They say that you can tell a lot about someone by the music they listen to. If that’s so, I wonder what my music choices say about me? That I’m a creature of many moods, for a start. Depending on my mood, I might be listening to classical music (harassed, stressed), Cuban jazz (chilled out, happy), grungy rock (cross, tired, grumpy), or 70s disco (perky, playful). But mostly, I listen to big band and vocal standards from the 1930s – 50s. Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman. Nat King Cole, Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson. And top of the pile, Frank Sinatra. His music fits all my moods.
Maybe it’s because Frank Sinatra was my dad’s favourite artist, and we used to listen to him together as my dad relaxed in the evenings. Maybe that’s why I find him so soothing. But there seems to be something special about his music. No other artist I’ve ever heard can get as much emotion into a song as Frank could. Just listen to I’m A Fool To Want You, or One For My Baby (And One More For The Road), and you’ll see what I mean. However you are feeling, he seems to have already been there, and to be crooning about it in one of his songs. Joy, bitterness, jealousy, exultation, love, hate, passion, he knew them all. And put them all into his music.
Some of his later stuff was a bit…. eh. He tried to groove up for the 60’s, which is a bit painful to listen to. But the Capitol Years….. it doesn’t get much better than that. Ah, Frank. You sing from my heart.
So, that’s my soundtrack. How about you?
