The world lovingly refers to him as “Ol’ Blue Eyes” — the same world that wanted to fly away with him, even to the moon. The same world that allowed him to do it his way. The same world that knows Frank Sinatra was the one and only and there will never be another.
The man is a legend; literally, he was awarded the Legend Award in 1994 at the Grammy’s. He was the guy you wanted to be best friends with but you never wanted to offend. He seemed like he’d be the first guy to fight for you, but would also slap you in the face if you disrespected a lady; the kind of guy who would drink with you all night but never get drunk. The kind of guy who you knew was the toughest guy in the room but was also the most sentimental. He was a man’s man. Women wanted him and men wanted to be him. We still do.
Today, in my eyes, Frank Sinatra represents a kind of chivalry, gallantry, and a set of values that are lost in most modern cultures. He was elegant, but not consumed enough with himself to deny associations with men who were less than reputable. He was exemplary as a man. In many ways, he set the bar. He was the standard for everything that a man should aim to be.
And then there was the music, and that’s where Sinatra really held the world on a string. If you need a quick refresher course then go out and buy “Nothing but the Best,” which features some of the crooner’s biggest hits remastered into beautiful sound. The album features timeless classics like “Come Away With Me,” “Fly me to the Moon,” “The Good Life,” “Strangers in the Night,” “My Way,” “Luck be a Lady,” and my all-time favorite Sinatra tune, “That’s Life.”
As you journey through each track, exploring a small sample of the great legacy of this unique artist, you will be transported from romantic serenades to odes to cities like Chicago in “My Kind of Town” and New York in “Theme From New York, New York.” You will also end up confronting the bare-naked soul of a man refusing to quit and declaring to come out on top no matter what in “That’s Life.”
And after listening to the whole thing, and then being intrigued to delve deeper into Sinatra’s impressive catalogue, you will undoubtedly reach the same conclusion that I have: Frank Sinatra did it his way and lived a life like the one many people wish to live. He loved with reckless abandon. He lived for the moment and cherished friendships, experiences and places. Yes, sometimes he bet too much and lost, but he got back up again and gave it another try.
All of this is the legacy that Frank Sinatra left behind, but particularly, it’s the idea that though I never knew him, I feel connected to him somehow. I don’t think I’m the only person who feels this way either. It was his music and his heartfelt, honest performances, which opened a window that allowed us to peer into his soul and find a little bit of ourselves in there. How many artists can one say that about today? For this reason Frank Sinatra will never be forgotten, and he will always be the one and only “Ol’ Blue Eyes.”
