Maps of Music

September of My Years (1965)

Where the lyrics of September of My Years take you, and where it was really made.

CBS cameras filmed Sinatra recording 'It Was a Very Good Year' for this album, and the footage later aired in a Walter Cronkite CBS News special.

Key places

Recorded in Hollywood (1965)

Recording site Hollywood (Los Angeles) — The album was recorded in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on April 13–14, 22 and May 27, 1965, according to the source. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• September of My Years: 1965 studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra
• Released on Reprise Records in August 1965 on LP
• CD release followed in October 1986
• Fifth album collaboration between Sinatra and arranger Gordon Jenkins
• Released shortly before Sinatra's fiftieth birthday in December 1965

Background

• First album Sinatra and Jenkins recorded together since 1962's All Alone
• Concept album exploring ageing, self-reflection and nostalgia
• Hearkens back to the ballad-oriented concept albums of Sinatra's 1950s Capitol era
• Narrator of 'It Was a Very Good Year' looks back at ages 17, 21 and 35, then at his present age
• The title track is almost four and a half minutes long, far longer than most popular songs of that era
• Next Sinatra and Jenkins albums: Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back (1973), Trilogy: Past Present Future (1980) and She Shot Me Down (1981)

Recording

• Recorded on April 13–14, 22 and May 27, 1965, in Hollywood, Los Angeles
• Orchestra on the title track features 9 violins; most other tracks feature 16
• CBS television cameras captured Sinatra recording 'It Was a Very Good Year' for this album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born December 12, 1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants.
• Began singing professionally as a teenager with the Hoboken Four, winning Major Bowes Amateur Hour.
• Joined Harry James's band in 1939, then Tommy Dorsey's band, before going solo in 1942.

Career

• Signed with Columbia Records in 1943 and became a major star of the bobby-soxer era.
• Signed with Capitol Records in 1953; collaborated with arranger Nelson Riddle on albums such as In the Wee Small Hours and Songs for Swingin' Lovers!.
• Founded Reprise Records in 1960, releasing albums including September of My Years and the hit single "My Way".
• Won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for From Here to Eternity (1953).
• Estimated to have sold around 150 million records worldwide.
• Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997.
• Died May 14, 1998 in Los Angeles.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Concept album on the questions a man faces on entering middle age
• Replaces the big-band swing arrangements with horn sections of Sinatra's earlier recordings
• Orchestra with a delicate interplay of strings that lets the listener take in the lyrics

Reappraisal

• Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000): number 190

Records

• Billboard Pop Albums chart: peak at number 5
• Shared the Grammy Award for Album of the Year with the double-LP compilation A Man and His Music
• 'It Was a Very Good Year': Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Male
• Gordon Jenkins: Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for the same song

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Released shortly before Sinatra's fiftieth birthday in December 1965
• CBS footage of the recording of 'It Was a Very Good Year' was included in a Walter Cronkite CBS News special broadcast on November 16, 1965
• The title track's orchestra features 9 violins, while most other tracks feature 16
• Sinatra and Jenkins next worked together on the 1973 album Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back
• The album was released on CD in October 1986, and a 1998 Entertainer of the Century reissue is now out of print

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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