Frank Sinatra: Only the Lonely

November 26, 2018

Frank Sinatra: Only the Lonely

Some creations are distinctly American: a black leather motorcycle jacket, the Zippo lighter, a surf board, the Corvette and the iPhone. Add to the list Frank Sinatra's "Hey" that opens Angel Eyes on Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely. Recorded in May and June 1958, the album of saloon-y torch songs recently was reissued on two CDs, featuring the original mono version and a new stereo remix. In addition, the set includes a handful of alternate takes, false starts and outtakes.

I've never been a fan of Only the Lonely, which came out in September 1958. This is the album with the harlequin cover and Sinatra in clown makeup. His voice sounds suicidal on a majority of the songs, and the arrangements must have had the orchestra sobbing after each take. Gordon Jenkins was supposed to arrange the music (a scary proposition), but he was unavailable. As a result, Nelson Riddle took on the task of writing the morose arrangements ordered up by Capitol. Interestingly, Riddle didn't conduct what became the master take. Instead, the baton was passed to classical violinist and conductor Felix Slatkin. On the second session, Riddle was committed to a tour with Nat King Cole (which must have gone over big with Sinatra).

Re-listening to Only the Lonely via the re-issue yesterday, I found the album even more gloomy and sullen than I remember it. Song after song sounds like the worst day of Sinatra's life. I have no idea why fans continue to argue the dreary album's merits or why they insist it's Sinatra's finest recording. Neither is accurate. Though Sinatra's voice is virtually flawless throughout, the music sounds like Sinatra is at the end of his rope. The album isn't sorrowful or melancholy; it's downright depressing.

But enough elbows. Let's turn to the album's brightest moment and the point of this post—Angel Eyes, which was recorded on May 5 (conducted by Riddle) and May 29, 1958 (conducted by Slatkin). The best thing about the reissue is the previously unreleased 17 minutes of Angel Eyes outtakes. On takes 1 through 5 of the Matt Dennis-Earl Brent standard, the song opens the same way. After two brief overlapping strings motifs (one minor and the other major), Sinatra enters the song on the refrain, singing "Drink up all you people / order anything you see," as if bursting through swinging bar doors.

But then, on take 6, Sinatra adds "hey" as a downbeat, which soon becomes a sweeping "hey-ay" on take 8, as in: "Hey-ay, drink up all you people / order anything you see." It's a miraculously inspired touch, breathing fresh life into a beautiful song and shifting its metaphoric location from the funeral parlor to the barroom. Why Sinatra added it is unclear. The answer doesn't turn up in the banter between the control booth and the singer. In fact, his "hey" is completely ignored by the booth. Presumably, Sinatra instinctively grew tired of singing the dirge-like intro and felt it needed a jolt. As an artist, he took matters into his own hands.

Sinatra's loose and improvised "hey-ay" is as American as apple pie. When it comes to creation and design, the artist often knows best. His touch wasn't thought out, it was felt. He also didn't ask the producer or conductor for permission. He simply tossed in a dash of street to lighten up a ridiculously maudlin opener. In the process, the rest of the lachrymose arrangement becomes tolerable.

Also interesting is that the original minor-key portion of the strings intro heard on all eight outtakes was dropped for the master. The strings intro used on the album features just the ascending major-key motif to speed up Sinatra's entrance. I would have loved to have been around for that conversation. I wonder whether producer Dave Cavanaugh (above) came to that conclusion himself or Sinatra insisted on the cut. I also wonder whether the revision was recorded that way or they took a blade to the tape. Sounds like the latter to me.