Frank Sinatra as a symbol of late 50's and early 60's: why his songs didn't widely mention?

  • This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.

Lockdain

I wrestled a bear once!
Jan 19, 2016
183
835
33
City of Voronezh, Russian Federation
Hi there, my friends!
(It will be a little offtop-like introduction, so pardon)
Today morning was pretty cold and frosty. Moist air striked me to the marrow while i was on my way to parking. In addition to it, this winter seems to be extremely snowy in central Russia, so i had to made my way through a thick snow coat. Finally i got to the car and tried to open the door, but it stacked due to a thick ice coat on the keyhole. I used a bad language and looked for lighter in my pockets, thanks God it was there! I warmed up the key by the flame and tried once again. It opened with screech. I sat on a driver's seat, fastened the seatbelt and started the engine. Ten minutes later i was on my 15 kilometers route to the office. Car stereo was muted and i made it a bit louder. "Come Fly With Me" sang Frank Sinatra from the speakers...
As i'm not actually a US resident, i generally can't have a sense of the cultural pulse. As i read in a different books (include Sinatra's biography) he was an outstnading singer and actor, which popularity reached it maximum on 50's-60's. I like his songs, they reminds me old american movies, full of gangsters, adventures and love stories. It was a surprise for me that Sinatra's work did not find any reflection in SK novel 11/22/63 (if i didn't make a mistake). As I thought, his work discovered a huge cultural layer in American history. Am i right? So, how do you think, why Frank Sinatra's work didn't widely mention in the novel?

I'm sorry for possible grammar mistakes.
 

Spideyman

Uber Member
Jul 10, 2006
46,336
195,472
79
Just north of Duma Key
Hi there, my friends!
(It will be a little offtop-like introduction, so pardon)
Today morning was pretty cold and frosty. Moist air striked me to the marrow while i was on my way to parking. In addition to it, this winter seems to be extremely snowy in central Russia, so i had to made my way through a thick snow coat. Finally i got to the car and tried to open the door, but it stacked due to a thick ice coat on the keyhole. I used a bad language and looked for lighter in my pockets, thanks God it was there! I warmed up the key by the flame and tried once again. It opened with screech. I sat on a driver's seat, fastened the seatbelt and started the engine. Ten minutes later i was on my 15 kilometers route to the office. Car stereo was muted and i made it a bit louder. "Come Fly With Me" sang Frank Sinatra from the speakers...
As i'm not actually a US resident, i generally can't have a sense of the cultural pulse. As i read in a different books (include Sinatra's biography) he was an outstnading singer and actor, which popularity reached it maximum on 50's-60's. I like his songs, they reminds me old american movies, full of gangsters, adventures and love stories. It was a surprise for me that Sinatra's work did not find any reflection in SK novel 11/22/63 (if i didn't make a mistake). As I thought, his work discovered a huge cultural layer in American history. Am i right? So, how do you think, why Frank Sinatra's work didn't widely mention in the novel?



I'm sorry for possible grammar mistakes.

Your grammar is fine!
I think, Sinatra hit his peak of popularity before the Kennedy assignation. By 1963 music had taken a turn more towards rock and roll. GNTLGNT may have better input on your question.

Also from a friendship standpoint you might find this interesting
Of all the U.S. Presidents he associated with during his career, he was closest to John F. Kennedy.[536] Sinatra often invited Kennedy to Hollywood and Las Vegas, and the two would womanize and enjoy parties together.[537] In January 1961 Sinatra and Peter Lawford organized the Inaugural Gala in Washington, DC, held on the evening before President Kennedy was sworn into office.[536] In 1962, Sinatra was snubbed by Kennedy during his visit to Palm Springs when he decided to stay with Bing Crosby, Republican, due to FBI concerns about Sinatra's alleged connections to organized crime.[an] Sinatra had invested a lot of his own money in upgrading the facilities at his home in anticipation of the President's visit, fitting it with a heliport, which he later reportedly smashed up with a sledgehammer upon being rejected.[539] Despite the snub, when he learned of Kennedy's assassination he reportedly sobbed in his bedroom for three days[/SPOILER]
 

Lockdain

I wrestled a bear once!
Jan 19, 2016
183
835
33
City of Voronezh, Russian Federation
Your grammar is fine!
I think, Sinatra hit his peak of popularity before the Kennedy assignation. By 1963 music had taken a turn more towards rock and roll. GNTLGNT may have better input on your question.

