Sinatra: Songbook Master

Last updated on: March 17, 2017 at 12:01 am by Elizabeth Scalia

The American Songbook of the first half of the 20th century was one brilliant three minute, 32-bar gem after another, and Here’s that Rainy Day is the most gut-wrenching and melodic torch song to come out of that era.

Here is Frank Sinatra showing his art. A flawed genius, he manages to sing this with his typically perfect enunciation and respect for the lyrics, but with a delicacy of tone and an especially poignant vulnerability. A tough guy ripping his heart out of his chest and laying it on the table for you. What a glorious legato. What a perfect expression of that moment we all know, from time to time, when we realize just how much we’ve screwed up, just how wrong we got it, just how much we have contributed to our own misery.

Okay, I can’t leave you there, down in the abyss and ready to slit your wrists. Sinatra can do that to you; if you don’t believe me, check out the heartbreaking Only the Lonely – but I know you’re probably already on the floor, so here’s Sinatra and a great Nelson Riddle arrangement:

And while you’re dancing:

I am sorry for the lousy visuals. The performance tapes were problematic.