For most of my life, I have not been a fan of Old Blue Eyes.
“He has a great voice,” my mom would say.
“Uck,” I’d reply in all my teenage wisdom, going to my room, slamming the door and turning up Live At Leeds.1Which is still an awesome album, and one I highly recommend.
And so it went all through college, where I devoured albums by the Pretenders and the Stones and Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan and so on. If it was rock, I probably owned it or knew about it.2Not gonna mention the elephant in the room. You all know me by now.
Come the new millenium and I saw the movie Elf. Very funny and sweet; first-class Christmas entertainment. On the soundtrack was a tune by Frankie himself: You Make Me Feel So Young. And now that I was over forty, I guess I gave myself permission to like it! My mother was right: Sinatra did have an awesome set of pipes, and his phrasing was phenomenal.3I also fell in love with Baby It’s Cold Outside, which…is a can of worms, I know, but what a duet.
I bought two compilations by the Chairman of the Board: Classic Sinatra and Nothing But The Best, covering the Capitol and Reprise recordings respectively. All superb. The man was an asshole, but could he sing! Good thing he’s no longer with us. Capitol is best, but Reprise isn’t far behind. (Not a Columbia fan.)
Anyway, this Christmas I decided I needed a bit more Sinatra, and purchased the Christmas compilation shown above. It’s fantastic. It has the version of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas with the original lyrics from Meet Me In St. Louis, which is one of the most depressing holiday carols you will ever hear. I love it. It also includes the classic Mistletoe And Holly, a swingin’ Jingle Bells, and gorgeous renditions of I’ll Be Home For Christmas and The Christmas Song. Five stars, easily.
So get a little Sinatra for Christmas. And never believe that old people like me are set in their ways. Hey, next time I’ll share some Christmas [w]rap. Not what you’re thinking, either.
