S is for Sinatra

OK maybe I’m cheating with that but I don’t want you all to think that my only interests are in rock. I did almost pick Steely Dan but I highlight them often in my music Monday posts. So I feel like I need to go with Ol’ Blue Eyes because he represents a very interesting time in my life.

I guess I was probably a junior in high school when I discovered that I LOVE Frank’s music. Well, ok, a lot from that Big Band era. I enjoyed Benny Goodman and branched out to Billie Holliday, etc. But Frank, he just spoke to me. I guess maybe it was my Grandfather who subconsciously engrained this kind of music in my brain. He was the kind of guy who hung around in his garage, tinkering. When I was little, I loved to go out there and help him (i.e. ride my bike and sometimes go see what he was doing.) On a little old radio up on a shelf, this kind of music came through in the scratchy way that signifies another time period. I loved it!

At this same time, I got really into mafia movies from Old Hollywood; stuff with James Cagney and the like. The music and the movies went hand in hand. Here’s a Frank song I am fond of:

It’s hard to pinpoint the best because I kept buying CD after CD and I loved so many of them.

When I went to college, I came equipped with posters for my wall, like many teenaged girls. But mine included printed 11X18 photos of Frank and Jimmy Cagney. I did get a bit of flack from girls in my dorm for it; they seemed sort of put off but then I feel like maybe they thought I was just the quirky girl. That’s ok; I’ve never been like the other girls anyway.

You may have noticed that I do indeed like slower stuff, such as Yacht Rock. When I am not headbanging and listening to what my kids call “angry music”, I do enjoy melodic and emotional songs. Frank embodies that and more. I will always recall my grandparents and the way childhood felt when I hear this kind of music.