Frank Sinatra

I think the song "My Way" is Frank Sinatra's "signature song." From what I understand, that song was written to be a slow song, sung in a note of somber resignation. Well, that just wasn't Frankie's way of singing that song, being that he was Rat Pack and all. So he turned it into a defiant anthem of self actualization.

More than "New York, New York," that song "My Way" is Frank Sinatra's song.

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My favorite Frank Sinatra story: I was watching a show on Frank, and they were interviewing Quincy Jones, who produced several Frank albums. Quincy said that before Frank came into the studio to record, he (Jones) had to instruct the session musicians to pay absolutely no attention to Frank ... pay all attention to Jones and his conducting. The reason, Jones said, was that there was no telling where Frank would come in and go out of a phrase. So Jones and the orchestra would produce the framework and Frank would fill it in, interpreting as he went, coming in on the half-beats, trailing notes a hair past where they should have ended. All in that fashion that made Frank like no other singer.

I love Frank Sinatra songs. Not all -- many are dreck -- but the ones that succeeded did so brilliantly.

My favorite: The Summer Wind.