"Lonesome Cities" Frank Sinatra-A Man Alone

I haven't listened to Frank in quite some time. I think I can call him Frank since I've known him for thirty three years, shared the same soil of his birth and long before the Swingers type revolution of Sinatra and standards being cool I've stuck up for the man to all takers. Many times though I feel as though his studio albums are over produced and his live albums and populated with too many jokes and too much of the idea of his persona being played out in front of a crowd, him basically doing an impersonation of Sinatra much like towards the end of his career Elvis was the best Elvis impersonator on the planet.

You listen to him for the gems though, for the "Angel Eyes", the "Nancy" and the "What Now My Love" that come across as so blisteringly heartfelt and introspective from his smoke and Jack Daniel's voice that it leaves you gasping for breath stunned. It makes you want to grab the closest woman available and slow dance the night away, to lose whatever baggage you both carry on a daily basis and believe again that the withered old idea of love still exists somewhere.

"A Man Alone" is a cover album of the songs of Rod McKuen and has said to be one of Sinatra's favorite albums and collection of favorite songs. Short of Dante and Shakespeare Mckuen is one of the most prolific and widely read poets of all time. He also wrote well over 1500 songs during his life. Growing up in a household of an alcoholic father, at age eleven he ran away from home and made a living as a logger, cowboy, rail hand and rodeo cowboy until he ran into the spoken word poetry crowd the likes of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg who he shared stages with. The hard core literary critics (who are filled with more bullshit than Rod ever dealt with on the ranch) dismissed his works but as always they never appreciate anyone who is liked and adored by many.

Later in life he was a strong proponent of AIDS awareness, and demanded black performers receive equal treatment as their white counterparts. Sinatra in the same way was significantly more open minded than people give him credit for, it is probably hard for people to imagine that one of his favorite songwriters and poets cohorted with the likes of Beat generation hip poets. But Sinatra was a man who was much more than he appeared on so many levels. His strong persona was marred by ruined relationships, suicide attempts, along with constant depression and alcoholism.

I feel sheepish to say I never was much aware of this song until just the other day when it came on at random. When it did, with the first notes, I felt as though I had heard it a million times before and treasured its value greatly. The only other two songs I have felt this way about upon first hearing was Morrison's "Tupelo Honey" and Springsteen's "Frankie". I had never heard them before in my life and with their beginning I felt as though it was an old lover calling my name while making circles with her toe in nothing but my dress shirt with two buttons hiding what was below.

The meaning is your own but for myself with just one reading of the lyrics I am sure it was penned to describe my own life. Constantly running and no matter how complete life was always wondering about those last few cities out there awaiting me on the hill with embraceable arms. In leading such a life said new cities are usually met with lonesomeness and chagrin at leaving the previous one. However within those cities there are always one more woman, one more restaurant to be sat in with her and one more train to take me away when it is all over; then at the end of the day the realization that you can never run away from yourself and your foolish urges of romantic wanderlust. I like it that way.

"Reflecting Light" Sam Philips-A Boat and a Shoe

I've had this song stuck in my head for months. It has such and ethereal, sultry sexiness to it. A sense of placation and worship by the singer towards what I perceive as her muse. There's a steady tempo of sublime, steadfast hopelessness, the chord progression in Bb with a quaint happy-sad violin juxtaposed against the steady movement of the guitar and nothing else. Stripped down to the bone with a bit of bass fiddle thrown into the mix.

I have always loved the Die Hard series of movies, in particular the third one and in particular the terrorist who is the love interest of Jeremy Irons. Her plain, fit and Nordic look and propensity to get aroused at the hint of violence.

Also I have always loved T Bone Burnett's work in so many spaces and genres. A month ago at the Elvis Costello concert, seated next to him I was thrilled to just be in his presence. Adoring Roy Orbison's "Black and White Night" of which he produced as well as "August and Everything After", "O Brother Where Art Thou", "Raising Sand", "Walk The Line" and a plethora of Elvis Costello and Sam Philips albums he is a legend in the music industry while at the same time being anonymous.

So tonight when I sat down to play this song on the guitar and eventually deciding to write about this song I was amazed that Sam Philips was the female terrorist in Die Hard with a Vengeance. Being entranced (and admittedly turned on) by both the movie and this song...I don't know, it validated my opinions of what I am attracted to in women. Couple that with her landing such a mate as T Bone and what we have is a terribly talented women that makes me unhappy to know that she is taken.

I have heard this song prostituted itself in the show Gilmore Girls however I remember it mostly from the wonderful movie, my favorite movie of the past decade Crazy Heart. I saw it on a date with a particularly fascinating Lebanese woman who didn't drink and hence the movie date. She was a wonderful person, shy in a sense and cute in every sense of the word, a person who broke me out of my malaise in a way as while she encompassed much of which I desire, lived a life much different than my own, I don't think I ever even went on a movie date in high school. We sat in the theatre in SoHo on a frightfully cold night entranced with the film and walked almost all the way uptown, freezing and holding each other as per her suggestion as I would almost certainly have taken a car.

She took me to a church in midtown which had a southern Gospel feel to it with preachers and singing, a meeting at the Waldorf Towers with a man who was part of the Lebanese Civil War, him telling stories about smuggling arms in and out of the country for the Christian fighters. Her stories of Catholic boarding school in Cyprus, her knowledge of the blues and wonderful music, how she used to speak to me in French and I would half ass my way some type of reply...

So I think of her a bit when I listen to this song and how someone who was very suited for me just didn't work, how when we decided not to see each other and just be friends at Mon Petit Cafe on 62nd and Lexington how hard it was for me to bring up the subject that is just wasn't working out. But I also think of someone else who is out there in waiting who encompasses so many of those good qualities I enjoy along with the extra few that could make it really work, leading to nights and encounters such as those from the scene in Crazy Heart of which this song is used.

As a word it is used too frequently but this song is truly beautiful in its composition, its lyrics and the feel that it delivers. I'm going to go back to playing it a few times over before I retire and dream about that mystical person I have in my mind and have been waiting for.