MY WAY
I think my real ambition is to pass on to others what I know. It took me a long, long time to learn what I know, and I don’t want that to die with me.
—Frank Sinatra (12/12/15 – 5/14/98)
Frankly and with great respect
Mr. Chairman sir
you may have learned far more
than most but did you
ever learn that most
of us who flatter ourselves
that we get it
would like to pass insight
on to others who mostly
couldn’t care less
unless you’re a big-timer
to illustrate the point I
would have been
interested big time in
the autobiography
you never begot….
….unless it was this:
Don Frankel, and 3 others are discussing. 
The Observation Post 
linnetmoss 8:55 am on December 12, 2014 Permalink |
The biggest of big-timers. Generations of singers have looked to him for inspiration, so I think he did manage to pass on some of his skill as well as his joy. But I agree that a memoir by Sinatra would have been an amazing piece of history!
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Michaeline Montezinos 9:55 am on December 12, 2014 Permalink |
I agree with linnetmoss that Frank Sinatra’s autobiography, had he written it, would have beena best seller in the history as well as the celebrity departments. However, I remember he was just skinny kid growing up in the mean streets of New York. Perhaps his songs were his biography. I believe Sinatra’s life story was told in his live and recorded performances.
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linnetmoss 3:40 pm on December 12, 2014 Permalink
Oh how I wish I had been able to see one of those performances! Did you, Michaeline?
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mistermuse 11:12 am on December 12, 2014 Permalink |
Sinatra indeed did it his way, and spawned many others who did it his way (more or less).
Though Sinatra never wrote his autobiography, a number of biographies have been written about him. For some reason, I’ve never read even one of them, despite owning dozens of autos&bios of other artists from “the good old days” (Sinatra started singing professionally in the mid 1930s).
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linnetmoss 3:44 pm on December 12, 2014 Permalink
I own a book or two about him. They are excellent on his music, but for me, they did not shed much light on the man himself. He was quite a talented actor too. In the end all we have is his music, which is such a gift.
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arekhill1 1:33 pm on December 12, 2014 Permalink |
I do it my way, too. Just wish I got paid his way.
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mistermuse 1:50 pm on December 12, 2014 Permalink |
You get paid in love, Ricardo. Maybe you can’t spend it, but you can’t buy it, either (well, Cole Porter said you can, but I mean the kind of love that’s not for sale).
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mistermuse 6:07 pm on December 12, 2014 Permalink |
The reason this was posted today is that it’s Sinatra’s birthdate, which was included after his quote. I mention this because it wasn’t noticed by one reader (who was most forthright in saying so later), and others may not have noticed it as well. Happy 99th birthday, Frank!
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Don Frankel 1:23 pm on December 13, 2014 Permalink |
I’m pretty sure I actually heard Sinatra in an interview say he didn’t really like the words to My Way as he thought they were a bit narcissistic. But everybody wanted him to sing it so he did.
A friend gave me a book Frank by James Kaplan that is pretty good and very well researched but no it doesn’t give you the skeleton key to Sinatra. That would require a great fiction writer. He influenced a whole of people in a lot of creative endeavors including yours truly, not just singers.
The video didn’t play Muse what’s it called?
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mistermuse 8:14 pm on December 13, 2014 Permalink |
Don, I think the Sinatra quote tells us quite a bit about him, and yet leaves us to wonder why, if it meant so much to him, he never wrote his memoirs (which is what I tried to convey in my poem).
The name of the video is Frank Sinatra: “My way” – hopefully it will play if you click this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dtcg0vPGtg
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Don Frankel 11:10 am on December 14, 2014 Permalink |
Muse it came on this time. Funny I used that same clip awhile back which just shows that great minds think alike.
I know what you meant but that song wasn’t about him as much as people like to think it was. He was just playing a character there as much as he did in other songs. I mean the guy was married three times how much of doing things My Way would have been remotely possible?
Now I don’t trust my feeble memory but I’m pretty sure that Sinatra was at one point writing his autobiography but he just dropped it for one reason or another. Then Pete Hamill a New York writer was going to do it but it didn’t happen then either.
BTW I did see Sinatra live at Radio City and it was easily the best concert/performance I ever saw.
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mistermuse 11:38 am on December 14, 2014 Permalink |
Don, actually I was referring to what he said (his quote at the top of my post) rather than the song, but you’re probably right about the song not being as much about him as people think – after all, he didn’t really like the words, as you commented previously.
If your memory is correct about Sinatra at one point starting to write his autobiography and then dropping it, it makes me wonder all the more how serious he was about his “real ambition” (as stated in his quote).
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Don Frankel 2:31 pm on December 14, 2014 Permalink |
Now you’ve hit a nail on the head. When we write we expose ourselves. Sometimes in ways we understand and like, sometimes in ways we didn’t even know. Perhaps he couldn’t bring himself to write about certain things that were intrinsic to his style. Maybe, he just oddly enough, was unable to express it in any forum he could articulate. But he never did, so you’re on the money Muse.
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Mélanie 5:41 am on December 23, 2014 Permalink |
I like Sinatra’s performance… you probably know that this famous song is… French! I’m serious, its name is “as usually”(comme d’habitude), composed by Claude François: 🙂
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mistermuse 7:24 am on December 23, 2014 Permalink |
Merci! I think I’d read somewhere that this song is French, but I never looked into the details.
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