance. Like a little movie. The little weaknesses in his voice (which are still better than other singers goodtime voices) just makes it more loveable.

 

Hearing it for the first time. I like the song, and his voice sounds less jarring here than it does on the "Silent Night" that was released on the Reprise Christmas CD.

 

Video unavailable

 

I see "Leave It All to Me" was just officially released on the new compilation Sinatra Sings Alan and Marilyn Bergman. I haven't picked it up yet, but I heard a snippet of it online and it sounds much better than the unofficial copy of it I have.

 

Much discussion in the thread for the new album …

‘Sinatra Sings Alan & Marilyn Bergman’ coming October 2019 (post #29)
‘Sinatra Sings Alan & Marilyn Bergman’ coming October 2019 (post #94)

… including the official streaming link(s):

Sinatra Sings Alan & Marilyn Bergman by Frank Sinatra on Spotify
Sinatra Sings Alan & Marilyn Bergman - YouTube

Leave It All To Me, a song by Frank Sinatra on Spotify

 

Much as I like Sinatra, particularly this from my "Nice n' Easy" CD. I bought the single to add to my many versions of this song by different artists.



This, in my opinion, is the definitive version of "My Foolish Heart."

Steve Conway : My Foolish Heart

 

When I think of Sinatra at home listening to that beautiful second Sinatra/Jobim album and then killing it, I shake my head in disbelief. Sure, there were a few tracks that weren't as great as the others (One Note Samba and Desafinado (Off Key) in particular), but this song heard in this thread above, makes me think of so many 4-letter words (c#$%, t#$%, s#$%) I don't even know where to begin? And not only that, but how could Alan & Marilyn have written such a piece of crap, is beyond me, let alone the small fact that Frank actually heard something in it to bother putting it to tape?

Frank was wrong to kill the second "Sinatra/Jobim" album, but he was dead on correct to scrap this one back in the day!

 

Never heard that version before, thanks for sharing!

My favorite version of that song is by Michael Franks ...