Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Jan 19, 2009 12:49:09 GMT -6
Recently, U2's Bono was a guest columnist in the Sunday NY Times -- I was nothing short of delighted when he chose to write about our mutual hero, Sinatra.
One of the things I like about it is how he is able to tie in the "truth" in Sinatra's voice -- particularly how he tells a story through song -- when comparing both his message and methods to the current events in the world ... proving once again that Sinatra is timeless. Which, I suppose, is one way to define a classic.
Here are some snippets from the piece, with the link provided if you want to read the entire thing.
Notes From the Chairman
One of the things I like about it is how he is able to tie in the "truth" in Sinatra's voice -- particularly how he tells a story through song -- when comparing both his message and methods to the current events in the world ... proving once again that Sinatra is timeless. Which, I suppose, is one way to define a classic.
Here are some snippets from the piece, with the link provided if you want to read the entire thing.
Notes From the Chairman
The new Irish money has been gambled and lost; the Celtic Tiger’s tail is between its legs as builders and bankers laugh uneasy and hard at the last year, and swallow uneasy and hard at the new. There’s a voice on the speakers that wakes everyone out of the moment: it’s Frank Sinatra singing “My Way.” His ode to defiance is four decades old this year and everyone sings along for a lifetime of reasons. I am struck by the one quality his voice lacks: Sentimentality.
Is this knotted fist of a voice a clue to the next year? In the mist of uncertainty in your business life, your love life, your life life, why is Sinatra’s voice such a foghorn — such confidence in nervous times allowing you romance but knocking your rose-tinted glasses off your nose, if you get too carried away.
A call to believability.
A voice that says, “Don’t lie to me now.”
That says, “Baby, if there’s someone else, tell me now.”
Fabulous, not fabulist. Honesty to hang your hat on.
...
Like Bob Dylan’s, Nina Simone’s, Pavarotti’s, Sinatra’s voice is improved by age, by years spent fermenting in cracked and whiskeyed oak barrels. As a communicator, hitting the notes is only part of the story, of course.
...
Is this knotted fist of a voice a clue to the next year? In the mist of uncertainty in your business life, your love life, your life life, why is Sinatra’s voice such a foghorn — such confidence in nervous times allowing you romance but knocking your rose-tinted glasses off your nose, if you get too carried away.
A call to believability.
A voice that says, “Don’t lie to me now.”
That says, “Baby, if there’s someone else, tell me now.”
Fabulous, not fabulist. Honesty to hang your hat on.
...
Like Bob Dylan’s, Nina Simone’s, Pavarotti’s, Sinatra’s voice is improved by age, by years spent fermenting in cracked and whiskeyed oak barrels. As a communicator, hitting the notes is only part of the story, of course.
...
