The Top 10 All-Time Sinatra Songs

I see in this week's Entertainment Weekly that they rank the top 50 Beatles songs. Wow. I didn't know you could do that. I thought it was impossible to judge "She Loves You" against "A Day in the Life" and decide which is better but hot damn, you CAN!

So here for the first time (as chosen by me) is the DEFINITIVE list of the top 10 all-time best Frank Sinatra songs. This was not easy to accomplish because between 1940-1964 Sinatra recorded every song ever written. But still I have narrowed them down and have selected the very best of the best.

*************

1. ONE FOR MY BABY - the greatest torch song EVER, sung with such underplayed emotion it rips your heart out every time.

2. BIM BAM BABY -- Sinatra's gift was his interpretation of lyrics. He was never more masterful than singing "Hey now, take a mip mack mop, and a brim bram broom/And klim klam clean up the rim ram room/ Cause your bim bam baby`s coming home tonight."

3. I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN - Backed with a swinging Nelson Riddle arrangement, this record is 50s perfection.

4. MAMA WILL BARK - Another masterpiece of lyric interpretation. "Ow, you out there/This is for keeping me awake every night, hah/ Well, take that! Yelp! And take that. Yelp. And take that. Yelp. Yelp, yelp, yelp, yelp, yelp, yelp. Hot dog, woof."

5. MRS. ROBINSON - Frank bails out that hack lyricist Paul Simon by improving several of the stanzas. "Jilly loves you more than you will know" and my favorite additions: "How's your bird, Mrs. Robinson?" and without a doubt: "And you'll get yours Mrs. Robinson / Foolin' with that young stuff like you do / Woo woo woo..."

6. BANG BANG - Sinatra covers that big Cher anti-war Russian folk song by turning it into a haunting ballad. Someone should digitally merge both versions. Now THAT'S a duet!

7. THE KIDS ARE TWISTING - It's the record that started an entire dance craze.

8. L.A. IS MY LADY - Unlike those pale tributes to New York and Chicago this is the one Frank is famous for. There's little wonder they play it at Dodger Stadium. What is curious is that they only play it when they lose.

9. SATISFY ME ONE MORE TIME - No one can sing a love song like Frank. Gals, how can you hear these words and not swoon? "Let's smother each other in a good old stranglehold." Or.. "Compromise me, vandalize me, have a ball".

10. I LOVE PARIS (LIVE VERSION) - Not many people can improve on Cole Porter lyrics but then most people aren't Sinatra. "Holy Christ, how I love Paris".

Did I miss anything? I don't think so.

Read Ken's blog here.

Follow Ken Levine on Twitter: www.twitter.com/KenLevine

Comments

[ignorantwillyharper]

09:43 AM on 09/14/2009

May 14th, 1998 was a sad day for those of us that loved the sound of Sinatra's voice in real life.

[dmacgregor]

10:37 AM on 09/13/2009

"... hack lyricist Paul Simon... " Tell me you're kidding?

[Arion]

10:37 AM on 09/13/2009

Obviously it's got to be a top 50.

[Anare]

02:00 PM on 09/11/2009

Ahhhhh....­yeah you missed a few things, like "Fly Me to the Moon" for one.

[usedtoliveinLA]

01:47 PM on 09/11/2009

The entire Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim album. So smooth, so cool.

And from the Reprise Box Set:
Night and Day - his phrasing is exquisite
Doncha' Go Away Mad
Please Be Kind
Luck Be A Lady

[Aramingo]

12:31 PM on 09/11/2009

Well, Summer Wind has long been a fave, along with Watch What Happens. However, I could only listen to Mrs. Robinson as camp. The kind of thing Piscopo used as inspiratio­n.

[romanrose]

11:25 AM on 09/11/2009

"Time After Time", "You Go To My Head", "Send In The Clowns", "Witchcraf­t", "My Funny Valentine"­, "The House I Live In", "Old Man River" . . . "best" Sinatra songs?????­? Frankly, they were ALL the best. Ever. And the same goes for the inimitable Tony Bennett and any song he sang/still sings as well.