Also from a friendship standpoint you might find this interesting
Of all the U.S. Presidents he associated with during his career, he was closest to John F. Kennedy.[536] Sinatra often invited Kennedy to Hollywood and Las Vegas, and the two would womanize and enjoy parties together.[537] In January 1961 Sinatra and Peter Lawford organized the Inaugural Gala in Washington, DC, held on the evening before President Kennedy was sworn into office.[536] In 1962, Sinatra was snubbed by Kennedy during his visit to Palm Springs when he decided to stay with Bing Crosby, Republican, due to FBI concerns about Sinatra's alleged connections to organized crime.[an] Sinatra had invested a lot of his own money in upgrading the facilities at his home in anticipation of the President's visit, fitting it with a heliport, which he later reportedly smashed up with a sledgehammer upon being rejected.[539] Despite the snub, when he learned of Kennedy's assassination he reportedly sobbed in his bedroom for three days[/SPOILER]
Hello, Spideyman!
Appreciate you for the detailed information! It resembles me what i've learned from a book "Sinatra: The Chairman" by J. Kaplan, it slightly covers the questions of relations between them. BTW thanks!
 

Moderator

Ms. Mod
Administrator
Jul 10, 2006
52,243
157,324
Maine
Maybe because Steve doesn't like Sinatra? I don't ever remember reading anywhere that King liked Frank's music. Steve was into rock and roll big time back then.
Steve's a HUGE Sinatra fan (at least now) but I think it's more likely that given Jake/George's age, it would have been rock and roll that he'd be listening to most often in the '60s.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
Frank+sinatra+playing+cards+as+you+do_29bab5_4739884.jpg
 

Lockdain

I wrestled a bear once!
Jan 19, 2016
183
835
33
City of Voronezh, Russian Federation
Are there any Frank's fans? He's one of my top-rated oldtimers. I follow 11/22/63 Hulu series thread at local social network, where members are listening to Sinatra, basically to dive in 60's zeitgeist. Will surprise them, that Sinatra couldn't consider as a musical portrait of 50's-60's in actual fact.
Btw, i found his name mentioned in the novel:

Twenty years of seeing women bat their eyes at him like he was Frank Sinatra.
 

RichardX

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2006
1,737
4,434
Sinatra was in a 50s film called "Suddenly" that was about a guy who was going to assassinate the President with a rifle from a window. We know Oswald saw that film. So there is a bit of a connection to events in 11.22.63. He was also real life buddies with JFK at least until his alleged mob connections created a PR concern. I never cared much nor understood the attraction of old Frank. He seemed to be one of those guys famous for being famous.
 
Mar 12, 2010
6,538
29,004
Texas
I never got the appeal for Ol' Blue Eyes myself.

Same here... I never understood the appeal for any of the members of the rat pack. I think maybe I just don't like the type of songs that seemed to have been written to be performed in Vegas nightclubs. I don't care for Tom Jones either. I do like some of Bing Crosby's songs though.
 

Lockdain

I wrestled a bear once!
Jan 19, 2016
183
835
33
City of Voronezh, Russian Federation
I can't actually state that i have a special appeal for Sinatra. His vocal was not that i call awesome, it was... ordinary.
A big cause of why i like his songs is the asossiations and emotions which i recalling while listening. His songs, as for me, are associated with a plenty of old movies and TV-series. You must be considered me an old-timer, and it obviously so. I'm nostalgic about the past which i've never seen because of my age...
The secondary reason is that it's pretty comfortable to understand the lyrics while listening his songs thoroughly. It's quite reasonable when you trying to enhance your verbal english (i believe it helps me).
 
Last edited:

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
Sinatra was in a 50s film called "Suddenly" that was about a guy who was going to assassinate the President with a rifle from a window. We know Oswald saw that film. So there is a bit of a connection to events in 11.22.63. He was also real life buddies with JFK at least until his alleged mob connections created a PR concern. I never cared much nor understood the attraction of old Frank. He seemed to be one of those guys famous for being famous.
Like the Kar-trash-ians? ;;D
 

Lockdain

I wrestled a bear once!
Jan 19, 2016
183
835
33
City of Voronezh, Russian Federation
"He smelled bacon and heard Frank Sinatra singing ‘Come Fly with Me’ from a cracked Motorola radio sitting on a worktable littered with tools."

Doctor Sleep
Oh dear! Never read "Doctor sleep", but i feel like my car becomes "Christine", because of what it did yesterday:

Car stereo was muted and i made it a bit louder. "Come Fly With Me" sang Frank Sinatra from the speakers...
It's high time to hide somewhere ;-D
 

Lockdain

I wrestled a bear once!
Jan 19, 2016
183
835
33
City of Voronezh, Russian Federation
Never been a big Frankie fan, Pretty much my parents music.
I DO appreciate the time he took to "get the groove" just right.
Also I do not think he wrote the songs he sang(which is a biggie for me)
So basically he was an instrument that songwriters used to get their music sold.
He had been only participating in a writing process, but never been an author.

Most of his songs either came from Broadway show tunes--the work of Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, and many others. Or, they were the work of his songwriter friends like Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Huesen, and others.