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Frank Sinatra: Only the Lonely

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Some things are distinctly American: a black leather motorcycle jacket, a Zippo lighter, a surf board, a Corvette and and iPhone. Add to the list Frank Sinatra's “Hey" that opens Angel Eyes on Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely. Recorded in May and June 1958, the album of saloon-y torch songs was recently reissued in October. The two-CD set features both the original mono version and a new stereo remix, plus a handful of alternate takes, false starts and outtakes.

I've never been a fan of Only the Lonely, which was first released in September 1958. This is the album with the harlequin cover and Sinatra in clown makeup. His voice sounds suicidal on a majority of the songs, and the arrangements surely had the orchestra sobbing after each take. Gordon Jenkins was supposed to arrange the album (a scary proposition), but he was unavailable. As a result, Nelson Riddle took on the task of writing the morose arrangements ordered up. Interestingly, Riddle didn't conduct the master takes. Instead, the baton was passed to classical violinist and conductor Felix Slatkin. At the time, Riddle was committed to a tour with Nat King Cole (which must have gone over big with Sinatra).

Re-listening to Only the Lonely via the re-issue yesterday, I found the album even more gloomy and sullen than I remember it. Song after song sounds like the worst day of Sinatra's life. I have no idea why fans continue to argue the dreary album's merits or why they insist it's Sinatra's finest recording. Neither is accurate. Though Sinatra's voice is flawless, the music sounds like a day fielding 10 depressing events. 

But enough of that. Let's turn to the point of this post—Angel Eyes, which was recorded on May 5 (conducted by Riddle) and May 29, 1958 (conducted by Slatkin). The best thing about the new reissue is the 17 minutes of outtakes on the Matt Dennis-Earl Brent standard. On takes 1 through 5, the song opens the same way, with Sinatra entering the song on the refrain. After two brief overlapping strings motifs (one minor and the other major), he sings “Drink up all you people / order anything you see."

But then, on takes 6 and 8 (take 7 is a false start), Sinatra adds “hey" to the start as a downbeat, which soon becomes “hey-ay": “Hey-ay drink up, all you people / order anything you see." It's a miraculous touch, breathing life into the song and shifting its location from the funeral parlor to the barroom. Why Sinatra did this there is unclear. The answer doesn't turn up in the banter between the control booth and the singer. In fact, it's completely ignored. Presumably Sinatra simply grew tired of singing the dirge-like intro and took matters into is own hands.

Sinatra's loose and improvised “hey-ay" is as American as apple pie. And so much for the myth that Sinatra recorded songs in a single take.

'Scuse me while I disappear.

JazzWax clip: Here's the new stereo mix of Angel Eyes...



And here are takes 1-8 of Angel Eyes from the new set...

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This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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