Your Sunday Sinatra: “Moonlight in Vermont” – Frank Sinatra, John Blackburn and Karl Suessdorf

“Pennies in a stream… Falling leaves a sycamore… Moonlight in Vermont”

Though you may not notice it, the lyrics to the “Moonlight in Vermont” do not rhyme. And excluding the bridge, the rest of the song is composed of haiku, the verses consisting of 17 syllables in phrases of 5, 7 and 5, respectively.

The song was originally recorded in 1944 by Margaret Whiting though it has been covered numerous times over the years by the likes of Rosemary Clooney, Jo Stafford, The Dorsey Brothers, Nat King Cole, Charlie Byrd, Stan Getz, Billie Holiday, Johnny Mathis, and Willie Nelson, whose version off the 1978 album Stardust is probably my second favorite after Sinatra’s. You also may remember it as the number Diane Keaton and Sam Shepard sway to during the town dance scene in 1987′s Baby Boom.

Sinatra’s version of the serenade to the natural beauty of our fourteenth state follows below, from the album Come Fly With Me (1958)

Continue reading “Your Sunday Sinatra: “Moonlight in Vermont” – Frank Sinatra, John Blackburn and Karl Suessdorf” »

Your Sunday Sinatra: “The Coffee Song” – Frank Sinatra, Bob Hilliard, Dick Miles

“You date a girl and find out later… She smells just like a percolator… Her perfume was made right on the grill… Why, they could percolate the ocean in Brazil “

Released in March, 1961, Ring-a-Ding-Ding was Frank Sinatra’s first album on the Reprise label, founded by Sinatra himself one year before in an effort to allow himself more creative recording freedom after breaking with Capitol.

Solely in charge of album production for the very first time, Sinatra delivered a parade of upbeat swing numbers, without the assistance of conductors/arrangers Nelson Riddle and Billy May, who were both still under contract at Capitol. Stepping in was Johnny Mandel, who later went on to co-write the Oscar-winning song “The Shadow of Your Smile” from The Sandpiper, and “Suicide is Painless,” better known as the theme from the the film and television show, M*A*S*H.

Be sure to listen for the cowbell coming from the percussion section, a must for any song looking deliver a South American vibe.

Click through to listen:

Click Here to Listen to Frank Sinatra’s “The Coffee Song”

Your Sunday Sinatra: “Just in Time” – Frank Sinatra, Jule Styne, Betty Comden, Adolph Green

“My bridges all were crossed… nowhere to go… Now you’re here… now I know just where I’m going… No more doubt of fear… I’ve found my way… For love came just in time”

“Just in Time” was introduced in the 1956 musical Bells are Ringing, directed by Jerome Robbins and starring Judy Holliday, who also played the leading role of Ella the answering service operator in the 1960 film adaptation co-starring Dean Martin and directed by Vincent Minnelli (regularly airing on TCM and well worth the viewing).

Sinatra’s version of the song was recorded for the 1959 album Come Dance with Me!, which spent over two years on the Billboard album charts and became Sinatra’s most successful album of all time, though it peaked at number two.  The album took Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, Best Vocal Performance by a Male and Best Arrangement for Billy May. Aside from “Just in Time,” Come Dance with Me! also includes the classics, “Cheek To Cheek,” “I Could Have Danced All Night” and “Baubles, Bangles & Beads.”

Check out Sinatra’s version of “Bells” below, and happy Sunday!

Listen to Frank Sinatra’s “Just in Time”

Your Sunday Sinatra: “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars” – Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim

“I who was lost and lonely… believing love was only… a bitter tragic joke, have found with you, the meaning of existence, oh my love”

“Corcovado” (known in English as “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars”) was written by Anotnio Carlos Jobim and had been recorded in the early sixties by both Sergio Mendes and Miles Davis before becoming an international success when a version included on 1964′s landmark bossa nova album Gilberto/Getz , with lyrics by Gene Lees and vocals by Astrud Gilberto.  The Gilberto version is below.  Sinatra’s 1967 version from the bossa nova album Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim  follows after the jump.

Hear Frank Sinatra’s “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars”

Your Sunday Sinatra: “In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning”

“When your lonely heart has learned its lesson… You’d be his if only he’d call… In the wee small hours of the morning… That’s the time you miss him most of all”

Listen to “In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning” by Frank Sinatra here