Sixteen years ago today, I posted Frank Sinatra’s 1957 recording of ‘Close to You’ to commemorate my parents’ wedding anniversary. ‘Close to You’ is the title song of the first Sinatra album my father gave my mother, and marks the beginning of not just their love affair with each other, but their joint love affair with Sinatra.
That was their 44th anniversary, a praiseworthy milestone if not a distinctive one. Well, today they are married for 60 years… now that’s a cause for celebration!
There wasn’t a lot of movement atop the Billboard chart in the waning weeks of 1955. The top six songs the week of December 13, 1955, were all repeats.
At #7 that week was a track by Frank Sinatra that had been kicking around the top ten for a few weeks: ‘Love and Marriage.’ Written by Jimmy Van Heusen, the song was performed by Sinatra in a televised musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, in which Sinatra starred alongside Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint.
Throwing back to the week of July 12, 1955, we find Bill Haley & His Comets holding on to the top spot of the pop chart with ‘Rock Around the Clock.’
That brings us to #2, and the first appearance of Mr. Frank Sinatra on Throwback Weekends. The song is the Dolores “Vicki” Silvers-penned ‘Learnin’ the Blues.’ I’m excited to hear frequent commenter Peggy chime in on this one.
The Random iTunes Fairy is looking ahead to my 50th birthday this December and serving up a track from Frank Sinatra’s 1965 album September of My Years. Sinatra released this album in August of that year, ahead of his own 50th birthday that December. A nifty coincidence.
Turning 50 in 1965 isn’t the same as turning 50 in 2022, so I like to think I’m not entering the September of my years, exactly, but more like the early July.
September of My Years is a 1966 concept album by Frank Sinatra, exploring the existential angst of middle age. Sinatra won one of his three Album of the Year Grammys for this record.
When I was a kid, hearing September of My Years along with so many other Sinatra classics, I always thought of this as an old man’s album. As in, the final thoughts of a man on his death bed, looking back on a long and eventful life.
Meet Me In Montauk 