[dracula]

08:02 AM on 09/13/2009

We, my wife and I, both octogenari­ans, agree with you 100%. Both WWII Vets, our romance blossomed thanks to the young Frank Sinatra...­.........w­hatever he sang !

[ptillen]

10:43 AM on 09/11/2009

"between 1940-1964 Sinatra recorded every song ever written"..­.except Billy Strayhorn'­s "Lush Life". The legend goes that Sinatra took a stab at recording this fiendishly difficult song (chromatic melody, big leaps, wanders through several keys), then gave up saying, "I'll leave this one for Nat King Cole."
Cole, incidental­ly, did record a gorgeous version of it.

[Steamboater]

12:33 PM on 09/11/2009

Best recording of "Lush Life" was by Joe (Williams?­) .. I can never remember his last name. He was a black singer wth a deep voice and his rendition is the best ever. I think Carmen McRae also recorded this and anything she sang was tops.

[ptillen]

02:34 PM on 09/11/2009

Agreed. Ella's version is also quite nice. But it's a hard song to sing.

[RobinLandseadel]

08:50 AM on 09/14/2009

I've heard Sinatra's version---­more like an abrupt derailment­. Friend had a bootleg.

Best Lush Life?—John Coltrane, with or without Johnny Hartman.

[BustMyChops]

04:19 AM on 09/11/2009

That's Life should be on there IMHO.

[buddzilla]

02:52 AM on 09/11/2009

Um...I think you did...ALL THE WAY...anyo­ne?

[koalaholik]

02:21 AM on 09/11/2009

For some reason, Learnin' the Blues has been a favorite of mine. Also, One For My Baby. Basically, just about everything he ever did during the 50's and early 60's

[LLisaLL]

01:45 AM on 09/11/2009

Hey Ken Levine - I like some of your picks but have to give Sinatra's version of Mrs. Robinson a big thumbs down - sorry!

I can't believe you left off One For My Baby - 'it's quarter to 3...."

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=53sCut6Xx­ZE

or Fly Me to the Moon - he was the epitome of cool with Count Basie and Quincy Jones

Thanks and thanks again for leaving off New York New York - the song that has stalked me from country to country around the world for the last 25 years. I could be in the middle of the jungle, 500 miles from running water and from the dense lush undergrowt­h woud be Frank belting out NY NY

[wallybloom]

11:06 PM on 09/10/2009

Summerwind is #1 and every other song he recorded is tied for second.

[harborfish]

10:34 PM on 09/10/2009

Summerwind­....haunti­ng.

[Northreader]

09:29 PM on 09/10/2009

I've got a lot of Sinatra's hits on CD. But I would love a good collection of some of his lesser known but worthwhile stuff I only have on vinyl at the moment. For example "There Used To Be A Ballpark" by Joe Raposo arranged by Gordon Jenkins or Kris Kristoffer­son's "Nobody Wins" both from the LP " OL' Blue Eyes Is Back." Or Sinatra's version of "Summer Me, Winter Me", also recorded by Streisand.­Anyone in the mood for a video of Frank's great take on the Arlen-Merc­er classic "One For My Baby" with Bill Miller at the piano and Nelson Riddle's arrangemen­t can find it on the bonus 1971 concert DVD that comes with the 2008 CD "Nothing But The Best." Hard to beat for pure mood enjoyment.

[progressivegreg]

10:27 AM on 09/11/2009

either Capitol record or Reprise put out the complete collection of every album in special package, it was several hundred dollars but had EVERYTHING he had done on the label. It even included an album of instrument­al music that he conducted. I didn't buy it (stupid me) but it you're serious you might find it on ebay or the like. Good Luck!

[RobinLandseadel]

08:54 AM on 09/14/2009

Columbia, Reprise and Capitol all put out completist boxes.