Pete Hamill - Why Sinatra Matters

ALSO BY PETE HAMILL

Novels

A KILLING FOR CHRIST

THE GIFT

DIRTY LAUNDRY

FLESH AND BLOOD

THE DEADLY PIECE

THE GUNS OF HEAVEN

LOVING WOMEN

SNOW IN AUGUST

Short Story Collections

THE INVISIBLE CITY

TOKYO SKETCHES

Journalism

IRRATIONAL RAVINGS

PIECEWORK

NEWS IS A VERB

Memoir

A DRINKING LIFE

OVER THE YEARS Ive learned much about Frank Sinatra and his music from a number of people, ranging from my old neighborhood friend, Bill Powers, to the great producer, Jerry Wexler. Nelson Riddle, while making his albums with Linda Ronstadt in the 1980s, also gave me insights into the man and his work. But across the years much of my instruction has come from Jonathan Schwartz. He is a fine writer, a musician, and a disc jockey at WQEW in New York. Sinatra once said of him: He knows more about me than I do. Jonathan was generous in reading an early draft of this book and I am, again, in his debt. He is not, of course, responsible for errors that might have eluded both of us nor for my interpretations of the man and his music.

The Sinatra music has been scrambled and repackaged by various companies into a confusing mess. This was compounded by Sinatra himself, who for reasons of contractual argument, artistic dissatisfaction, or sheer laziness repeatedly went back to certain songs. But these albums are my own favorites: In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Swingin Lovers, Only the Lonely, Come Fly with Me, A Swingin Affair, Songs for Young Lovers, Come Dance with Me, Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim, September of My Years, Sinatra at the Sands (in spite of the wretched monologue), Nice n Easy, and Swing Along with Me. There are a variety of boxed sets of his work at Columbia and earlier music with Tommy Dorsey and Harry James. All are rewarding, even the dumb novelties of the moment. I like the two-CD set from Columbia called Portrait of Sinatra and the five-CD package from RCA Victor called The Song Is You, which contains virtually all the Tommy Dorsey recordings. It is particularly interesting as a means of tracing the musical lessons learned by Sinatra from Dorsey. Needless to say, reactions to anyones music are always subjective, but for me, the above albums offer many pleasures.

The Sinatra movies that remain worth seeing are:

Anchors Aweigh (1945),

On the Town (1949),

From Here to Eternity (1953),

Suddenly (1954),

Young at Heart (1955),

The Man with the Golden Arm (1955),

High Society (1956),

The Joker Is Wild (1957),

Pal Joey (1957),

Some Came Running (1958),

The Manchurian Candidate (1962),

and The Detective (1968).

Adam Woog, Seattle Times

Frank Sinatra and Pete Hamill, as products of the same urban landscape, have both been credited with giving the American city a voice. In this widely acclaimed and bestselling appreciation, Hamill draws on his intimate experience of the man and the music to evoke the essence of Sinatra, illuminating the singers art and his legend from the point of view of a confidant and a fan.

Hamills illuminations are considerable without ever stooping to facile psychologizing. He does a better job of placing Sinatras saga in a social and political context than any of his biographers have. Why Sinatra Matters is most valuable in its explication of how Sinatra came to formulate a musical style that was a sound track to urban American life.

Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer

A graceful reminiscence of Sinatra after hours serves as the frame for shrewd reflections on the singers art, his personality, his audience, andmost interestinghis ethnicity, a subject about which Hamill, against all odds, contrives to say fresh and persuasive things.

Terry Teachout, New York Times Book Review

A brief but eloquent homage. Hamill succeedsconvincingly, with natty aplombin explaining why Sinatra, even now, matters.

Tom Chaffin, LA Weekly

Pete Hamill is a novelist, journalist, editor, and screenwriter. Among his bestselling books are the novels Forever and Snow in August and the memoir A Drinking Life. He writes a column for the New York Daily News.

In writing this book, I was informed, entertained, or enriched in various ways by the following works:

Bacall, Lauren. Lauren Bacall by Myself. New York: Ballantine, 1978.

Behr, Edward. Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1996.

Carner, Gary. The Miles Davis Companion. New York: Schirmer, 1996.

Clarke, Donald. All or Nothing at All. New York: Fromm International, 1997.

Dellar, Fred. Sinatra: His Life and Times. New York: Omnibus Press, 1995.

Douglas-Home, Robin. Sinatra. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1962.

Ellis, Edward Robb. A Nation in Torment: The Great American Depression, 19291939. New York: Kodansha, 1995.

Farrow, Mia. What Falls Away. New York: Doubleday, 1997.

Friedwald, Will. Sinatra! The Song Is You. New York: DaCapo Press, 1997.

Gambino, Richard. Vendetta. New York: Doubleday, 1977.

Gambino, Richard. Blood of My Blood. Buffalo, N.Y.: Guernica, 1997.

Gardner, Ava. Ava: My Story. New York: Bantam, 1990.

Immerso, Michael. Newarks First Ward. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1997.

Kelley, Kitty. His Way. New York: Bantam, 1986.

La Sorte, Michael. La Merica. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1985.

Lahr, John. Sinatra: The Artist and the Man. New York: Random House, 1997.

Lees, Gene. Singers and the Song II. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

OBrien, Ed with Robert Wilson. Sinatra 101. New York: Boulevard Books, 1996.

Petkov, Steven and Leonard Mustazza. The Frank Sinatra Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Riddle, Nelson. Arranged by Nelson Riddle. New York: Warner, 1985.

Ringgold, Gene and Clifford McCarty. The Films of Frank Sinatra. Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press, 1993.

Sinatra, Nancy. Frank Sinatra, My Father. New York: Pocket Books, 1985.

Taraborrelli, J. Randy. Sinatra: Behind the Legend. Secaucus, N.J.: Carol Publishing, 1997.

Vare, Ethlie Ann, ed. Legend: Frank Sinatra and the American Dream. New York: Boulevard Books, 1995.

HE HAD COME A LONG WAY TO THIS BLUE LAWN AND HIS DREAM MUST HAVE SEEMED SO CLOSE THAT HE COULD HARDLY FAIL TO GRASP IT. HE DID NOT KNOW THAT IT WAS ALREADY BEHIND HIM, SOMEWHERE BACK IN THAT VAST OBSCURITY BEYOND THE CITY, WHERE THE DARK FIELDS OF THE REPUBLIC ROLLED ON UNDER THE NIGHT.

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, The Great Gatsby

IM FOR WHATEVER GETS YOU THROUGH THE NIGHT.

FRANK SINATRA

THIS WAS ON A NEW YORK midnight in 1970. A hard spring rain had emptied Third Avenue, and neon lights scribbled garishly across the glistening black asphalt. From the front window of P. J. Clarkes saloon, you could see a few taxis cruising slowly among the spokes of ruined umbrellas and a trash basket lying on its side, its contents turning to pulp. Across the street, two old rummies huddled in the doorway of an antique store.