Five Sinatra Songs, Five Reflections

I remember driving past a vacant field that had a big sign on it: “Opportunity.” I thought to myself that if an empty plot had potential, so did I! It’s like that for me some days. I see or hear ordinary things, but then think of them in a new way. That was the case recently as I listened to a CD, Sinatra Reprise: The Very Good Years. Each song had something to tell me. Here are my five favorite lessons.

NOTE: Each song title is a hyperlink. If you click it, you’ll get a YouTube video with Sinatra performing the song. If you click the “What the Song’s About,” you’ll get the full lyrics from a website called Genius.com, which is the Wikipedia of music.

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Song Title: “That’s Life”

Written by: Kelly Gordon and Dean Kay

What the Song’s About:

The lyrics describe the roller coaster of life in a peppy and upbeat way. The speaker is riding high in April, shot down in May, but confident he will be back on top in June. If not, he says he’ll die. However, he’s already told us about his many experiences in life – he’s been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn, and a king – so the listener is confident he has the skillset to reinvent himself once again.

Here’s what I thought about as I listened:

I’ve been trying to figure out life for most of my sixty-nine years. In high school, as my girlfriends giggled about boys, I made appointments with my rabbi to discuss existentialism. Right now, the book, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is my cart on Amazon. Meanwhile, this song offers the “just do it” recipe of life. Not if, but when I find myself flat on my face, I need to pick myself up and get back in the race. It’s such a peppy and upbeat plan, I think I’ll be back on top soon.

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Song Title: “It Was a Very Good Year”

Written by: Ervin Drake

What the Song’s About:

A man looks back on his love life at ages 17, 21, 35, and then in the autumn of his years. Comparing his life to a keg of vintage wine, he tells us that from the brim to the dregs, he’s had some very good years.

Here’s what I thought about as I listened:

This is such a pretty song! And so romantic! I particularly loved the woman who lived upstairs. Her perfumed hair came undone when he was twenty-one! I think I’m jealous of his love life!

BUT, when I look back – which is an important thing to do – I see this: At 17, all I wanted was to get married and have kids. At 21, I got married! By 35, all three of my kids were born. And now in the autumn of my years, I have ten grandkids. I’m divorced, so perhaps that’s why the romance of the song is so appealing. But other than that, this is exactly the life I wanted. All my dreams have come true. I’ve had lots of great years.

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Song Title: “My Way”

Written by: Claude Francois and Paul Anka

What the Song’s About:

An older man reminisces, and sees that he’s lived a full life with few regrets. Most important is the fact that he lived life on his own terms. We know this is important because all five verses end with the boast, “I did it my way!”

Here’s what I thought about as I listened:

When my friend, Big Irv, died, I was his executor. I had been angry with him because he didn’t “do” cancer the way I wanted him to. He rarely listened to doctors. Sometimes he cussed them out. I always feared this would hasten his death. I chided him. I told him to go ahead and do things his way, but that I’d use the Sinatra line on his tombstone. As it turned out, doing things his way bought him an extra two years beyond his original prognosis.

While it was exasperating to live through the experience, it is impressive reflecting back on it. He called the shots on his life until the very end. Isn’t that what we all want? Thus my threat to him became a benediction. Proud of him, I did indeed use the Sinatra quote on his tombstone: “I faced it all, and I stood tall, and did it my way.”

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Song Title: “New York, New York”

Written by: John Kander and Fred Ebb

What the Song’s About:

The song is from a 1977 film of the same name. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese and starred Robert de Niro and Liza Minnelli as a pair of musicians who try to make it in the big city. It took until Frank Sinatra sang it in 1978 for the song to become a popular hit. Ultimately, it became one of his signature songs.

Here’s what I thought about as I listened:

I think I have a signature song too. Forgive me, it’s not Sinatra, it’s Peggy Lee, “Is That All There Is?” This song has played in my head regularly through life always expressing disillusionment with experiences that I hoped would be GREAT and which fell short. At age sixty-nine I have begun to respond differently to the song. It’s a reminder that in an imperfect world, it is my task to find the bits of perfection, to pan for the gold, and to enjoy those riches. The new mindset is not ignoring the down side of an experience, it’s just acknowledging that that’s not all there is.

Interestingly, as I researched the song for this story, I find that the lyrics were inspired by a short story by Thomas Mann called Disillusionment. A description of the story on GoodReads says it’s a story about having the wrong mindset!

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Song Title: “The Best Is Yet to Come”

Written by: Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh

What the Song’s About:

This song is about a new love relationship, and it is full of optimism: “The best is yet to come!”

And truly, that’s enough said about this song’s story.

In fact, that’s enough said about my reaction to it. Let’s all go forth optimistically believing that the best is yet to come!

And there you have it, five lessons learned from Sinatra.

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A note from Lorie: Did you know that there are two sides to me? I am a writer AND a quilt artist. I hope you will check out my Etsy shop for all the artistic stuff I sell there. (Great gifts for the holidays!) Here is my newest product.