Song of the Day #824: ‘Angel Eyes’ – Frank Sinatra

Top Ten Male Vocalists – #1 – Frank Sinatra

I don’t think there was any other possibility for the #1 spot on my list. Certainly not for a kid who grew up in a house filled with Frank Sinatra’s music.

I know this entry breaks a lot of patterns set up throughout the countdown — he’s of a different era and a different genre than all the rest — but so what? He’s the Chairman of the Board… he’s The Voice. He’s Sinatra.

You really think I can make a list of the best male vocalists and not include him? Forgetaboutit.

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Song of the Day #512 ‘Close to You’ – Frank Sinatra

Today is my parents’ anniversary and I’m marking the occasion by featuring a song by their favorite singer, Frank Sinatra. My dad was a big Sinatra fan back in the 60s when he and my mom became a couple… he largely bypassed the rock music bursting on the scene in favor of ol’ blue eyes. He’s one of those guys who was already 60 when he was 18 (and now that he’s in his 60s he looks like he’s 38, so he’s all over the map).

My mom made room for Elvis and The Beatles but she, too, was a Sinatra fan at heart. She’s been a little more adventurous musically than he has (though I’m admittedly stretching the definition of “adventurous”) but come dinner time in that household, nine times out of ten it’s going to be Sinatra coming out of the speakers. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Song of the Day #269: ‘Only the Lonely’ – Frank Sinatra

lonelyI think I’ve mentioned this before, but there are few albums that throw me back in time as effectively as Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely. That baby is a time machine… I pop it in and crank the dial back to 1982 where a 10-year-old boy sits in a North Miami house thick with the delicious aroma of wine and London broil.

They say the sense of smell is tied directly to our memory bank and that nothing takes you back like a familiar odor. But in this case, it’s the sound of these songs that transports me so powerfully that I can remember the smell of that place, and the feel of it — warm, cozy, safe. Sinatra is the sound of a happy childhood.

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Song of the Day #95: ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ – Frank Sinatra

I grew up on a steady diet of Frank Sinatra, courtesy of my parents, two of his biggest fans.

His voice, and so many of his songs, instantly teleport me back in time 25 years. Some songs — specifically anything on his Sinatra Sings For Only the Lonely album — trigger my memory so powerfully that I can literally smell my mother’s cooking and feel the coziness of our North Miami home when I hear them.

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