Frank Sinatra – “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”
Remember the Joe Piscopo parody of Sinatra on “Saturday Night Live”? The exaggeration of his “I don’t give a shit about you” persona? Hating Bono and rock and roll in general? One of the enduring moments of the show and undoubtedly the cultural highpoint for Mr. Piscopo.
But I don’t think of Sinatra as the anti-rock and roll. He seems more like the embodiment of the way you are supposed to bull straight ahead, do what you want, take no prisoners (unless they are female groupies) and stay up all night in Vegas, drinking whiskey and smoking cigs. And his best work was taking a piece of music, and raising it to a higher musically emotional place. We don’t necessarily needs guitars and drums to do that (though it’s what I prefer), we just need a singer, the song and the music to create goosebumps down your back . Frank does it with this one, (taken from his 1957 “A Jolly Christmas with Frank Sinatra” album), a tune that sounds best played between 10pm Christmas Eve and 5am Christmas Day. After dark and before sunrise. Beautiful.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O-PVBjwCnA]